Having washed your crab apples, (which should be full grown,) cover the bottom and sides of your preserving kettle with vine leaves, and put them in; spreading a thick layer of vine leaves over them. Fill up the kettle with cold water, and hang it over a slow fire early in the morning; simmer them slowly, but do not allow them to boil. When they are quite yellow, take them out, peel off the skin with a penknife, and extract the cores very neatly. Put them again into the kettle with fresh vine leaves and fresh water, and hang them again over a slow fire to simmer, but not to boil. When they have remained long enough in the second vine leaves to become green, take them out, weigh them, and allow a pound and a half of loaf-sugar to each pound of crab apples. Then after the kettle has been well washed and wiped, put them into it with a thick layer of sugar between each layer of apples, and about half a pint of water, for each pound and a half of sugar. You may add the juice and yellow peel of some lemons. Boil them gently till they are quite clear and tender throughout. Skim them well, and keep the kettle covered when you are not skimming. When done, spread them on large dishes to cool, and then tie them up in glass jars with brandy papers.
TO PRESERVE RED CRAB APPLES.—
Take red or Siberian crab apples when they are quite ripe and the seeds are black. Wash and wipe them, and put them into a kettle with sufficient water to cover them. Simmer them very slowly till you find that the skin will come off easily. Then take them out and peel and core them; extract the cores carefully with a small knife, so as not to break the apples. Then weigh them, and to every pound of crab apples allow a pound and a half of loaf-sugar and a half pint of water. Put the sugar and water into a preserving kettle, and when they are melted together, set it over the fire and let it boil. After skimming it once, put in the crab apples, adding a little cochineal powder rubbed with a knife into a very small quantity of white brandy till it has dissolved. This will greatly improve the colour of the apples. Cover them and let them boil till clear and tender, skimming the syrup when necessary. Then spread them out on dishes, and when they are cold, put them into glass jars and pour the syrup over them.
The flavour will be greatly improved by boiling with them in the syrup, a due proportion of lemon-juice and the peel of the lemons pared thin so as to have the yellow part only. If you use lemon-juice put a smaller quantity of water to the sugar. Allow one large lemon or two smaller ones to two pounds of crab apples.
If you find that after they have been kept awhile, the syrup inclines to become dry or candied, give it another boil with the crab apples in it, adding a tea-cup full of water to about three or four pounds of the sweetmeat.
TO PRESERVE GREEN GAGES.
Take large fine green gages that are all perfectly ripe. Weigh them, and to each pound of fruit allow a pound and a half of loaf-sugar. Put a layer of fresh vine leaves at the bottom of a porcelain preserving kettle, place on it a layer of gages, then cover them with a layer of vine leaves, and so on alternately, finishing with a layer of leaves at the top. Fill up the kettle with hard water, and set it over a slow fire. When the gages rise to the top, take them out and peel them, putting them on a sieve as you do so. Then replace them in the kettle with fresh vine leaves and water; cover them very closely, so that no steam can escape, and hang them up at some distance above the fire to green slowly for six hours. They should be warm all the time, but must not boil. When they are a fine green, take them carefully out, spread them on a hair sieve to drain, and make a syrup of the sugar, allowing a half pint of water to each pound and a half of sugar. When it has boiled and been skimmed, put in the green gages and boil them gently for a quarter of an hour. Then take them out and spread them to cool. Next day boil them in the same syrup for another quarter of an hour. When cold, put them into glass jars with the syrup, and tie them up with brandy paper.
You may green these, or any other sweetmeats, by substituting for the vine-leaves, layers of the fresh green husks that inclose the ears of young indian corn.
TO PRESERVE PLUMS.—
Take fine ripe plums: weigh them, and to each pound allow a pound and a half of loaf-sugar. Put them into a pan, and scald them in boiling water to make the skins come off easily. Peel them, and throw them as you do so into a large china pitcher. Let them set for an hour or two, and then take them out, saving all the juice that has exuded from them while in the pitcher. Spread the plums out on large dishes, and cover them with half the sugar you have allotted to them, (it must be previously powdered,) and let them lie in it all night. Next morning pour the juice out of the pitcher into a porcelain preserving kettle, add the last half of the sugar to it, and let it melt over the fire. When it has boiled skim it, and then put in the plums. Boil them over a moderate fire, for about half an hour. Then take them out one by one with a spoon, and spread them on large dishes to cool. If the syrup is not sufficiently thick and clear, boil and skim it a little longer till it is. Put the plums into glass jars and pour the syrup warm over them.