Things Mother Used to Make/Preserves

by Lydia Maria Gurney

PRESERVES

Crab Apple Jelly

Cover the apples with water and boil until tender. Strain through a flannel bag. Boil the juice twenty minutes. Add the same amount of sugar, pint for pint, and cook five minutes. Pour into tumblers, and when cold, cover with paraffine.

California Jam

Divide and seed as many oranges as desired. Slice thin, the pulp and skin together. Add to each pound of oranges one lemon, sliced thin, and one quart of cold water. Let all stand twenty-four hours; then cook until tender, with the same amount of sugar.

Canned Cherries

1 Quart of Cherries	1 Cupful of Water
1 Cupful of Sugar

Pick over and wash the cherries. If they are to be used for sauce, can them whole; if to be used for pies and puddings, remove stones and use less water, as there will be juice enough to cook them in. Cook until tender and seal when boiling hot.

Cherry Conserve

4 Pounds of Cherries	8 Oranges
4 Pounds of Sugar	1 Lemon

Wash and stone the cherries. Wash and remove seeds from oranges and lemon. Put them through the meat-grinder or chop fine. Cook all together twenty minutes, or until thick. Put into tumblers and cover with paraffine.

Preserved Citron

4 Pounds of Citron	3 Gills of Water
3 Pounds of Sugar	3 Lemons

Pare the citron and cut into pieces one inch square. Cover with cold water, adding a pinch of salt. Next day throw off this water and cover with fresh water, this time adding a pinch of alum. Slice the lemons, removing every seed, and boil until tender. Boil the sugar and water together, skim, then put into the syrup citron and lemon. Boil until it looks rich and transparent. Skim out the fruit into jars or tumblers, boil down the syrup for ten or fifteen minutes, and pour over the fruit. If jars are used, fill to the brim and seal while hot. This can be made in the summer from watermelon-rind. Cut off all the pink of the melon, pare, and prepare as you would citron. It is really very nice.

Currant Jelly

Pick currants from the stems and wash clean. Put them into a kettle with a very little water and cook for ten minutes. Strain through a flannel bag. Use one pint of juice to one pint of sugar. Boil the juice fifteen minutes, add sugar and boil five minutes. Pour into tumblers or jelly moulds, and when cold cover with paraffine.

Spiced Currants

5 Pounds of Currants	4 Teaspoonfuls of
4 Pounds of Sugar	Cinnamon
1 Pint of Vinegar	4 Teaspoonfuls of Cloves

Boil slowly two and a half hours. Tie the spices in a cloth before boiling.

Cranberry Jelly

1 Quart of Cranberries

3½ Cupfuls of Sugar

Put one quart of cranberries on the stove, with cold water enough to cover. Boil until tender. Strain through a colander. To this four cupfuls of juice add three and a half cupfuls of sugar. Boil twenty minutes and turn into a mould which has been wet with cold water.

Grape Conserve

5 Pints of Grapes	2 Oranges
8 Cupfuls of Sugar	1 Cupful of Nut Meats
½ Pound of Raisins

Pick the grapes from the stems, wash, and separate the pulps from the skins. Stew the pulps and press through a colander. Put the raisins and oranges through the meat grinder, after removing seeds. Cook all together except the nuts. Add these about ten minutes before removing from fire. Put into glasses and cover with paraffine. This makes eleven glasses.

Grape Marmalade

When making grape-juice, use the grape which is left after straining, for marmalade. Press through a colander, measure and use the same amount of sugar. Cook until it thickens and put into tumblers. When cold, cover with paraffine.

Grape Preserve

Pick from the stems and wash the amount of grapes desired. Squeeze the pulps from the skins. Put into a kettle with very little water and boil until the seeds loosen. Press through a colander. Put this with skins, weigh, and use three-fourths of a pound of sugar, for every pound of fruit. Cook all together until the skins are tender, usually about an hour. Seal in glass jars.

Orange Marmalade

1 Grapefruit	1 Whole Lemon
1 Whole Orange	Juice of Two Lemons
Juice of Two Oranges

Chop fruit fine or put through the grinder. Measure and put three times the amount of water. Let this stand till the next day. Boil ten minutes. Stand again till the next day. Measure and add equal amount of sugar. Boil until it jells. This will make eleven or twelve tumblerfuls. Pour into glasses while warm. When cold, pour over a thin coating of paraffine.

Peach Marmalade

When preserving peaches or quinces, wipe them very clean before paring, and save the skins for marmalade. Cook in water enough to cover well and, when tender, press through a colander. Measure, and add the same amount of sugar. Boil half an hour, or until it thickens. Put into tumblers and cover with paraffine. This is nice for school sandwiches, or for filling for Washington pie or queen’s pudding.

To Can Peaches

1 Quart of Peaches	2 Cupfuls of Water
1 Cupful of Sugar

Be sure to have the jars perfectly clean and warm. Glass covers are always preferable. Make a syrup of the sugar and water. Boil this hard for five minutes. Set back on the stove and let it settle, then skim very thoroughly. Pare, cut in half, and remove the stones from the peaches. When the syrup comes to a boil, put in enough peaches to fill your jar, whatever the size. Boil until tender enough to pierce with a wisp. Take the fruit out carefully with a spoon and place in the jar. Fill the jar with the boiling syrup, being careful always to cant the jar as you pour it in. If you do this, the jar will never crack, as it is likely to do if held perfectly straight or upright. Always run around the inside of the jar with a silver knife, and you will have no trouble in keeping fruit. Seal while hot. The peaches may be canned whole, if preferred.

Pickled Peaches

4 Pounds of Sugar	1 Tablespoonful of
1 Pint of Vinegar	Allspice
1 Tablespoonful of Cloves	Stick of Cinnamon

Boil the ingredients together for ten minutes before putting in the peaches. Cook as many peaches in this as possible, and have juice enough to fill up the jars. Tie the spices in a piece of cheese-cloth. Pears may be cooked in the same way.

Ginger Pears

10 Pounds of Pears	6 Oranges
7 Pounds of Sugar	1 Box of Crystallized
4 Lemons	Ginger

Wipe pears clean and cut fine with sugar. Simmer an hour. Then add the lemons and oranges, seeded and cut fine, and the crystallized ginger. Let all boil together two or three hours.

Preserved Pears

1 Quart of Pears	2 Cupfuls of Water
1 Cupful of Sugar

Use pears which are just right to eat. Pare and drop into cold water, to prevent discoloring. Make a syrup of one cupful of sugar and two cupfuls of cold water, and boil the pears in this until you can stick a straw through them. Fill the jars with the fruit, all you can put in, then hold the jar slanting and fill with syrup to the very brim. Use whole pears, if preferred. If cut in halves, remove the core.

Way to Pickle Pears

1 Pint of Vinegar	½ Tablespoonful of whole
3 Pounds of Sugar	Allspice
6 Pounds of Pears	1 Tablespoonful of whole
½ Tablespoonful of	Cloves
Cinnamon

Boil pears until tender. Boil vinegar, sugar, and spices together fifteen minutes, then put in the boiled pears, and cook all together half an hour. These will be nicer if sealed in glass jars.

To Preserve Pineapple

Peel the pineapple, remove the eyes and cut into small cubes. Weigh, and take three-fourths of a pound of sugar to one pound of fruit. Allow one cupful of water for each jar, and cook all together slowly until tender. Fill the jars. This is very nice for ice-cream or sherbet.

Quince Jelly

Pare, core, and quarter the fruit, and boil in water enough to cover. When soft, take out the fruit and strain the syrup through a flannel bag, then return the syrup to the kettle and boil until perfectly clear, skimming constantly. Measure syrup, adding an equal quantity of sugar, and boil twenty minutes, removing the scum which rises to the surface. Pour into tumblers or moulds and set aside to cool; then pour over the top a covering of paraffine.

Quince Marmalade

Put the quinces, which were boiled in water for the jelly, in with the cores and skins. Cover with water and boil ten or fifteen minutes. Press all through a colander. Measure, and add the same amount of sugar. Set on the stove and boil fifteen minutes, being careful not to scorch. Put into tumblers and cover with paraffine.

Quince Sauce

Peel, core, and cut into quarters the quinces. Boil in clear water until tender. Weigh the quinces before cooking, and put into the water in which they have been boiled three-fourths of a pound of sugar for every pound of quince. Boil five minutes and skim. Then put in the quinces and cook until of a dark amber color–for about an hour. As quinces are expensive, old-fashioned people used to put in one-fourth as much sweet apple or pear.

Raspberry Jam, No. 1

Mash the berries, add equal parts of sugar, and let stand half an hour. Put on the stove in a kettle containing a half cupful of water, to prevent sticking. Boil until it thickens. Put into tumblers and cover with paraffine. Blackberries and strawberries used in the same way are very nice.

Raspberry Jam, No. 2

Mash the berries, and use two-thirds as much currant juice as you have berries. Measure, and add the same amount of sugar. Cook all together until it jells. Put into tumblers and cover with paraffine.

To Keep Rhubarb Through the Winter

Fill preserve jars with cold water. Cut the rhubarb into small pieces, as you would for a pie, and drop them into the jars. As they fill, the water will overflow. When full, screw the tops on the jars and set away. The water excludes the air, and the fruit, treated in this way, will keep for months. When required for use drain off the water and cook in the usual way.

Rhubarb Marmalade

5 Pounds of Rhubarb	1 Pound of Chopped
5 Pounds of Sugar	Walnuts
5 Lemons, Juice and	2 Teaspoonfuls of
Rind	Extract of Jamaica
	Ginger

Cook all the ingredients, excepting the nuts and ginger, together three or four hours. Ten minutes before removing from the fire, add the ginger and nuts. Seal in glass jars, or put into tumblers. If tumblers are used, cover over the tops with a coating of paraffine.

Rhubarb Jam

6 Stalks of Rhubarb	1 Lemon
3 Oranges	4 Cupfuls of Sugar

Cook the rhubarb and rind and juice of the lemon and oranges together for twenty-five minutes. Put into tumblers and cover with paraffine.

Spiced Fruit

6 Pounds of Fruit	1 Pint of Vinegar
4 Pounds of Sugar

For all kinds of spiced fruit use the above measurements, adding one tablespoonful each of cinnamon, allspice, and cloves, and cook until tender. Seal in glass jars.