Make a syrup of one quart of water and one pint of white sugar. Pare and core (without breaking) six tart apples; stew in syrup until tender. Remove the apples to a deep glass dish; then add to the syrup a box of gelatine and cinnamon stick. When thoroughly dissolved, pour over the apples, first removing the cinnamon bark.
STEAMED PEACHES.
From MRS. W. NEWTON LINCH, of Went Virginia, Lady Manager.
Place the fruit in a steamer and allow it to remain until skin can be removed, as that from a scalded tomato. Make a strong syrup of granulated sugar; place the peaches in the jar, pour the syrup over them very hot and seal at once. Steamed peaches make a delightful dish for lunch during their season. Do not make the syrup quite so strong and allow the peaches to get very cold before serving.
QUINCE PRESERVES.
From MRS. M.P. HART, of Ohio, President of State Board and Lady
Manager.
Pare and core the quinces. Put the parings and cores into a kettle with sufficient water to cover them, and let them boil for a short time. Then strain and pour the liquid over the quinces. Let the quinces cook until they are soft before adding the sugar. The quinces and syrup must be boiled until they become transparent and of a rich color. The rule is one pound of sugar to a pound of fruit; a less quantity of sugar will be sufficient if the fruit should be well cooked and carefully sealed.
WATERMELON PRESERVES.
From MRS. H.K. INGRAM, of Florida, Alternate Lady Manager.
Take a thick rind of a ripe watermelon. Cut into small strips, or any desirable fancy shapes; cut off all the red inside part and scrape off all the hard outside shell. Boil the pieces in water with peach or grape leaves and soda, in the proportion of a dozen leaves and a teaspoonful of soda to two quarts of water. When tender, take them out of the water and put them in cold water that has had half a large spoonful of alum dissolved in it. They will then become brittle and green. Let them soak in the alum water for an hour; then rinse in clear, cold water, and boil in a syrup made of equal weight of white sugar. Boil with them lemons cut in thin slices, allowing one lemon to two pounds of rind. Boil fifteen or twenty minutes. When a little cool, add a little essence of ginger, or if not the essence, boil in the syrup with the rinds a little green or ground ginger tied in bits of thin cloth. After three or four days pour the syrup off and boil down to a rich syrup that will just cover the rinds, and pour it over them scalding hot.