Strip the fruit, put it into a stone jar, set the jar in a saucepan of water, and stew it to boiling on the stove. Strain off the liquor, and to every pint allow a pound of loaf sugar. Mix the fruit and the sugar in lumps in a stone vessel, but not till the sugar is nearly dissolved: then put it in a preserving-pan, and simmer and strain it till it is quite clear. When it will jelly on a plate, it is done, and may be put into pots.
Fruit, to preserve green.
Take green pippins, pears, plums, apricots, or peaches; put them into a preserving-pan; cover them with vine-leaves, and then with clear spring water. Put on the cover of the pan, and set them over a very clear fire; take them off as soon as they begin to simmer, and take them carefully out with a slice. Then peel and preserve them as other fruit.
Fruit of all sorts, to scald.
Put your fruit into scalding water, sufficient nearly to cover it; set it over a slow fire, and keep it in a scald till tender, turning the fruit where the water does not cover. When it is very tender, lay paper close to it, and let it stand till it is cold. Then, to a pound of fruit put half a pound of sugar, and let it boil, but not too fast, till it looks clear. All fruit must be done whole, excepting pippins, and they are best in halves or quarters, with a little orange-peel and the juice of lemon.
Gingerbread. No. 1.
To a pound and a half of flour add one pound of treacle, almost as much sugar, an ounce of beaten ginger, two ounces of caraway seeds, four ounces of citron and lemon-peel candied, and the yolks of four eggs. Cut your sweetmeats, mix all, and bake it in large cakes, or tin plates.
Gingerbread. No. 2.
Into one pound and a half of flour work three quarters of a pound of butter; add three quarters of a pound of treacle, two ounces of sugar, half an ounce of ginger, a little orange-peel beaten and sifted. Some take a pound and a quarter of treacle and two ounces of ginger.