437. Prepare the fruit by pricking each one with a needle to prevent them from bursting.
Leave a portion of the stem on each, as it gives small fruits a handsome appearance on the table. Make a syrup of a pound of sugar to each pound of fruit; and a gill of water to a pound of sugar. Add a quarter of an ounce of isinglass, dissolved in warm water, to every six pounds of sugar. When the sugar is dissolved put it with the dissolved isinglass over the fire, boil and skim it. Then pour it out of the kettle, wash the kettle, put the syrup back again, put in the fruit, and boil it till by holding one towards the light it looks clear. Take the gages out one at a time, strain the syrup; put the fruit in jars, and pour the syrup over warm. Paste them up the next day.
PRESERVED PLUMS.
438. These are preserved in the same manner as gages, only they are skinned by pouring hot water over them; the skins will peel off nicely and leave the stems attached to the fruit.
STRAWBERRY JAM.
439. Put together equal weights of fruit and sugar, mash all well, put it into a preserving kettle, and boil it about twenty minutes. While it is warm put it in jars, and paste it when cold.
CHERRY JAM.
440. This is better when made of fine morella cherries. Wash the cherries and put them on to stew with a gill of water to a pound of fruit. When perfectly tender, pass them through a colander to extract the stones. To a pound of the pulp add a pound of sugar, when the sugar is dissolved put it over the fire, and boil it to a smooth paste.
RASPBERRY JAM.
441. To a pound of fruit weigh a pound of sugar; mash the fruit in a pan with a wooden spoon; put the sugar to it, and boil it hard for fifteen or twenty minutes.