| Best ginger, bruised | 10 | oz. |
| Best cloves, bruised | 1 | oz. |
| Cinnamon, bruised | ½ | oz. |
| Rain or soft water | 5 | pints |
which boil five minutes, then simmer for half an hour, in a closely covered pan, strain the liquor through a flannel bag, and add to each pint of it one and a quarter pounds of sifted loaf-sugar, making a syrup, which must be clarified with the white of egg. Boil this, and skim with care till no scum rises. Peel the cucumbers, and cut them in pieces the size and shape of a pigeon’s egg. Simmer two ounces more of bruised ginger, tied in a piece of muslin, in a pint of water, till reduced to a moderate sized teacupful, and add it to the syrup. Take the ginger you first used, put it with the syrup and cucumbers into a clean pan, and boil for ten minutes. Empty all into a clean earthenware jar, and let stand two days and nights. Next pour off the syrup, boil it five minutes, taking off the scum if any arises; then add the cucumbers, boil five minutes longer, and put all back again into the jar, and let stand three days. Return the syrup and the whole of the ginger tied in muslin into the pan, and boil until the syrup adheres to the spoon. Then put in the cucumbers, and boil, a quarter of an hour, when return all into the jar, and let remain twenty-four hours uncovered. Then tie wet bladder well over, and in a month it may be removed into small wide-mouthed glass jars and covered with bladder, and green paper over that. This, as dessert, is an excellent stomachic, assisting digestion in weak habits.
CURRANTS FOR TARTS.
The fruit for these purposes should be gathered on fine days, and only the best used for preserves. Press the juice from the rejected currants, and strain it clear. To each pound of fruit you must allow a pound of the best refined sugar, and make a fine clear syrup of the currant juice and sugar. When it is cold put in your fruit and let it boil until beautifully clear, when you may put it into pots and glass jars, covering with brandy paper and wetted bladder.
TOMATOES.
The fruit here must be taken before it is quite ripe, and if not having lost its green hue quite may be preferable; and for three pounds of fruit take off the thin yellow rinds of two large lemons, and, squeezing out the juice, strain it and put it aside for awhile. Put the juice with the thin rinds into a clean saucepan, with two or three blades of mace, a few peach leaves and a dessert-spoonful of ginger sliced thinly; cover the tomatoes with water barely, and set the pan on a clear fire to simmer half an hour. Then take out the fruit carefully with a spoon and set them on a sieve to cool. Add to the water they were simmered in sugar sufficient to make a thin syrup, which must be poured over the fruit, when placed in a deep dish, boiling hot, and so leave them for four or five days. Then pour out the syrup into a pan, and add sugar to make a strong syrup, into which you may put the tomatoes and simmer them gently until the syrup has entered fully into them. Remove them now from the fire and let them remain unmolested for four or five days longer. If the syrup has now not attained a proper consistence, you may add sugar, and boil until you have got the desired end. Pour now on the fruit while it is hot, and if when cold you are satisfied, make all safe with bladder and leather, and keep in a cool and airy room.
CUCUMBERS.
This is an elegant preserve if well managed. Take two dozen of the finest, largest, and most clear cucumbers, and without seeds. Cut them into pieces, take out the very soft part of the insides, put them into a jar with strong salt and water to cover them, and set them in a warm situation until they become yellow. Now wash them well, and set them in a pan of water, with plenty of fresh cabbage leaves, on the fire, close the lid of the pan, so that no steam can escape, and simmer them until of a fine green colour. If you have not yet attained your object, change the water and leaves, and simmer them again. Then take out the fruit, set it on a sieve to cool, and then into pure cold water for three or four days, changing the water daily. Put into a clean pan four pounds of the best refined sugar, with one quart of pure spring water, boil and skim it well. Then add the rinds of four large lemons pared very thin, and three ounces of the best ginger sliced, and boil all together ten minutes. Take it then off the fire, and when cool put in the cucumbers, and boil them until they are perfectly clear. If their appearance does not fully satisfy you, set them aside for forty-eight hours, and then repeat the boiling, and putting your cucumbers into your pots and glasses, pour the syrup over them, and secure them from the air with bladder and leather, or with paper over the glasses.
GREEN-GAGE PLUMS.
From a peck of this rich fruit, pick out all the largest and most clear. Put a handful of vine leaves into a pan, then a layer of the fruit, and so on, in alternate layers, to the end; fill the vessel up with water, put them over a moderate fire, and let them get thoroughly hot through, skim them well, pour off the water, and put the plums on a sieve to cool. Now take off the peels carefully, and, as you proceed, put them into the water they were heated in, with fresh leaves, and let them boil three minutes, preventing the escape of the steam as much as you possibly can. Let them remain at a moderate distance from the fire seven or eight hours, or until they become green; then put them on a sieve to drain, and then boil them up in a good clear syrup once a day, for three successive days. Then take them up, and place in clean dry glasses and jars; skim the syrup thoroughly over the fire, and, when nearly cold, pour it over the plums, put brandy paper upon them, and cover with bladder. You will have an elegant and very rich preserve.