VEGETABLE MARROW JAM.— Peel and core 6 lbs. of medium sized vegetable marrows cut into strips about 2 inches long; cover it with 6 lbs. of sugar and let stand all night; then add the juice and grated rind of 4 lemons and 1 oz. of bruised ginger a✪ Vegetable Marrow Jamnd boil 1^ hours, skimming well. A pinch of cayenne is considered an improvement by some cooks. PEESERVES 505 PRESERVES. The fruit used for preserves should be perfectly sound, fresh and ri^De, and use good sugar. If you would have good preserves work carefully. A very large amount is less easily handled than less. The old rule of pound for pound of sugar and fruit is hardly reliable, because fruits differ so much in sweetness. If too much sugar is used the fruit may be unpleasantly sweet, and very little of the fruit jQavor left. Cooking the Fruit. — Large fruits should cook until a broom straw will readily pierce them. To avoid burning, boil them gently. They must be soft enough to be readily penetrated by the sugar ( as that is what preserves them) but that is all. Over boiling is to be avoided, and small fruit especially, like strawberries and raspberries, are spoiled if much cooked. The object aimed at is to have the sugar thoroughly permeate the fruit enough to preserve it, but without injuring its shape more than necessary. Fruit is darkened in color and its flavor injured by long boiling. Small fruits and berries should be taken out of the syruj), when done, with a small strainer, as a cup will not separate the syrup from them. When the fruit has simmered in the syrup until done quite through, it may be taken out with a skimmer and set on dishes to cool; then boil up the syrup until it begins to jelly, put back the fruit, boil it up once, and then put it into jars. Another way is to put the fruit directly into jars instead of on dishes to cool; then boil the syrup and pour it over, and tie up as directed in the " General Suggestions " at the beginning of this section. Either method works well. Hardening Fruit. — Those fruits like strawberries, tomatoes, peach- es, apples, etc., which are liable in cooking to become too soft, can be allowed to stand a few hours with sugar on them, or pour on hot syrup; this hardens them by extracting the juice. There are some fruits like citrons, quinces, pineapples, etc., which harden if i3ut into strong syrup at first; to avoid this they can be cooked first in water or weak syrup until tender, and then the balance of the sugar added. Canned Fruit can be used in making preserves, and then less sugar is needed. ' Adding a few slices of lemon or orange will improve the flavor. Keeping Preserves. — Preserves keep better in glass than in earth- enware vessels, but glass should be wrai3i)ed in paper to keep the light from bleaching the fruit; keep in a cool, dark, dry place. 506 PRESERVES

AI-modernized reading of the original text

VEGETABLE MARROW JAM.— Peel and core 6 lbs. of medium sized vegetable marrows cut into strips about 2 inches long; cover it with 6 lbs. of sugar and let stand all night; then add the juice and grated rind of 4 lemons and 1 oz. of bruised ginger and boil 1^ hours, skimming well. A pinch of cayenne is considered an improvement by some cooks. The fruit used for preserves should be perfectly sound, fresh and ripe, and use good sugar. If you would have good preserves work carefully. A very large amount is less easily handled than a smaller quantity. The old rule of pound for pound of sugar and fruit is hardly reliable, because fruits differ so much in sweetness. If too much sugar is used the fruit may be unpleasantly sweet, and very little of the fruit flavor left. Cooking the Fruit. — Large fruits should cook until a broom straw will readily pierce them. To avoid burning, boil them gently. They must be soft enough to be readily penetrated by the sugar ( as that is what preserves them) but that is all. Over boiling is to be avoided, and small fruit especially, like strawberries and raspberries, are spoiled if much cooked. The object aimed at is to have the sugar thoroughly permeate the fruit enough to preserve it, but without injuring its shape more than necessary. Fruit is darkened in color and its flavor injured by long boiling. Small fruits and berries should be taken out of the syruj), when done, with a small strainer, as a cup will not separate the syrup from them. When the fruit has simmered in the syrup until done quite through, it may be taken out with a skimmer and set on dishes to cool; then boil up the syrup until it begins to jelly, put back the fruit, boil it up once, and then put it into jars. Another way is to put the fruit directly into jars instead of on dishes to cool; then boil the syrup and pour it over, and tie up as directed in the " General Suggestions " at the beginning of this section. Either method works well. Hardening Fruit. — Those fruits like strawberries, tomatoes, peaches, apples, etc., which are liable in cooking to become too soft, can be allowed to stand a few hours with sugar on them, or pour on hot syrup; this hardens them by extracting the juice. There are some fruits like citrons, quinces, pineapples, etc., which harden if put into strong syrup at first; to avoid this they can be cooked first in water or weak syrup until tender, and then the balance of the sugar added. Canned Fruit can be used in making preserves, and then less sugar is needed. ' Adding a few slices of lemon or orange will improve the flavor. Keeping Preserves. — Preserves keep better in glass than in earthenware vessels, but glass should be wrapped in paper to keep the light from bleaching the fruit; keep in a cool, dark, dry place.

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Vegetable Marrow Jam

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