When it is cool put it in a jar for future use.
DRIED CHERRIES, FOR PIES.
524. Pick your cherries, and wash them thoroughly through several waters to remove all the grit. Put them into a stone jar with half a pound of sugar to a pound of cherries, and warm water enough to cover them. Place your jar in a vessel of water and set it where it will keep hot. Let them stand for twelve hours. If the water should soak into the cherries and leave them too dry, add a little more. When they are fully swollen and perfectly soft they are fit for use. If they are not sweet enough add more sugar.
Dried fruits are more tender and juicy cooked in this manner than when they are boiled or stewed.
DRIED APPLES, FOR PIES.
525. Pick and wash them well. Then pour over boiling water enough to cover them. Let them stand all night to soak. In the morning put the apples with the water they were soaked in into your stew-pan, if they have absorbed all the water and are nearly dry, add a little more, simmer them slowly, but do not let them boil. When perfectly soft, pass them through a sieve, and prepare them for pies according to the directions given for apples which have not been dried.
DRIED PEACHES, FOR PIES.
526. These are cooked in the same manner as dried apples (see above,) only they are flavored with a piece of lemon or orange-peel stewed with them.
When they are done, take out the peel and mash them, add sugar to the taste. They require no butter.