Take those that are ripe, and perfectly fresh—pare off the rind, and cut the apples in slices an inch thick. Powder the same weight of white sugar as you have pine apples—lay the pine apples in a deep dish, and sprinkle part of the powdered sugar between each layer of apples. Reserve about half of the sugar. Let the apples remain till the succeeding day—then turn the syrup from them, and mix it with the reserved sugar, and half a pint of water, for three or four pounds of pine apple. Boil the syrup, take it from the fire, and when cool, put in the apples, simmer them gently till tender, let them remain in a deep dish for several days—they should be covered up tight, and kept in a cool place. Whenever there is any appearance of fermentation, turn the syrup from them, scald it, and turn it back hot on to the pine apples. Keep them in glass or china jars, covered tight, and in a cool place.
Take what quantity you choose of a good sweet pumpkin, (the butter pumpkin makes the nicest sweetmeats.) Halve the pumpkin, take out the seeds, and cut it into chips of the size of a dollar. For each pound of the pumpkin to be preserved, allow a pound of fine white sugar, and a gill of lemon-juice. Put the chips in a deep dish, and sprinkle on each layer a layer of the sugar. Turn the lemon-juice over the whole. Let it remain a day—then boil the whole together, with half a pint of water to three pounds of the pumpkin, a table-spoonful of powdered ginger, tied up in bags, and the peel of the lemons, cut into small pieces. When the pumpkin becomes tender, turn the whole into a preserve pot. In the course of a week, turn the syrup from the pumpkin, boil it to a rich syrup, and turn it back hot.
Allow equal weights of sugar and gages. Make a syrup of white sugar, and just water enough to cover the plums. Boil the plums slowly in the syrup ten minutes—turn them into a dish, and let them remain four or five days, then boil them again, till the syrup appears to have entered the plums. Put them in a china jar, and in the course of a week turn the syrup from them, scald it, and turn it over them hot.
Procure Chili or field strawberries, and hull them. Take equal quantities of berries, and powdered white sugar—put a layer of each in a preserving pan, having a layer of strawberries at the bottom. Let them remain an hour, then put in a gill of cold water, to prevent their burning to the bottom of the pan. Set them on a very moderate fire—when the juice runs freely, increase the fire, until they boil briskly. Let them boil half an hour, then turn them into a dish—when lukewarm, put them in wide-mouthed bottles, or small glass jars, cork and seal them tight, and keep them in dry sand.
328. Raspberry and Blackberry Jam.
For each pound of berries, allow a pound of sugar. Put a layer of each alternately in a preserving dish. Let them remain half an hour—then boil them slowly, stirring them frequently, to keep them from burning. When they have boiled half an hour, take a little up in a cup, and set it in a dish of cold water—if it appears of the consistency of thick jelly, take the whole from the fire—if not, boil it till it becomes so.