Pare thin and halve four pounds of apricots, weighing them after: put them in a dish, and strew among them three pounds of sugar in the finest powder. When it melts, set the fruit over a stove to do very gently. As each piece becomes tender, take it out and put it into a China bowl. When all are done, and the boiling heat a little abated, pour the syrup over them. In a day or two remove the syrup, leaving only a little in each half. In a day or two more turn them; and so continue daily till quite dry, in the sun or a warm place. Keep in boxes with layers of paper.
To preserve Apricots in Jelly.
Pare the fruit very thin, and stone it. Weigh an equal quantity of sugar in fine powder and strew over it. Next day boil very gently till they are clear: move them into a bowl, and pour the liquor over. The following day pour the liquor to a quart of codlin liquor, made by boiling and straining, and a pound of fine sugar: let it boil quickly till it will jelly: put the fruit into it, and give one boil; and having skimmed well, put into small pots.
Applejelly for the above, or any sort of Sweetmeats.
Let apples be pared, quartered, and cored: put them into a stewpan with as much water as will cover them: boil as fast as possible. When the fruit is all in a mash, add a quart of water: boil half an hour more, and run through a jellybag.
If in summer, codlins are best: in September, golden rennets or winter pippins.
To preserve green Apricots.
Lay vine or apricot leaves at the bottom of your pan, then fruit, and so alternately till full, the upper layer being thick with leaves; then fill with spring water, and cover down, that no steam may come out. Set the pan at a distance from the fire, that in four or five hours they may be only soft, but not cracked. Make a thin syrup of some of the water, and drain the fruit. When both are cold, put the fruit into the pan and the syrup to it; put the pan at a proper distance on the fire till the apricots green, but on no account boil or crack: remove them very carefully into a pan with the syrup for two or three days, then pour off as much of it as will be necessary, and boil with more sugar to make a rich syrup, and put a little sliced ginger into it. When cold, and the thin syrup has all been drained from the fruit, pour the thick over it.
To preserve Strawberries whole.
Get the finest scarlets before they are too ripe, with their stalks kept on; lay them separately on a China dish; beat and sift twice their weight of doubly refined sugar over them; then bruise a few ripe strawberries, with their weight of doubly refined sugar, in a China bason, cover it close, and set it in a saucepan of boiling water which will just hold it till the juice comes out and becomes thick; strain it through muslin into a sweetmeat pan, boil it up and skim it. When cold, put in the strawberries, set them over a stove till milk warm, then take the pan off till they are cold, set them on again, and let them become rather hotter, and so for several times till they become clear, but the hottest degree must not come to a boil. When cold, put them into glasses, and pour the syrup over.