Prepared quince-juice, 2 lbs.; apples, 2 lbs.: 3/4 to 1 hour. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes.
QUINCE PASTE.
If the full flavour of the quinces be desired, stew them sufficiently tender to press through a sieve, in the prepared juice of page [456], otherwise, in just water enough to about three parts cover them; when they are soft quite through lift them out, let them cool, and then pass them through a sieve; reduce them to a dry paste over a very clear fire, and stir them constantly; then weigh the fruit, and mix it with an equal proportion of pounded sugar, or sugar boiled to candy height (we find the effect nearly the same, whichever method be pursued), and stir the paste without intermission until it is again so dry as to quit the pan and adhere to the spoon in one large ball; press it into shallow pans or dishes; cut it, as soon as cold, into small squares, and should they seem to require it, dry them with a very gentle degree of heat, and when they are again cold store them in tin cases with well-dried foolscap paper between them: the paste may be moulded, when more convenient, and kept until it is wanted for table, in a very dry place. In France, where the fruit is admirably confected, the pâte de coigns, or quince paste, is somewhat less boiled than we have directed, and dried afterwards in the sun, or in an extremely gentle oven, in square tin frames, about an inch and a half deep, placed upon clean slates.
JELLY OF SIBERIAN CRABS.
This fruit makes a jelly of beautiful colour, and of pleasant flavour also: it may be stored in small moulds of ornamental shape, and turned out for rice-crust. Take off the stalks, weigh, and wash the crabs; then, to each pound and a half, add a pint of water and boil them gently until they are broken, but do not allow them to fall to a pulp. Pour the whole into a jelly-bag, and when the juice is quite transparent, weigh it, put it into a clean preserving-pan, boil it quickly for fifteen minutes, take it from the fire, and stir in it until dissolved three-quarters of a pound of fine sugar roughly powdered to each pound of the juice; boil the jelly from fifteen to twenty minutes, skim it very clean, and pour it into the moulds. Should the quantity be large, a few additional minutes’ boiling must be given to the juice before the sugar is added.
To each 1-1/2 lb. of crabs; water, 1 pint: 12 to 18 minutes. Juice to be fast boiled, 15 minutes; sugar, to each pound, 3/4 lb.; 15 to 20 minutes.
TO PRESERVE BARBERRIES IN BUNCHES.
Take the finest barberries without stones that can be procured, tie them together in bunches of four or five sprigs, and for each half pound of the fruit (which is extremely light), boil one pound of very good sugar in a pint of water for twenty minutes, and clear it well from scum; throw in the fruit, let it heat gently, and then boil from five to seven minutes, when it will be perfectly transparent. So long as any snapping noise is heard the fruit is not all done; it should be pressed equally down into the syrup until the whole of the berries have burst; and should then be turned into jars, which must be covered with skin or two or three folds of thick paper, as soon as the preserve is perfectly cold. The barberries thus prepared make a beautiful garnish for sweet dishes, or for puddings.
Barberries, tied in bunches, 1-1/2 lb.; sugar 3 lbs.; water 1-1/2 pint: 20 minutes. Barberries boiled in syrup: 5 to 7 minutes.