STORING AND PRESERVING OF FRUIT. 



121 



bottle as directed for plums, &c. They may be either left the 

 natural colour or tinted with cochineal. 



The candying of fruit is an industry largely practised in 

 France, but has scarcely been attempted in this country. It 

 requires considerable patience and much nicety to produce the 

 tasty article sent to our markets from France. The process is 

 rather tedious, as the fruit requires repeatedly dipping in the 

 prepared syrup. But there is no reason why the art should not 

 be practised when once acquired by our women and girls. 



In seasons of scarcity of fruit a wholesome jam may be made 

 from vegetable marrows. These should be used fairly young, 

 cut into squares and boiled with equal weight of sugar and 

 flavoured strongly with root-ginger. This makes a very agree- 

 able preserve to some people. 



Green tomatos may also be used in a similar way and 

 flavoured either with ginger or lemon. Excellent jellies are also 

 made of Siberian and other crabs, and of the common barberry. 



Discussion. 



The Eev. W. Wilks said that he had experimented somewhat 

 largely with bottling fruit, and although he differed from Mr. 

 Cheal in a few points, yet he could most confidently recommend 

 the system of lock-vacuum self-closing bottles invented by 

 Messrs. De Luca, of 6 Long Lane, Aldersgate Street. With 

 these bottles all fruits could be bottled with the greatest possible 

 ease, and would keep perfectly fresh and good for apparently an 

 unlimited time. Mr. Wilks differed from Mr. Cheal as to 

 putting boiling water. He said : The way I proceed is as follows : 

 I take one of these bottles of Mr. De Luca's and fill it full of 

 fruit and shake it down well several times ; I then put on the 

 caps lightly, and place the filled bottles in a boiler filled with 

 cold water up to the lower part of the necks of the bottles. 

 The boiler is put on the fire, and as soon as it boils it is allowed 

 to continue boiling from ten to twenty minutes, when it is taken 

 off the fire, the cap given a slight screw down, and the bottles 

 left in the hot water to cool. This is all. It will be noticed 

 that I put no water whatever inside the bottles with the fruit. 

 It is perfectly true that by my plan the fruit does, to some extent, 

 get a little mashed, but it preserves the whole of the flavour 



