Virginia Cookery-book

Cut up your apples ; put them in a kettle and cover with water ; boil till thoroughly done ; strain in a coarse bag ; measure the juice, and to each pint of juice allow a pound of sugar; put the juice on the stove without the sugar, and boil twenty minutes ; while the juice is boiling heat the sugar in a pan inside the stove ; after the juice has boiled twenty minutes add the sugar and stir only until dissolved ; then take off, and pour into glasses ; cut papers out just to fit the inside of the glasses, dip them into brandy, place them on top of the jelly, and cover with close-fitting tin tops. Blackberry Jam. See that the fruit is fresh, as the least acidity will bring to naught all of the preserver's labor, and small fruits gathered in hot weather need particular care in this respect. After carefully picking out any bits of stem, trash, or leaves that may be adhering to your berries, weigh them, and to each pound of fruit add half a pound of nice brown sugar (extra C, say) ; put the berries on, however, by themselves, with a small cup of water to a large kettleful of fruit ; cook them, stirring frequently, until the fruit seems to be reduced to a solid mass almost ; then add the sugar, and half an hour's longer cooking will be sufficient. Some persons add a little powdered ginger for flavoring, but more frequently they are left without seasoning, and are greatly liked in most families for puffs, at the tea-table, and for rolls. Beautiful Jelly Made from Pippin Apples. Pare, core, and drop the pieces of apple into cold water as you get them ready; allow just as much water as will serve to stew them without burning or sticking to the kettle ; do not let them remain on the fire any longer than is necessary to cook them tender ; strain clear through a coarse flannel bag, without squeezing or shaking even, if it can be helped ; pare the rinds from two lemons to five pounds of apples, and boil them with the apples before they are strained, the juice also being squeezed into them. To each pint of apple-juice allow three-quarters of a pound of cracked loaf-sugar, or other that you know to be pure ; put them together in a kettle on a charcoal furnace, seeing that the fire bums briskly from the very first ; boil fast for twenty minutes, and then put into glasses, dropping a little of the jelly into each glass, so as to heat it gradually and prevent breakage. The result is a sparklingly clear and beautiful jelly. Blackberry Preserves Differ from jam in having the proportion of sugar increased to three-quarters of a pound to one of fruit. Then the berries are left whole as much as possible, the sugar put on at once when the preserves are set to boil, and only one hour allowed for the whole process, while four should be allowed for jam. To Preserve Cherries. If one wishes a pretty preserve for an ornamental dish choose the wax or carnation cherry. Do not seed them, or even pull off their short stems, for, if nicely done, they will not shrink and be so transparent that the stone can be seen through the skin. Allow a pound of best white sugar to a pound of fruit ; make a sirup of one pint of water to a pound of sugar ; when boiled and skimmed clear add as many cherries as can cook at one time without being crowded ; when the first parcel has been in