"Preserving the sweetness of proportion and expressing itself beyond expression."—Ben Jonson.
CANNED BERRIES.—Fill the glass cans with the cleaned berries as full as you can crowd them in the jars. Make a syrup of sugar and water, allowing a pint of sugar to each pint of water for the sour berries and a quarter less sugar for the sweet fruits. Boil to a medium thick syrup. Fill the cans of fruit with this syrup and seal, but not air tight. (Put the tops lightly on). Stand the jars in a large dish pan or preserving kettle half filled with boiling water. Cover and let the water boil for twenty minutes, then remove the jars and seal as tight as possible. Invert the cans and let them stand over night then place cans each in a paper bag to exclude the light and pack in a cool dry place. It is better to use wash boiler if much fruit is canned at a time and a cloth should be laid on the bottom of the boiler to prevent breaking of the cans. Fruit canned this way retains its shape, color and flavor. Strawberries, cherries, red or black raspberries, black berries, currants, gooseberries, huckleberries, grapes and plums are best canned by this method. If peaches, pineapple, apricots, pears and crab apples are canned this way they should cook twenty minutes longer to assure tender fruit. They are perhaps more satisfactory cooked in a thick syrup in an open kettle and then canned, as they are not soft enough to lose their shape and it is more convenient to test them and judge as to tenderness and flavor.—Mrs. B. G. Whitehead.
BERRY JAM.—Weight the cleaned berries and take an equal weight of sugar for the sour fruit and crush and beat together until well mixed in the preserving kettle, then boil steadily and gently over the fire until thick, stirring frequently. Gooseberries should be boiled in water to cover until the skins break, then add the sugar slowly and cook half an hour. Currants should be cooked only long enough to let the fruit get tender, as the juice jellies easily anyway, and the currants get hard and tough if cooked too long. Red raspberries are nice combined with currant juice and sugar.—Mrs. Whitehead.
MARMALADES.—Marmalade differs from jam because the fruit is cooked in water to cover and when soft and tender is pressed through a colander or sieve. Then the sugar is added and the pulp is cooked to a smooth, thick consistency over a steady fire, stirring often to prevent the fruit from sticking to the kettle. The fruit is weighed before cooking and an equal weight of sugar is used. Fruit "butters" are thick marmalades but they are usually not sweetened as much as marmalades and are cooked longer. Sour fruits like cherries, gooseberries, plums, peach and apples make the best "butters." Black berries, oranges, apricots, grapes, peaches and pears make the best marmalades. The hard seeds of blackberries and grapes are nicely disposed of in marmalade and yet the pulp and fine flavor of the fruit is retained. Cook them as long as you would jelly.—Mrs. Whitehead.
CURRANT JELLY.—Wash the currants, steam them and fill a large preserving kettle with two pints of water added. Wash the fruit and boil five minutes. Strain through a jelly bag and measure the juice, allowing a pint of sugar to each pint of juice. Put the juice over the fire and boil steadily twenty minutes. Warm the sugar in the oven, add it to the boiling juice and stir well. Boil three minutes. Try a little on a saucer. If it "jells," pour into jelly glasses, placing a silver spoon in each to prevent cracking the glass. Set in the sun until it is firm, then cover with melted paraffine. Another method is to boil the strained juice ten minutes, then add the sugar and boil ten more minutes. This makes a stiff, firm jelly but the first method makes more delicate jelly. Make grape jelly the same as currant, using green grapes if possible. Grapes must be fresh and not over ripe or they will not "jell" nicely.—Mrs. Whitehead.
RASPBERRY JELLY.—Select red raspberries that are firm and if possible, not quite ripe. Set them over a slow fire after crushing them with a potato masher. Boil five minutes, then strain through a jelly bag and measure. Use the same measure of sugar. Boil the juice fifteen minutes, add the sugar and boil five minutes. Or to each three pints of raspberry juice add one pint of currant juice and proceed as for currant jelly. Strawberries are used the same as raspberries, selecting firm, solid fruit that is practically ripened, if possible. It may also be combined with apple juice instead of currant juice, if liked.—Mrs. Whitehead.
CRAB APPLE JELLY.—Wash and quarter fresh, firm crab-apples and cover with water allowing one quart of water to each pound of fruit. Cover the kettle and boil twenty minutes. Drain in jelly bag over night. Allow half a pound of sugar to each pint of juice. Boil juice ten minutes, add warm sugar, boil up once and try the jelly, which should jelly instantly.—Mrs. Whitehead.
WILD PLUM JELLY.—Sprinkle the washed plums with a little soda; cover with boiling water and stand ten minutes; then drain and cover with fresh boiling water and cook thoroughly, to a mush. Squeeze through a jelly bag and proceed as in making currant jelly. Cultivated plums are cooked in a little water until soft and tender and then strained in a jelly bag and used like currants. Many colors are possible from the different varieties of plums and as many fine flavors.
FANCY JELLIES.—Three pints of pineapple juice to one pint of apple juice and an equal measure of sugar makes nice pineapple jelly. A rose geranium leaf in each glass of apple jelly is liked by many. A delicious mint flavor may be given to apple jelly by lining the bottom of a jelly glass with mint leaves or the juice may be flavored with essence of mint or winter green before it is boiled with the sugar. Even red peppers are boiled in their own juice by chopping them and placing them in a double boiler and cooking until all of the juice is extracted. Allow an equal measure of sugar and boil until it thickens and put in small glasses, and serve with cold meats. The seeds of two vanilla beans added to twelve pounds of apples made into jelly, just before turning the jelly into the tumblers makes a delicious jelly for cake fillings and desserts. Rhubarb, apricots and quinces are sometimes used for jelly but are difficult to make unless combined with other fruits rich in pectose like currants and apples.
PLUM CONSERVE.—Two baskets of blue plums, six large oranges. Use the peeling of two. Two pounds of seeded raisins chopped. Use one half pound of sugar to one pound of fruit. Boil one hour, stirring constantly.—Mrs. Creaser.