Beetroot, Preserved.—Peel, trim, and slice in rather thick slices, some beetroots, fill some wide-mouthed jars about ¾ full with them, then add ½ oz. pounded sugar, 3 or 4 cloves, and either ¼ oz. coriander seeds or ½ oz. carraway seeds to every 1 lb. beetroot; fill up the jars with boiled vinegar, fasten them down with bladder.
Blackberry Jam.—For this it is necessary that the fruit should be quite ripe and perfectly dry when gathered. After picking from the stalks, weigh it, and allow ¾ lb. crushed white preserving sugar to every lb. of fruit. Set them together over a slow fire, stirring with a wooden or silver spoon to prevent burning at first, before the juice begins to run from the berries. The stirring must be almost constant during the whole process, as for any other sort of jam. After coming to the boil, it will be about ½ hour before it jellies, which must be ascertained by putting a very little from time to time on a cool plate. Some people very carefully take off the scum as it rises, but it is not really necessary; if constantly stirred, it will all disappear in the process of boiling, avoiding the waste caused by skimming, while the jam itself keeps equally well. When done, pour it off into jars, taking care that they are quite dry; let them stand till next day, cover the jars with paper, and put them by to keep in a cool, dry place. Another way is to mix ¼ lb. any good cooking apples, weighed after paring and cutting up, to every lb. blackberries; the sharper the kind of apple the better, but they must be ripe. More sugar is required when done in this way, 1¾ lb. sugar to every 2 lb. fruit. The grated rind and strained juice of lemons are also used with blackberries instead of apples, the larger proportion of sugar being allowed, and one lemon (small) to every 2 lb. berries. Some people object very much to the small seeds in this jam. These may be avoided by rubbing the fruit through a sieve as soon as it is sufficiently cooked to admit of it; it must then be put back into the preserving pan to boil till it sets. In this way, supposing the jam to be made of blackberries alone, half its own weight of sugar will be enough when weighing the uncooked fruit, as so much is afterwards lost by removing the seeds.
Blackberry Jelly.—(a) Put the fruit in the oven, and press it through canvas when tender. Allow rather more than ¾ lb. lump sugar to 1 lb. fruit syrup, and boil ¾ hour. This jelly is much improved by using equal quantities of bullaces and blackberries. The acid flavour of the bullace takes away the flatness of the blackberry. Put the jelly into moulds and cover with papers in the usual way. It is more likely to turn out well after being kept a month or two than at first.
(b) Boil together a quantity of apples cut small and blackberries that are thoroughly ripe, in the proportion of 1 lb. blackberries to ½ lb. apples. When boiled quite soft and pulpy, strain through a hair sieve and reboil, with ½ lb. loaf sugar to each pint juice, about ½ hour. ¼ pint water to every 4 lb. fruit may be boiled with it to advantage.
Black Currants, Bottled.—Fill some bottles as full as you can with the currants, add as much cold water as they will hold; then put them in a boiler filled with cold water, and let them boil until the fruit sinks in the bottles. Then take them up, cork them while hot, and paste thick brown paper over them.
Black Currant Jelly.—To 1 lb. picked and washed black currants add 1 gill water. Set this in a preserving pan, which should be of copper. Bruise the fruit well with a wooden spoon; afterwards take off the preserve and strain through a hair sieve. To each 1 lb. fruit allow 1 lb. white sugar. Boil 10 minutes.
Carrot Jam.—Well wash and scrape all black bits off some carrots; cut only the red part outside into pieces; put in a pan, with water to cover, and boil till it will rub through a hair sieve. To 4 lb. pulp allow 4 lb. loaf sugar, ¼ lb. bitter almonds blanched and chopped fine, the rind grated and the juice strained of 4 lemons, and 6 tablespoonfuls brandy to make the jam keep. Let the sugar and pulp boil up thoroughly, and then simmer for 15 minutes; skim and stir all the time. When cold, add the other ingredients, and stir all well together 2 or 3 times; then pot and cover with gummed paper.
Cherries, Bottled.—Gather the cherries on a dry day; be careful that they are not over-ripe or cracked at all. Fill the bottles or jars quite full with the cherries, and put them to stand in a boiler or large saucepan of cold water, and keep the jars covered closely; boil slowly until the fruit has sunk in the jars and the skins begin to crack; then lift one by one off the fire, and immediately fill quite full each jar with boiling water. Tie down twice with bladders, and put them in a dry place until required. Put them where they will not be disturbed, as if moved they ferment. If glass bottles are used care must be taken when filling with boiling water that they do not crack. Be particular to have all you need before taking the jars out of the water, and the kettle of water boiling fast, as the great secret in bottling fruit is in filling up the bottles and tying them down as quickly as possible.
Cherries, Dried.—Stone large sweet cherries with a small pointed skewer no larger than a quill toothpick, breaking them as little as possible; throw them into a boiling hot syrup, made with 1 small teacupful water to 1 lb sugar. Scald them in this syrup for 10 minutes, but do not allow them to boil, or they will break; remove them from the fire, pour them into a pan, and cover them till next day. Then draw off the syrup, boil it up, skim it, and pour it back upon the cherries. Do this for 3 days successively. On the fourth day drain the cherries on a cane sieve till entirely free from excess of moisture; then lay them on wire sieves, and dry them by slow heat for several hours until, when touched, they do not stick to the fingers. When cold, sprinkle sugar over them, and pack in layers between white paper. If too much heat is used in drying them, they will be dark and unsightly.