SWEETMEATS AND PRESERVES. 
189 
£aV\ts UJqaartment. 
SWEETMEATS AND PRESERVES. 
BY MRS. AFFLECK. 
I perceive that you propose adding to the already 
well-arranged pages of the Agriculturist, a Ladies’ 
Department. As 1 think the plan a good one, I have 
prevailed upon my better half to write out for you, 
at length, her methods of making some sorts of 
sweetmeats. I presume you are aware that the 
ladies of the South are justly celebrated as most ex¬ 
cellent housekeepers; and that in this department 
they are particularly so. At some of our fairs (beg 
pardon, shows ) the most beautiful assortments of 
sweetmeats have been exhibited. And whenever 
and wherever Mrs. A. has shown jellies and brandied 
peaches, &c., she has carried the premiums. I men¬ 
tion this that you and your readers may know how 
to value the following directions. T. A. 
Directions for making Sweetmeats. —These direc¬ 
tions are intended for the making of those sweet¬ 
meats, alone, of the richest and finest quality, requir¬ 
ing the very best, and perhaps the most expensive 
materials. When so made, and as late in the sum¬ 
mer as the ripening of the fruits will admit of, and 
kept in a cool dry place, they may be preserved 
through the hottest summers even of the South— 
otherwise there is danger of their undergoing an 
acetous fermentation. The requisites for those in¬ 
tending to follow these directions are, a kettle or ket¬ 
tles, a furnace, tin skimmer, steel balance or beam 
and scales, a supply of good hickory or oak ashes, 
and of charcoal. When any of these are borrowed, 
there is danger of the preserves not keeping! 
Peddles. —The best peaches for sweetmeats are 
•dingstones, such as are of a pure white or yellow 
'.alar to the stone. Those having any admixture of 
.*ed are unfit for the purpose, as they will not keep. 
The late Newington is an excellent variety. The 
fruit when not yet fully ripe, certain ] v not soft, must 
be picked by hand, so as to avoid all bruises. Having 
prepared a kettle of very strong lye, which is kept at 
foiling heat on the furnace, a sufficient number of 
peaches to cover the surface is dropped into it, and 
there allowed to remain until the outer surface skin 
begins to break, which, if the lye is sufficiently 
strong, will require but a few moments.. They are 
then taken out—some one being ready to take them 
up, one at a time, and rub off the downy scurf with 
a coarse rough cloth. When this is well done, the 
skin of the fruit will resemble that of the nectarine in 
smoothness. As the^r are thus cleaned (rubbed) they 
are at once dropped into cold water to prevent the 
discoloring effect of the lye. They are now carefully 
sorted ; the most perfect, and those with the skin un¬ 
broken, are put aside for the brandied preserve; 
those for which slight specks may have been cut, or 
which may be otherwise imperfect, will do for the 
simple preserves. In order that those last may suffer 
no damage, whilst the others are in process of mak¬ 
ing, they are packed away with alternate layers of 
crushed lump sugar, in the proportion of 4 lbs. of 
sugar to 5 lbs. of fruit. They may remain thus for 
twel ve hours if necessary. 
The fruit selected for the brandied preserve is now 
weighed. Take, say, 15 lbs. of crushed lump or 
loaf sugar, to which add water sufficient to dissolve 
it; beat up the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth, 
which, with the shells broken up, add to the syrup. 
Let the syrup now boil freely for five minutes, care¬ 
fully skimming off the froth that will rise; then 
strain through a linen napkin. This syrup, now per¬ 
fectly clear and free from all impurities, is sufficient 
in which to boil 40 lbs. of peaches. Enough are put 
in the kettle, at a time, to cover the surface, and 
there kept at a steady boil for fifteen minutes, each 
boiling being spread on a dish to cool, until all are 
boiled. The syrup in which the peaches are thus 
boiled, extracts so much of the juice of the fruit, that 
it will not answer to put them away in. But with 
the addition of a small quantity of spirit, it makes the 
richest cordial imaginable—a pure eaude pSche, richer 
far than the eau de noyau. A fresh syrup is now 
prepared, in the same manner as before described, of 
the very best loaf sugar, in the proportion of two 
pounds of fruit to one of sugar. To this syrup is 
added a colorless spirit, in the proportion of one 
measure of the latter to two of the former. The 
best spirit for this purpose is pure Spanish brandy, 
which may occasionally be had as colorless as water, 
and is at the same time mild. Peach brandy, and 
Scotch and Irish whisky, are supposed to be too fiery. 
Fill the jars two-thirds with peaches, then fill up 
with this mixture. The jars must stand some four 
or five days unsealed that more spirit may be added 
if the fruit rises to the top, which is a proof that the 
syrup has become too much weakened from the ex¬ 
tracted juice of the fruit. They should not be used 
until about Christmas. This sweetmeat is certainly 
not strictly temperance in its constituents; but 
although neither wine nor brandy is used in Ingle- 
side in any other shape, so truly delicious is this pre¬ 
serve, that I have always pleaded for its use being 
continued. That you may also have an opportunity 
of judging of its excellence, Mrs. A. forwards you a 
small jar via New Orleans. 
Peach Preserves. —The fruit put away for this pur¬ 
pose has yielded sufficient of its juice to the sugar in 
which it was packed to dissolve nearly all of it. 
Take out the peaches, and to the syrup add a small 
quantity of water ; clarify and strain as before. 
Then add the fruit; boil moderately and steadily 
from two to two and a half hours, according to the 
size of the fruit—when done, they will be transpa¬ 
rent. If free-stones are used, an incision is made on 
one side of the fruit, when the stones boil out in the 
syrup and are removed. Large cling-stones may be 
used, even if very acid, which they will be if red at 
the stone ; they are cut in two, the stone taken out, 
and the fruit dropped in lime-water and allowed to 
remain about an hour, to neutralize the acidity and 
give firmness.—Peach marmalade does not keep well 
in this climate. 
Plum Jelly. —The best fruit for jelly is our wild 
plum, far surpassing any other variety of plum, and 
even the red currant, so prized at the north. The 
fruit is gathered before it is fully ripe—when it has 
got its color, but is yet hard. When picked over, 
and washed clean, the kettle is filled with them, and 
water added until it appears at the surface, scarcely 
covering the fruit. They are boiled until the skin 
cracks; then carefully taken out and the whole put 
into a flannel bag, where they are left to drip until 
all the juice is had without crushing or squeezing the 
plums any more than can be helped. Prepare a 
