Mother's Cook Book: Containing Recipes for Every Day in the Week, Including ..

Peel ripe peaches, stone them, and cut them small; weigh three-quarters of a pound of sugar for each pound of ripe fruit, and a teacup of water for each pound of sugar; set it over the fire; when it boils, skim it clear, then pat in the peaches, let them boil quite fast; mash them fine, and let them boil until the whole is a jellied mass, and thick, then put it in small jars or tumblers; when cold, secure it as directed for jellies. Half a pound of sugar for a pound of fruit will make nice marmalade. APPLE BUTTER. Boil one barrel of new cider down half, peel and core three bushels of good cooking apples; when the cider has boiled to half the quantity, add the apples, and when soft, stir constantly for from eight to ten hours. If done it will adhere to an inverted plate. Put away in stone jars (not earthen ware), covering first with writing-paper cut to fit the jar, and press down closely upon the apple batter; cover the whole with thick brown paper snugly tied down. LEMON BUTTER. Beat six eggs, one-fourth pound butter, one pound sugar, the rind and juice of three lemons; mix together and set "i Mother's Cook Book. in s pan of hot water to cook. Very nice for tarts, or to eat with bread. PEACH BUTTER. Take pound for pound of peaches and sugar ; cook peaches alone until they become soft, then put in one-half the sugar, and stir for one-half hoar; then the remainder of the sugar, and stir an hour and a half. Season with cloves and cin- APPLE GINGER. (a DESSERT DISH). Two pounds of any kind of hard apples, two pounds of loaf-sngar, one and one-half pints of water, one ounce of tincture of ginger. Boil the sugar and water until they form a rich syrup, adding the ginger when it boils up. Pare, core, and cut the apples into pieces; dip them in cold water to preserve the color, and boil them in the syrup until transparent; but be careful not to let them break. Put the pieces of apple into jars, pour over the syrup, and carefully exclude the air, by well covering them. It will remain good for some time, if kept in a dry place. ICED CURRANTS. One-quarter pint of water, the whites of two eggs, currants, pounded sugar. Select very fine bunches of red or white currants, and well beat the whites of the eggs. Mix these with water; then take the currants, a bunch at a time, and dip them in; let them drain for a minute or two, and roll them in very finely-pounded sugar. Lay them to dry on paper, when the sugar will crystallize round each currant, and have a very pretty effect. All fresh fruit may be prepared in the same manner; and a mixture of various Mother's Cook Book. 221 fruits Iced in this manner, and arranged on one dish, looks very well for a summer dessert TO BOTTLE FRESH FRUIT. (VBBY USEFUL IK WESTER). Fresh fruit, such as currants, raspberries, cherries, gooseberries, plums of all kinds, damsons, etc.; wide-mouthed glass bottles, new corks to fit them tightly. Let the fruit be full grown, but not too ripe, and gathered in dry weather. Pick it off the stalks without bruising or breaking the skin, and reject any that is at all blemished; if gathered in the damp, or if the skins are cut at all, the fruit will mold. Have ready some perfectly dry glass bottles, and some nice new soft corks or bungs; burn a match in each bottle, to exhaust the air, and quickly place the fruit in to be preserved; gently cork the bottles, and put them into a very cool oven, where let them remain until the fruit has shrunk away a fourth part. Then take the bottles out, do not open them, but immediately beat the corks in tight, cut off the tops, and cover them with melted rosin. If kept in a dry place, the fruit will remain good for months; and on this principally depends the success of the preparation, for if stored away in a place that is the least damp, the fruit will soon spoil. TO GREEN FRUIT FOR PRESERVING IN SUGAR OR VINEGAR.