Fruit recipes

For this French preserve, sometimes called Grape and Pear ‘‘butter,’’ see Grapes. PEAR JELLY Pear jelly may be successfully made by using the richer varieties of pears not fully ripe, with the usual proportion of sugar and juice: pound for pint (see other fruit jellies), and flavoured as for apple. PEAR CHIPS Wipe and stem hard pears. To four pounds allow three pounds of sugar, and an eighth pound scraped green ginger root grated. Slice thin in bits and let stand twelve hours, then cook with juice and rind of two lemons, letting come slowly to a boil and cooking perhaps three hours: till clear and thick. PICKLED PEARS To each six pounds of pears allow a pint of cider or wine-vinegar, three pounds of sugar, and a teaspoon each of cinnamon, cloves, and ginger (in thin bags). Let the sugar, vinegar, and spices boil up and place in the resulting syrup the peeled pears, a few at a time. Cook until tender; place pears in a crock; pour over them the vinegar and let stand three days. Pour off the syrup and boil it down, then pour again over the pears (having placed them in jars); remove spice-bag, and seal. If tartness is desired the sugar, part or all, may be omitted. PEAR SAUCE, PLAIN OR FOR SHORT CAKE Make as for Apple Sauce, flavouring with spice, lemon, or other fruit flavouring, and serving as a side dish or with shortcake (see Strawberry Short Cake). PEAR VINEGAR The water in which pears have been boiled for preserves may be used for vinegar or vinegar may be made from crushed pears as from apples at cider-making time. Or pears may be cut, boiled, and crushed and the resulting liquor sweetened with molasses and allowed to ferment. CHAPTER III THE QUINCE (Cydonia cydonia: Malacee) HE Quince, or Cydonia, is a near relative of the apple and pear, sometimes in form resembling one, sometimes the other, according to variety. Its history is as fragrant as the fruit itself, which among the ancient Greeks was typical of happiness and love, and bears about it a still more ancient suggestion, through the old Hebrew writers: that it was the forbidden fruit. And surely no fruit was ever more tempting in perfume; more disappointing in reality before cookery creates chemical change. (The Japanese Quince [Cydonia Japonica] is not a general cooking fruit.) The quince is native to Greece and is now known almost as widely as the apple and pear. Its name was bestowed upon it, it is said, in the days when flourished the ancient city of Cydonia in Crete. As an adjunct to or basis of preserves, and as a cordial or unfermented drink, made as is cider, the quince is a food success and the mucilage which surrounds its seeds is considered of value in several ways, one of its uses being as a cure for sore throat, or applied, externally, to other irritated surfaces. QUINCE CIDER Make as for Apple Cider. QUINCE JELLY No.1 When quince preserves are made the parings and cores may be used for jelly, covering them with cold water and cooking slowly three hours or longer. Strain through a jelly bag over night; boil and skim juice in the morning for fifteen minutes then strain again, measuring and placing in clean cooking vessel with three-fourths its weight of heated sugar. Cook twenty minutes or till it jells. Vary the flavouring used with quince as with apple. QUINCE JELLY No. 2 Quince jelly may be made with the whole fruit, when the juice is strained allowing the usual proportion of a pound of sugar to a pint of juice. Lemon may be used with this as variety. QUINCE JELLY No. 3 Use equal quantity of quinces and Maiden’s Blush apples, adding sugar in proportion of three-fourths pound of sugar to a pint of juice. QUINCE MARMALADE Nos. 1 and 2