Preserved Pears.
Make a syrup like that for the peaches, allowing one quart of water to three pounds of sugar and nine pounds of pears.
Pare the pears with a silver knife and drop them in a bowl of cold water to preserve the color. On taking them from the water drop them into the boiling syrup. Cook them gently until they can be easily pierced with a silver fork. The time depends upon the ripeness of the fruit. The pears may be preserved whole or in halves. Put the cooked fruit into hot jars, and, after filling up with boiling syrup, seal.
Crab Apples.
Make the syrup as for peaches; allowing, however, half a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. Clean the blossom end of the apples by rubbing, and drop them into water. Wash and drain them. Drop them, a few at a time, into the hot syrup, and cook until they can be pierced with a silver fork. Fill the jars with the fruit, and, after filling up with hot syrup, seal the jars.
The stems are left on crab apples.
Preserved Plums.
Make the syrup for the large white plums the same as for crab apples. Peel the plums by plunging in boiling water, like peaches. Cook and finish the same as crab apples.
Preserved Damson Plums.
These are preserved the same as the white plums, except that they are not peeled. They will cook in about three minutes.