Boil one third as much sugar as fruit with it, over a slow fire, till the juice adheres to the fruit, and forms a jam. Keep it in small jars in a dry place. If too sweet, mix with it some of the fruit that is done without sugar.
Another way.
Choose steep pots if you can get them, which are of equal size top and bottom (they should hold eight or nine pounds): put the fruit in about a quarter up, then strew in a quarter of the sugar, then another quantity of fruit, and so till all of both are in. The proportion of sugar is to be three pounds to nine pounds of fruit. Set the jars in the oven, and bake the fruit quite through. When cold, put a piece of clean scraped stick into the middle of the jar, and let the upper part stand above the top; then pour melted mutton suet over the top, full half an inch thick, having previously covered the fruit with white paper. Keep the jars in a cold dry place, and use the suet as a cover, which you will draw up by the stick; minding to leave a little forked branch to it to prevent its slipping out.
Observations on Sweetmeats.
Sweetmeats should be kept in a very dry place. Unless they have a very small proportion of sugar, a warm one does not hurt; but when not properly boiled, that is, long enough, but not quick, heat makes them ferment, and damp causes them to grow mouldy. They should be looked at two or three times in the first two months, that they may be gently boiled again, if not likely to keep.
It is necessary to observe, that sugar being boiled more or less, constitutes the chief art of the confectioner; and those who are not practised in this knowledge, and only preserve in a plain way for family use, are not aware that, in two or three minutes, a syrup over the fire will pass from one gradation to another, called, by the confectioners, degrees of boiling, of which there are six, and those subdivided. But I am not versed in the minutia; and only make the observation to guard against under boiling, which prevents sweetmeats from keeping; and quick boiling and long, which brings them to candy.
Attention, without much practice, will enable a person to do any of the following sorts of sweetmeats, &c. and they are as much as is wanted in a private family; and the higher articles of preserved fruits may be bought at less expense than made.
A pan should be kept for the purpose of preserving, of double blocktin. A bow handle opposite the straight one, for safety, will do very well; and, if put by nicely cleaned, in a dry place, when done with, will last for several years. Those of copper or brass are improper, as the tinning wears out by the scraping of the sweetmeat ladle. There is a new sort of iron, with a strong tinning, which promises to wear long. Sieves and spoons should be kept likewise for sweet things.
To clarify Sugar.
Break as much as required in large lumps, and put a pound to half a pint of water, in a bowl, and it will dissolve better than when broken small. Set it over the fire, and the well whipt white of an egg: let it boil up, and, when ready to run over, pour a little cold water in it to give it a check; but when it rises a second time, take it off the fire, and set it by in the pan for a quarter of an hour: during which time the foulness will sink to the bottom, and leave a black scum on the top; which take off gently with a skimmer, and pour the syrup into a vessel very quickly from the sediment.