ANOTHER GOOD COMMON PRESERVE.
Boil together, in equal or unequal portions (for this is immaterial), any kinds of early fruit, until they can be pressed through a sieve; weigh, and then boil the pulp over a brisk fire for half an hour; add half a pound of sugar for each pound of fruit, and again boil the preserve quickly, keeping it well stirred and skimmed, from fifteen to twenty minutes. Cherries, unless they be morellas, must first be stewed tender apart, as they will require a much longer time to make them so than any other of the first summer fruits.
A GOOD MÉLANGE, OR MIXED PRESERVE.
Boil for three-quarters of an hour in two pounds of clear red gooseberry juice, one pound of very ripe greengages, weighed after they have been pared and stoned; then stir to them one pound and a half of good sugar, and boil them quickly again for twenty minutes. If the quantity of preserve be much increased, the time of boiling it must be so likewise: this is always better done before the sugar is added.
Juice of ripe gooseberries, 2 lbs.; greengages, pared and stoned, 1 lb.: 3/4 hour. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes.
GROSEILLÉE.
(Another good preserve.)
Cut the tops and stalks from a gallon or more of well-flavoured ripe gooseberries, throw them into a large preserving-pan, boil them for ten minutes, and stir them often with a wooden spoon; then pass both the juice and pulp through a fine sieve, and to every three pounds’ weight of these add half a pint of raspberry-juice, and boil the whole briskly for three-quarters of an hour; draw the pan aside, stir in for the above portion of fruit, two pounds of sugar, and when it is dissolved renew the boiling for fifteen minutes longer. Ripe gooseberries, boiled 10 minutes. Pulp and juice of gooseberries, 6 lbs.; raspberry-juice, 1 pint: 3/4 hour. Sugar, 4 lbs.: 15 minutes.
Obs.—When more convenient, a portion of raspberries can be boiled with the gooseberries at first.