The finest way to put up berries and other small fruits is as follows: Sprinkle with sugar in the proportions of half a pound of sugar to one pound of fruit. Then fill into glass jars. Put on the lids of the jars, but not the rubber rings. Fit a board into the bottom of a w^ash-boiler ; wrap each jar in a clean towel or cloth, to prevent touching, then stand them in rows in the boiler. Fill the boiler with cold water to within half an inch of the tops ; bring the water to boil and continue boiling for fifteen minutes. Remove jars, wipe dry, fill up from a can set apart for the purpose, and seal without delay. Berries canned in this way will be whole, firm, and retain their natural flavor. Having selected one's fruit with care, then complied with the rules governing the cooking and sealing, the last but by no means least weighty consideration is the storing. STORING The fruit closet has three arch-enemies which, singly or combined, will play havoc with its stores. These are heat, light, moisture. The closet must have a dry situation, for moisture induces mould ; light working on the fruit genders an acid which no amount of sugar will overcome, and heat will cause fermentation. WINTER PRESERVES In mid-winter, empty fruit jars and jelly tumblers begin to accumulate, and the housewife looks with dismay at gaps CANNED FRUITS AND PRESERVES 355 on the shelves of her preserve closet. The stock, which must be made to spin out till fresh fruit is in plenty, may be added to occasionally, however, even when the markets display noth- ing but apples, oranges, grapefruit and cranberries. The pos- sibility for mid-winter preserves is by no means limited, and the result is sometimes quite appetizing. The British cook realizes the goodness of oranges as a preserving fruit ; the orange marmalade set before one with hot rolls at a real Scotch breakfast table is a combination not readily forgotten. APPLE JELLY If you own a barrel of apples and they begin to spot slightly, as even the best apples will do during the winter, it is economy to pick them over frequently and use all the specked apples for jelly. Pick out with a sharp knife every morsel of decay, then w^ash the apples w^ell in cold water, rubbing them with a cloth; for winter stored apples have a faculty for ac- cumulating dirt. Cut the fruit into thin slices, using both cores and skins. To each quart of apples add one pint of cold water, and set in a kettle over the fire in a large preserving kettle. If the apples are rather flavorless, add one lemon, finely sliced✪ Apple Jelly, to two quarts of apples. Stir frequently to pre- vent the fruit from burning. When it is reduced to a mush, pour it into a jelly bag of crash or flannel which has been wrung from hot water. Hang it to drain for twenty-four hours in as warm a place as possible. There is a large amount of gelatinous substance in apples. When gelatine is chilled, of course it solidifies, so if a jelly bag cools before the juice has run out quite an amount of it is lost. An excellent winter method for jelly making is to keep the bag suspended as near as possible to a hot register. Allow for each pint of juice one pint of sugar. Set the juice to boil for twenty minutes and put the sugar to heat in a moderate oven. After the boiling- down process is done, pour in the heated sugar, when the babbling will scarcely be interrupted.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

The finest way to put up berries and other small fruits is as follows: Sprinkle with sugar in the proportions of half a pound of sugar to one pound of fruit. Then fill into glass jars. Put on the lids of the jars, but not the rubber rings. Fit a board into the bottom of a wash-boiler ; wrap each jar in a clean towel or cloth, to prevent touching, then stand them in rows in the boiler. Fill the boiler with cold water to within half an inch of the tops ; bring the water to boil and continue boiling for fifteen minutes. Remove jars, wipe dry, fill up from a can set apart for the purpose, and seal without delay. Berries canned in this way will be whole, firm, and retain their natural flavor. Having selected one's fruit with care, then complied with the rules governing the cooking and sealing, the last but by no means least weighty consideration is the storing. STORING The fruit closet has three arch-enemies which, singly or combined, will play havoc with its stores. These are heat, light, moisture. The closet must have a dry situation, for moisture induces mould ; light working on the fruit genders an acid which no amount of sugar will overcome, and heat will cause fermentation. WINTER PRESERVES In mid-winter, empty fruit jars and jelly tumblers begin to accumulate, and the housewife looks with dismay at gaps on the shelves of her preserve closet. The stock, which must be made to spin out till fresh fruit is in plenty, may be added to occasionally, however, even when the markets display nothing but apples, oranges, grapefruit and cranberries. The possibility for mid-winter preserves is by no means limited, and the result is sometimes quite appetizing. The British cook realizes the goodness of oranges as a preserving fruit ; the orange marmalade set before one with hot rolls at a real Scotch breakfast table is a combination not readily forgotten. APPLE JELLY If you own a barrel of apples and they begin to spot slightly, as even the best apples will do during the winter, it is economy to pick them over frequently and use all the specked apples for jelly. Pick out with a sharp knife every morsel of decay, then w^ash the apples w^ell in cold water, rubbing them with a cloth; for winter stored apples have a faculty for accumulating dirt. Cut the fruit into thin slices, using both cores and skins. To each quart of apples add one pint of cold water, and set in a kettle over the fire in a large preserving kettle. If the apples are rather flavorless, add one lemon, finely sliced, to two quarts of apples. Stir frequently to prevent the fruit from burning. When it is reduced to a mush, pour it into a jelly bag of crash or flannel which has been wrung from hot water. Hang it to drain for twenty-four hours in as warm a place as possible. There is a large amount of gelatinous substance in apples. When gelatine is chilled, of course it solidifies, so if a jelly bag cools before the juice has run out quite an amount of it is lost. An excellent winter method for jelly making is to keep the bag suspended as near as possible to a hot register. Allow for each pint of juice one pint of sugar. Set the juice to boil for twenty minutes and put the sugar to heat in a moderate oven. After the boilingdown process is done, pour in the heated sugar, when the babbling will scarcely be interrupted.

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