This preparation of pine-apples is far superior to the usual method of preserving it in slices. It will be found very fine for filling tart-shells, and for jelly-cake.
ORANGE DROPS.—
Squeeze through a strainer the juice of a dozen or more ripe oranges. Have ready some of the best double refined loaf-sugar, powdered as fine as possible, and sifted. Mix gradually the sugar with the juice, till it is so thick you can scarcely stir it. Put it into a porcelain skillet. Set it on hot coals, or over a moderate fire, and stir it hard with a wooden spoon for five minutes after it begins to boil. Then take it off the fire, and with a silver spoon or the point of a broad knife, drop portions of the mixture upon a flat tin pan or a pewter dish, smoothing the drops, and making them of good shape and regular size, which should be about that of a cent. When cold they will easily come off the tin. They are delicious, if properly made. Never use extract or oil of orange for them, or for any thing else. It will make them taste like turpentine, and render them uneatable. Confectioners form these drops in moulds made for the purpose.
Lemon drops may be prepared in the same manner.
FINE LEMON SYRUP.—
The best time for making lemon syrup is early in the spring. Lemons are then plenty, and the syrup mixed with ice-water, makes a pleasant beverage for summer. It is best and cheapest to buy lemons by the box. Before using them for any purpose, each lemon should be wiped well, and then rolled hard under your hand upon a table to soften them and increase the juice. Two dozen large ripe lemons will generally yield about a quart of juice if pressed with a wooden lemon-squeezer; but it is best to have a few extra ones at hand, in case they should be required. To a quart of juice allow six pounds of the best loaf-sugar, broken up; on pieces of which rub off the yellow rind or zest of the lemons. The white part of the skin is useless and injurious. Put all the sugar into a large porcelain preserving-kettle. Beat to a stiff froth the whites of two eggs, mix it gradually with a quart of clear soft water, and then add it to the sugar. Stir the sugar while it is melting in the water, and when all is dissolved, place the kettle over the fire, and boil and skim it till perfectly clear, and the scum ceases to rise, and the particles of lemon zest are no longer visible. Meanwhile, squeeze the lemons through a strainer into a large pitcher, till you have a quart of juice. When the sugar has boiled sufficiently, and is quite clear, stir in gradually the lemon-juice, cover the kettle and let it boil ten minutes longer. When cool put it into clean, clear glass bottles, either quite new ones or some that have already contained lemon syrup. The bottles should first be rinsed with brandy. Cork them tightly and seal the corks. Orange syrup may be made in a similar manner omitting to use the grated yellow rind of the oranges, (it being too pungent for this purpose,) and substituting for it a double quantity of the juice; for instance, allowing two quarts of juice to six pounds of sugar.
CROQUANT CAKE.—
Take three quarters of a pound of almonds, (of which two ounces, or more, should be the bitter sort,) and blanch and slice them. Powder three quarters of a pound of fine white sugar. Sift three quarters of a pound of flour, and slice half a pound of citron. Mix together the almond and citron, on a flat dish, and sprinkle among them flour from the dredging-box, till they are white all over. Beat six eggs as light as possible, till they are very thick and smooth. Then mix them gradually with the sugar, almond, and citron, stirring very hard. Lastly, stir in, by degrees, the sifted flour. Butter a tin pan or pans, and put in the mixture about an inch deep. Bake it; and when cool, cut it into narrow slices about an inch wide, and five inches long. To make them keep a long time, lay them on shallow tins, and give them a second baking. Put the cakes into a stone jar, and they will keep a year or more, after this double baking.
SASSAFRAS MEAD.—
Mix gradually with two quarts of boiling water, three pounds and a half of the best brown sugar, a pint and a half of good West India molasses, and a quarter of a pound of tartaric acid. Stir it well, and when cool, strain it into a large jug or pan, then mix in a tea-spoonful (not more) of essence of sassafras. Transfer it to clean bottles, (it will fill about half a dozen,) cork it tightly, and keep it in a cool place. It will be fit for use next day. Put into a box or boxes a quarter of a pound of carbonate of soda, to use with it. To prepare a glass of sassafras mead for drinking, put a large table-spoonful of the mead into a half tumbler full of ice-water, stir into it a half tea-spoonful of the soda, and it will immediately foam up to the top.