Harper's cook book encyclopædia

Cherries, Preserved. — The fighter colored the more sugar they take. Stone them, and let them stand all night. In the morning take the juice, add sugar to taste, add water, if there is not juice enough, and boil and skim till it is a rich syrup ; if the cherries are sweet, a pint of juice and three quarters of a pint of sugar will be about right. Heat your cans and put in the uncooked cherries till they are nearly full, and then pour over them the syrup and put on the covers ; set the cans in the wash-boiler and fill it with very hot water, and let it all stand all night. The heat of the syrup and that of the water will cook the fruit, but the flavor and color will be those of the fresh and uncooked cherries. This way may be used for all small fruits except strawberries. Another way : — For this select a sour cherry — the morellos, if you can get them. To every pound of stoned cherries allow i lb. of sugar. Lose none of the juice. Arrange fruit and sugar in alternate layers in an agateiron or porcelain-lined preserving-kettle ; let it stand an hour or two to draw out the juice, then put it over the fire and boil slowly and steadily until the juice thickens. Put up the preserves in small glass jars and keep in a dark closet. Citron -melon Preserve. — Cut the melon in slices of about an inch in thickness. Remove the rind and soft part which contains the seeds ; boil in water in which a small piece of alum has been thrown until the fruit is soft enough to allow a straw to be run through. Remove, and place on a sieve to drain. Allow 3 lbs. of best white sugar to 4 lbs. of the fruit, and put into the preserving-kettle with the sugar. If it seems too dry, add a little water. Let it cook slowly, and when nearly done add a lemon in thin slices and free of seeds. If, when the fruit is done, the syrup is too thin, put the fruit into jars and allow the syrup to boil until of the proper thickness. Pour it hot over the citron, and seal aH up. Crab' apples. — This fruit may be preserved with the peel on, and is just as good in the estimation of most people. Flavor a pint of water by boiling in it a small stick of cinnamon, a bit of white ginger, and three or four cloves. Strain these off, and make into a syrup by boiling in it x/2 lb. of white sugar. Let it remain until cold. Take a pint of the little apples, wipe them well with a cloth, prick them with a needle near the stalks, and put them into the stewpan with the syrup, to get hot together. Remove it from the fire, pour it off irito a basin, let it stand to get cold, repeating the process three times. When the fruit looks clear, take it out, put it into jars, and pour the syrup over it. It will do no harm if a day elapses between each of the boilings. Most beautiful jelly is made with the juice of these apples ; almost as good as currant jelly to eat with mutton or venison. Threequarters of a pound of sugar is enough to allow to a pint of juice. About a week after they have been put away it is well to examine them, and, should they show any signs of fermentation, the syrup must again be boiled down as before. The core is never removed from Siberian crab-apples ; it has in itself a most delicate flavor, which improves the whole preserve. Cranberry Jelly. — Wash a quart of cranberries and put them over the fire Currant Conserve PRESERVES, ETC. Currant Syrup