Do not peel the apples, but wipe each one carefully. Weigh, and allow four and a half pounds of sugar to seven pounds of apples. Put the sugar and fruit in the kettle and add just enough water to cover the lower layer of fruit. Bring slowly to a boil, and cook until the apples are clear and tender, but not broken. When they can be pierced with a stiff straw they are done. Have ready boiling a pint of vinegar that has been spiced with cinnamon, cloves and mace. (The cloves may be whole, the mace and cinnamon broken into bits, and all boiled in the vinegar for ten minutes.) Add the spiced vinegar to the boiling fruit five minutes before the apples are ready to take out. Remove the apples, spread on platters; boil the syrup and vinegar until thick; pack the apples in jars, and fill these to overflowing with the boiling liquid. Seal at once.
Pickled crabapples (No. 2)
Weigh and peel fourteen pounds of Siberian crabapples, and measure out a quart of vinegar and eight pounds of granulated sugar. Put the apples in a kettle with a pint of warm water and stew gently for ten minutes. Drain, remove the apples from the kettle, and then put them back in layers, strewing each layer with sugar. Bring to a boil. Have ready boiling the vinegar, into which has been stirred three tablespoonfuls of broken stick cinnamon and whole cloves, and a tablespoonful of ground mace. Pour this spiced vinegar over the apples and boil for five minutes. With a perforated skimmer remove the fruit, spread it on platters to cool, boil the syrup until thick, pack the apples in jars, and fill the jars with the boiling syrup. Seal immediately.
Pickled beets
Select nice red beets and boil until tender. Plunge each one separately into cold water, and with your hands give a little twist to strip off the skin. Cut lengthwise into strips. Place these, not too closely, in glass jars, leaving room that the liquor may surround each piece. To two quarts of vinegar add four pounds of brown sugar and one-half teaspoonful of alum, powdered. Let this boil. After skimming, add one teaspoonful, each, of cloves, allspice, mustard, a few peppercorns—all unground and tied in a bag. Boil again, adding a little cayenne and salt. Pour over the beets. Next day drain off the syrup, bring to a boil, pour over the beets again, then seal. This pickle will be of a rich red color and very delicious.
Spiced cranberries
These are good with roast duck or game. Wash a quart of cranberries and put them into a saucepan with a half cupful of cold water. Tie in a small cheese-cloth bag a dozen cloves, a dozen allspice, two sticks of cinnamon (broken) and several blades of mace. Put this bag into the cranberries and water, and stew all together until the fruit is broken to bits. Remove the spice bag, rub the berries through a colander, add two teacupfuls of brown sugar, stir over the fire until dissolved, and set away to get cold.
Spiced grapes (No. 1)
Stem, pulp and seed the grapes, then weigh them. To five pounds of fruit allow two and a half pounds of granulated sugar and a teacupful of vinegar. Put all over the fire with two ounces, each, of stick cinnamon, broken into bits, and whole cloves. Boil until very thick. This will take about half an hour. The mixture should be so thick that the juice will not run. When this point is reached put the fruit into jelly glasses set in a pan of hot water. Cover the tops of the glasses with rounds of tissue paper and fasten on metal covers.
The wild or “fox” grape is good for spicing, when half-ripe. The grapes must always be firm, and not overripe.