Rhubarb jam requires the addition of a little root-ginger and a few strips of lemon-peel.
Orange Marmalade.—Allow for every pound of oranges one pint of water and three-quarters of a pound of sugar.
Pare Seville oranges very thin, and boil the rind till tender. Boil it in plenty of water for about three-quarters of an hour. At the end of this time the orange rind should be so tender that a straw will pierce it. Then cut it into very thin strips about half an inch long. Take off the tough white coat of each orange, and throw it away. Then scrape out the pulp and juice very carefully, and throw the pips into cold water. When they have remained in the water for a short time, squeeze them through a cloth, and add a pint of the water in which the pips have been soaked to every three-quarters of a pound of the sugar. The reason for steeping the pips is that they yield a glutinous substance, which adds richness to the marmalade. Boil the syrup for twenty minutes, allowing three-quarters of a pound of sugar and one pint of water to every pound of orange pulp. Put the pulp and juice into the syrup, and boil for half an hour, carefully skimming off the scum as it rises. During the last five minutes add the shreds of orange-peel. Put the marmalade into pots, and tie them down next day.
Clear Orange Marmalade.—In this marmalade there are no shreds of orange-peel. Cut the oranges in half after they are peeled and freed from the white skin. Boil them for three-quarters of an hour, allowing one pint of water to twelve oranges. Strain off the juice, and boil it up sharp for ten minutes. Allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar to every pint of juice. Boil for twenty or five-and-twenty minutes till it jellies. Four oranges make a pound pot of marmalade. It is an improvement if half the peel taken from the oranges is grated finely, and boiled with the oranges.
Quince Marmalade.—Scald the quinces, pare, core, and quarter them. To four pounds of fruit add three pounds and a half of sugar. Take three pints of the water the quinces were scalded in, and boil in it both the parings and the cores. Strain the water, and add it to the quinces and the sugar. Let it stand all night. Next day set the quinces over a slow fire, and bring them very gradually to the boil, skimming and stirring them all the time they are cooking.
Crab-apples, Siberian crab-apples, and the fruit of the Pyrus Japonica, or Japanese quince, all make excellent preserve.
Crab-apple Marmalade.—Parboil the crab-apples, and pulp them through a sieve or colander. Pare six large common apples, boil them till quite soft, and pass them through the sieve, when they will yield all the liquid they contain. To every quart of crab-apple pulp add one gill of the liquid from the common apples; and allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar to every pound of pulp. Boil all together for fifteen minutes, stirring the whole time.
Fruit Jellies.—In making fruit jellies only the clear juice extracted from the fruit is used. The fruit must be softened by being placed in a jar set in boiling water, after which the juice must be allowed to drip through a hair sieve or a piece of canvas. The fruit must on no account be squeezed or rubbed with the hand or spoon, but it may be pressed down by a plate with a weight set upon it. Boil the juice for ten minutes, weigh it, and when it boils up again, add half a pound of sugar to every pint of juice. Then boil the whole sharp for five or ten minutes more, skimming off all scum.
Clear Apple Jelly.—Pare and core half a peck of green apples, cut them up, and drop them as you cut them into two quarts of water. Pare two small lemons, cut them up, removing the pips, and add them to the apples, reserving the lemon-peel. Put the apple-parings and the cores with the apples, and boil all together very slowly till the fruit is quite a pulp. Then strain it through a jelly-bag, and to every pint of liquid add half a pound of lump sugar. Boil the whole very fast with the peel of the two lemons, skimming thoroughly all the time. It ought to jelly in three-quarters of an hour; try it by dropping a few drops on a cold plate. When sufficiently done take out all the lemon-peel, and pour the jelly into moulds or small pots.
Cranberry Jelly can be made in this way from the Russian and Swedish cranberries now sold, but cranberries will require a pound of sugar to the pint of juice. Cranberries should not be boiled longer than twenty minutes.