3°° 



CURING AND STORING. 



CHERRIES, Preserved. — Take fine 

 large cherries, not very ripe ; take off the 

 stems and take out the stones; save 

 whatever juice runs from them ; take an 

 •equal weight of white sugar; make the 

 syrup of a tea-cup of water for each 

 pound ; set it over the fire until it is dis- 

 solved and boiling hot ; then put in the 

 juice and cherries; boil them gently until 

 clear throughout; take them from the 

 syrup with a skimmer and spread them 

 •on flat dishes to cool; let the syrup boil 

 until it is rich and quite thick ; set it to 

 <;ool and settle; take the fruit into jars or 

 pots and pour the syrup carefully over; 

 let them remain open until the next day; 

 then cover as directed. Sweet cherries 

 are improved by the addition of a pint of 

 red currant juice and a half pound of 

 sugar to it, for four or five pounds of cher- 

 ries. 



DAMSONS, Preserved.— Put a quart of 

 damsons into a jar with a pound of sugar 

 strewed between them; set the jar in a 

 warm oven, or put it into a kettle of cold 

 water and set it over the fire for an hour, 

 then take it out, set to become cold, 

 drain the juice off, boil it until it is thick, 

 then pour it over the plums ; when cold, 

 cover as directed for preserves. 



DEWBERRIES, Preserved.— Pick your 

 berries early in the morning, weigh them, 

 then spread them on dishes, sprinkle them 

 with sugar in the due proportion assigned 

 them (pound for pound). When the 

 juice settles from them in the dishes, pour 

 it off, and with it moisten the remainder 

 of the sugar; simmer this over a slow 

 fire, and, while simmering, drop in a por- 

 tion of the berries; let them become clear, 

 and return them to the dishes to cool 

 while the remainder takes their place in the 

 kettle. When all are clear, and the syrup 

 boiled down to a rich consistency, pour it 

 over them, and when cool enough, trans- 

 fer them to glass jars. 



GREENGAGES, Preserved. — Select 

 well-grown greengages, but not the least 

 ripe ; prick them with a fork to the stone, 

 and as soon as pricked, put them in water 

 in a preserving-pan. When they are all 

 done, put them over a slow fire to simmer 

 very gently, so as to make them tender 

 without breaking ; try them with a fork, 

 and when tender to the stone, put them in 

 •cold water, and as some will get soft before 

 others they must be watched carefully ; 



let them lie in water a day and a night ; 

 strain then, and when well drained put 

 them in an earthen pan and pour over 

 them some boiling hot clarified sugar suf- 

 ficient to cover them ; put a paper over 

 them; the next day pour off the syrup 

 and boil it; if three quarts or therea- 

 bouts, boil for ten minutes, then pour it 

 over the fruit and again lay the paper 

 over them. Boil the syrup every other 

 day in the same manner, until it is about 

 the consistence of cream (in five or six 

 boilings). If the syrup shrinks, so as 

 not to keep the fruit well covered, add a 

 fresh supply. While boiling the syrup 

 the third time, put the greengages in, and 

 let them simmer gently for a short time, 

 Which will bring them green; and the 

 last time of boiling the syrup, let them 

 simmer a little in it. 



GOOSEBERRIES, Preserved.— Take full 

 grown gooseberries before they are ripe, 

 pick them and put them in wide-mouthed 

 bottles; cork them gently with new, soft 

 corks, and put them in an oven from 

 which the bread has been drawn; let 

 them stand till they have shrunk nearly a 

 quarter, then take them out and beat the 

 corks in tight; cut them off level with the 

 bottle and resin them down close. Keep 

 in a dry place. 



GRAPES, Preserved, in Vinegar,— 

 Grapes are preserved in vinegar by the 

 Persians after the following fashion : The 

 grapes are gathered when half ripe, and 

 put into bottles half filled with vinegar, 

 which so macerates them that they lose 

 their hardness, and yet do not become 

 too soft. The grapes have a sweet acid 

 taste, which is not unpalatable, and es- 

 pecially refreshing during the great heats. 



HUCKLEBERRIES, Preserved. — The 

 huckleberries may be easily kept for win- 

 ter use by putting them in bottles or cans, 

 without adding anything to them and 

 without cooking. The mouths of the 

 cans should be tightly closed, and the 

 cans should be buried mouth downward, 

 in a box of sand. When taken out of the 

 sand for use in the winter the color of the 

 berries is slightly changed, but the shape 

 and flavor are preserved in perfection. 

 They make excellent pies. 



GREEN GINGER, Preserved.— Scrape 

 and clean your green ginger well ; to each 

 pound of green ginger put a pint and a 



