Preserved Peaches.
The peaches should be sound and ripe. Weigh the fruit, and for every nine pounds make a syrup with three pounds of sugar and one pint of water; skimming the syrup as soon as it boils up.
Have ready a kettle of boiling water and a bowl of cold water. Fill a wire basket with peaches and plunge into the boiling water for two minutes. Lift the basket from the water and turn the peaches into a bowl. Pare them, and drop them into the cold water. This is to preserve the color.
Drop the peaches, a few at a time, into the boiling syrup. Cook them until they are heated through, and are tender; then put in a hot jar as many as will go in without crowding, and fill up with syrup. Cover the jar at once.
If many peaches are to be preserved it is best to make the syrup in several lots, as otherwise the long cooking, together with the fruit juice, will make it dark.