$12 
Pear Butter 
Pare, core and quarter pears, couk un- 
til tender, then press them through a 
colander, add three-fourths of a pound of 
sugar to every pound of pears, cook until 
thick; then can. 
Grape Butter 
Pare, core and quarter as many apples 
as you have grapes, cook until tender, 
press through colander, cook grapes a 
few minutes, run through sieve. To four 
quarts of grapes add three quarts of ap- 
ples and four pounds of sugar. Cook un- 
til thick; then seal. 
Plum Butter 
Cook plums until tender, press through 
colander, make the butter same as peach 
butter. 
In making pear, peach and plum butter 
and in preparing apples for grape butter, 
enough water should be added in cooking 
them to cover. 
Lemon Butter 
Two cupfuls of sugar, juice of two 
lemons, two eggs, one lump butter size 
of an egg; mix all together and cook in 
double boiler, stirring all the time until 
it thickens. This is excellent for break- 
fast with hot biscuits and butter. 
Use Ripe Fruit 
The first requirement for good vine- 
gar is to have the ripe fruit. Good ap- 
ples under hydraulic pressure will give 
about four and one-half gallons of cider to 
the bushel. Pears under the same pres- 
sure will give more. Every utensil used 
in the work should be strictly free from 
must or mold. Hence they should be 
scalded in very hot water to destroy all 
germs. After having secured the cider 
it must be exposed at all times to the air, 
and the depth of the liquid should be 
no greater than the surface measure of 
the vessel holding it. A barrel should 
not be more than half full during fer- 
mentation. 
The temperature should be even and 
rather warm. Temperature determines 
the time in which the fermentation is 
accomplished. Highty degrees gives 
quickest results; with this heat good 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
vinegar can be had for use in four 
months, in which time it should show 
6 per cent acetic acid. The ordinary time 
is six months, with only ordinary temper- 
ature. By close attention to these par- 
ticulars a good healthful vinegar can be 
cheaply made, which will command from 
14 to 20 cents per gallon in the market. 
Well ripened fruit should be used, as it 
contains the greatest amount of sugar, 
which aids in yielding the highest per 
cent of acetic acid. Under no circum- 
stances use decayed fruit for healthful 
vinegar. A small yeast cake dissolved 
in some of the cider and then poured in 
the barrel will set fermentation going 
at once. Do not stop the fermentation, 
but let it complete its work. When fer- 
mentation ceases, procure some mother of 
vinegar and put in barrel. If this can- 
not be had, get some pure sharp vinegar 
and pour this in the barrel. When com- 
pleted fill barrel full and cork securely to 
prevent any undesirable ferments after- 
wards. 
Pear Vinegar 
Pear vinegar requires some longer time 
than apple cider, and will show 8 per 
cent acetic acid, making it sufficiently 
strong to be afterward diluted one-half. 
Vinegar can be made from the small 
fruits, especially the blackberry, but it 
is more expensive and the color is not 
favorable. 
Fruit Butter 
For fruit butter the cider or juices and 
the filling should be boiled in separate 
vessels, to hasten the work and give bet- 
ter appearance to the product. Any 
Sweetening used should not be added un- 
til the butters are about ready for re- 
moval from the fire. Fruit for the fill- 
ing should be quite ripe, and it then 
has all its flavors and is more readily 
cooked. After the juices are sufficiently 
boiled down the filling may be added and 
the boiling continued till it presents ap- 
pearances of being sufficiently thick, when 
the sugar may be added such as the na- 
ture of the fruit requires. By withhold- 
ing the sugars till at this state, you pre- 
vent danger of scorching, have a _bet- 
ter color to the butters and a better re- 
