Skin the lemons, removing the internal pulp without squeezing it and taking off all seeds.
Put the water on the fire with the skin of one of the lemons cut in a thin ribbon like strip with a small knife. When the water is near boiling put in the sugar then remove the lemon skin and immerse the pulp of the three lemons. Boil until the syrup is condensed and cooked right, which is known by the pearls that it makes boiling and the color of white wine that it acquires. Preserve in a bottle, and when needed, dilute in a tumbler of ice water. A small quantity will make a delightful beverage.
212
HARD BLACK-BERRY SYRUP
(Sciroppo di amarena)
Use hard but ripe black berries. They must be of the sour kind but, as said, they must not be unripe. Remove the stems and put the berries into a vase with a good piece of whole cinnamon. The fermentation will happen after 48 hours and as soon as the berries begin to rise, stir them from time to time. Then press them to extract the juice, with a pressing machine if you have one, or with your hands, squeezing them a few at a time in cheese cloth.—When the liquid has rested for a while, filter it until it becomes quite clear. When it has been depurated, put it on the fire in the following proportion and with the piece of cinnamon that was already immersed in the cherries: Twelve pounds of liquid to sixteen pounds of sugar and two ounces of citric acid, or three parts of liquid to four of sugar and the citric acid as in the above proportion.
Before putting in the sugar and the citric acid wait until the liquid is quite hot, just before boiling. Then stir continually. The boiling must be brief, four or five minutes are sufficient to incorporate the sugar in the liquid.
When removing the syrup from the fire, put it in an earthen vase and bottle when quite cold. Cork the bottles well and keep in a cool place.