Fruit in Brandy

Ingredients

• a pint of brandy
• two parts of sugar
• one of water
• a piece of stick cinnamon

Method

1. 1

   Prick stone fruit, blanch until soft, then rinse in cold water.

2. 2

   Make a syrup by boiling sugar and water.

3. 3

   Add drained fruit to syrup, boil, mix with brandy, and bottle.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The "Queen" cookery books: Pickles and Preserves (1902) by S. Beaty-Pownall, page 15. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Fruit in Brandy.— Take any stone fruit, such as apricots, plums, peaches, <&c. (which, though full grown, should not be dead ripe), prick them all over with a needle, and blanch them sufficiently long to- make them soft. (This requires care, for, though. 30 PICKLES AND PRESERVES. tender, they must not be too soft, as if for compote, when the skin must be thoroughly softened.) When the fruit is ready it will rise to the surface, and must then be lifted out with a skimmer and dropped into cold fresh water, well rinsed, and then drained on a sieve. Meanwhile, make a syrup by boiling sugar and water (in the proportion of two parts of sugar to one of water) together for a minute after the sugar is thoroughly dissolved, then lifting it off from the fire and skimming it carefully ; now return it to the fire and let it boil till, on dipping your finger and thumb into cold water and then into the syrup, you can stretch them to the uttermost without breaking the thread that will form between them ; then run it all through the jelly bag to clear it. (This syrup, if frequently wanted, can be made in .large quantities and bottled off for use as required.) Now lay the well-drained fruit into this syrup, give it one boil up, then lift it off the fire, and measure the syrup ; mix this with the best brandy, allowing two parts brandy to one part syrup, put the fruit into wide-mouthed bottles, pour the brandied syrup over them, being careful to have them thoroughly covered, and when cold cork down the bottles as securely as possible. Pears preserved in this way are very delicious, but, after blanching and rinsing in cold water, must have their rinds taken off very thinly, and be again pricked to the core, and once more rinsed, drained, and finished off precisely as in the preceding recipe. Pine juicy eating pears should .be chosen for this purpose. Cherries in Brandy. — Choose large, well coloured, CANNING AND BOTTLING. 31 perfect, and not over-ripe fruit, cut the stalks half an inch from the fruit, and then arrange the latter in wide-mouthed bottles. Now dissolve good cane loaf sugar, broken small, in brandy, using a pint of brandy for every 21b. of sugar, mix it thoroughly, and when perfectly melted pour it on to the cherries, being careful to cover them thoroughly. Cork the bottles very tightly to make them airtight, aud store them in a very cool place. A clove or two, or a piece of stick cinnamon

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.