Virginia Cookery-book

Put twelve pounds of fruit in a bowl, and cover it with two quarts of water, previously acidulated with five ounces of tartaric acid. Let it remain so for forty-eight hours ; then strain it, taking care not to bruise the fruit. To one pint of clear juice add one pound of powdered loaf-sugar ; stir it till dissolved ; then leave it for a few days ; then bottle it ; tie a muslin cloth over the mouth in case a slight fermentation should occur, and in a week or ten days, being secure against further trouble, cork tightly ; the whole process to be cold ; the bottle, when put away, to be kept erect. Do not use any tin vessel in making the acid. By this same recipe any berry or small fruit may be preserved for an indefinite period, furnishing the most refreshing drinks in warm weather by the simple addition of ice-water; by their bright colors enlivening the tables of temperance people who do not care to have recourse to wine. As a flavoring for icecreams they are invaluable, and beautiful jellies may also be made through their help. Raspberry Vinegar. Put one gallon of ripe garden raspberries in a bowl or gtone jar, and pour over them one quart of strong, well- flavored vinegar, which must be light in color ; mash the berries up well with a wooden masher ; let them stand twenty-four hours, and then strain them through a flannel bag. Pour the liquid thus obtained over another gallon of fresh berries ; strain in the same manner, and then use a third gallon. When the last is prepared, put it in a tall stone jar, with one pound of white sugar to each pint of vinegar. As soon as the sugar is melted stir it well, and put the jar in a pan of water over the fire, where it may simmer for some time ; skim carefully, until nothing more rises to the surface, when it must be taken from the fire, allowed to cool, and then bottled. There is something peculiarly grateful in the flavor of raspberry vinegar ; but for those who shrink from the tediousness of the process, raspberry acid made by the preceding recipe will be found satisfactory we are sure. Rose Brandy for Flavoring. Gather leaves from fragrant roses, without bruising ; fill a pitcher with them, and cover them with French brandy ; next day pour off the brandy, take out the leaves, and fill the pitcher with fresh ones, and return the brandy. Do this until it is strongly impregnated ; then bottle it. Keep the pitcher closely covered during the process. It is better than distilled rose-water for cakes, etc. To Make Lemon Sirup. In the spring, when lemons are cheap, a large family would always find it to their advantage to buy a whole box. Some dozens squeezed, and the juice made into sirup, enables one to have lemonade at a moment's notice for months, and give much needed refreshment to the sick or weary. To two pounds of loaf or crushed sugar put two pints of water and the juice of eight good lemons. All is boiled for about twenty minutes with the rind of three. After the sugar-water and rind are boiled and skimmed till clear, yon then add the juice, not to be strained till the simp is done ; when boiled for about five minutes, take it off the fire, strain and bottle it. This quantity makes two quart-bottles full, bringing the cost to from twenty to thirty cents each. Cherry Shrub.