Plum Marmalade.—Choose plums that are fully ripe. Allow to each pound a pound and a half of sugar. Scald them till the skins peel off easily, and extract all the stones. Lay them in the sugar for two or three hours or more, and then boil them till they become a thick smooth mass. Green-gages the same.
Raspberry Jam.—To every quart of fine ripe raspberries allow a pound of best loaf sugar, powdered. Put them together into a broad white-ware pan, and let them rest for two or three hours. Then boil them in an uncovered porcelain kettle, taking off the scum carefully. When no more scum rises, mash them, and boil them to a smooth thick marmalade. When cold, put it up in half pint tumblers, and cover them with rounds of double tissue paper, cut exactly to fit, and then with thick white paper dipped in brandy.
Strawberry Jam.—The strawberries must be quite ripe, and very fine. Allow to each quart a pound of powdered loaf sugar. Put them into a large white-ware pan; a layer of sugar and a layer of strawberries alternately, finishing with strawberries on the top. Let them rest in the sugar and juice three or four hours. Then boil and skim them till they become very thick and smooth. When cold, put them up in tumblers, with double tissue paper over the top. Blackberry jam is made in the same manner.
Gooseberry Jam.—Top and tail the gooseberries, which must be thoroughly ripe, and with thin skins. They require to every pound of fruit a pound and a half of sugar of the best sort. Mash them with a wooden beetle, and put them with all the sugar into an uncovered porcelain kettle, and boil and skim them. When half done add more sugar, and continue boiling till they are a very thick marmalade. When cold, cover the tumblers with brandy paper.
Pine-apple Marmalade.—Take the best and ripest pine-apples; remove the leaves, and split each pine-apple into four pieces, and cut out the core from the centre. Stand the pieces upright in a deep dish, and, with a large coarse grater grate down all the flesh of the fruit, as it is called. To every pint of grated pine-apple allow a pound of powdered loaf sugar, and put them together in a large tureen. Let them rest two hours. Then transfer the whole to a porcelain kettle. Leave it uncovered; and boil, skim, and stir, till it becomes a very thick marmalade. When cool, put it up in glass jars. It is a very nice sweetmeat, particularly for shells or tarts.
Grape Marmalade.—Take a sufficiency of fine grapes, thoroughly ripe. Having picked them from the stems, mash them with a wooden beetle, and then press them through a sieve. To every pint of the pulp allow a pound of powdered sugar, well mixed in; let it stand an hour or two. Then boil it, uncovered, in a porcelain kettle, skimming and stirring well, till it is very thick and smooth. When cool, put it up in small marmalade pots of white-ware with lids, and paste a band of thick white paper round each, at the small crack where the cover fits on. A good marmalade for the backwoods may be made of wild grapes and maple sugar.
Cherry Marmalade.—If you cannot procure morellas, (the best of all cherries for sweetmeats) use the large Virginia or carnation cherries. Black cherries are unfit for cooking. Stem and stone your cherries, saving all the juice you can. Allow a pound of powdered loaf sugar to every pint of cherries. Boil the fruit and the sugar together, uncovered, for an hour, skimming and stirring. When cool, put it in white-ware marmalade pots and paste the lids.
Orange Marmalade.—Quarter some large ripe oranges, and remove the rind, the seeds, and the strings or filaments, taking care to save all the juice. Put the pulp, with the juice, into a porcelain kettle, and mix with it an equal quantity of strained honey, adding sufficient powdered loaf sugar to render it very thick and sweet. The honey alone will not make it sweet enough. Boil it uncovered, and skim it till very thick, smooth, and clear. Taste it, and if necessary add more sugar, and boil it longer. When cold, put it up in tumblers or white-ware marmalade pots, and cover it securely. This marmalade is exquisite, and very superior to any other.
Orange Milk.—Take four dozen large ripe juicy oranges, and roll them under your hand. Cut them in two; remove the seeds, and squeeze the juice into a large clean stone jar. Have ready four pounds of the best double-refined loaf sugar, dissolved in a gallon of French brandy. Pour it into the jar that contains the orange juice; stir the mixture well, and add the yellow rind of the oranges, pared so thin from the white as to be transparent, and divide it into bits. Cover the jar, and let it stand four days, stirring it frequently. Then take a gallon of new unskimmed milk, (the morning's milk of that day,) boil it alone, and when it comes to a hard boil pour it into the mixture of orange, sugar, and brandy. Cover it closely, and let it stand till quite cold. Then strain it into another vessel through a linen jelly bag. Bottle it immediately, and seal the corks. It improves by keeping. To use it, pour it out in half tumblers, and fill up with ice water, or serve it round undiluted in small cordial glasses, after ice-cream. It is much admired, and in orange countries may be made in large quantities. Lemon milk is made in the same manner, having a larger proportion of sugar.
Fruit in Syrups.—Make a syrup in the proportion of half a pint of water to every pound of sugar, and a pint of the juice of any sort of fine ripe fruit. Boil and skim it till very clear, but not till it congeals or jellies. Then bottle it, and cork the bottles. As the fresh fruit comes again into season, select the finest, largest, and ripest. For instance, half fill a white-ware preserve jar with fine fresh strawberries, and fill up from a bottle of strawberry syrup; or ripe raspberries with raspberry syrup; currants, with currant syrup, &c. Cover them closely till wanted for immediate use.