PRESERVATION OF FRUIT. 389 



follows : Fill the boiler two-thirds full with the juice of sweet 

 and bitter-sweet apples in about the same proportion as given 

 for the manufacture of cider. The other third of the boiler is 

 filled up with slices of ripe, juicy apples, and the mixture boiled, 

 with frequent stirring. When the slices of apples are so soft that 

 they commence to fall to pieces, they are carefully removed from 

 the boiler by means of a skimmer, care being had to allow the 

 juice to run oif. The same quantity of fresh slices of apples is 

 then brought into the juice and boiled in the same manner as the 

 preceding. When these have acquired the necessary degree of 

 softness, the entire contents of the kettle, together with the slices 

 of apples previously boiled, are brought into a stoneware pot and 

 allowed to stand covered for 12 hours. The mass is then re- 

 placed upon the fire and boiled, with constant stirring, until it 

 has acquired the consistency of soft soap. If desired, it can at 

 the same time be seasoned with cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. To pre- 

 vent scorching the second boiling is effected in vessels standing 

 in boiling water. 



In the same manner fruit-butter can be prepared from all 

 varieties of fruit, pear or apple juice forming, however, always 

 the boiling liquor. Apple and peach butters are commercially of 

 the greatest importance, though butter of quinces, pears, black- 

 berries, cherries, plums, and cranberries is also manufactured on 

 a large scale. Whortleberries, which grow in enormous quantities 

 in some parts of the country, might also form an excellent material 

 for this product. In the foregoing only the varieties are mentioned 

 which are manufactured on a large scale by American and English 

 factories that chiefly control the trade in fruit-butters, but these do 

 not by any means exhaust the list ; green gages can, for instance, 

 be highly recommended for the purpose. 



The excellent product brought from France into commerce 

 under the name of raisine is prepared in the above manner by 

 slowly boiling sliced apples and pears in unfermented grape-juice. 



Fruit-butter is packed in wooden buckets of 5 or 10 Ibs. capa- 

 city. Tin cans holding 2 Ibs. jire also sometimes used, but they are 

 not liked. The buckets are slightly conical towards the top and 

 are provided with a wire handle. Resinous wood should not be 

 used in their construction, as it would impart an odor to the fruit- 



