Quince Cheese

Is marmalade boiled down very thick, packed into small pots. It will turn out as firm as cheese, and can be cut in slices for luncheon or tea.

Apple Butter

This is generally made by the large quantity.

Boil down a kettleful of cider to two-thirds the original quantity. Pare, core, and slice juicy apples, and put as many into the cider as it will cover. Boil slowly, stirring often with a flat stick, and when the apples are tender to breaking, take them out with a perforated skimmer, draining well against the sides of the kettle. Put in a second supply of apples and stew them soft, as many as the cider will hold. Take from the fire, pour all together into a tub or large crock; cover and let it stand twelve hours. Then return to the kettle and boil down, stirring all the while until it is the consistency of soft soap, and brown in color. You may spice to taste if you please.

Keep in stone jars in a dry, cool place. It should keep all winter.

Preserved Crab-apples+

The red Siberian crab is best for this purpose. Pick out those that are nearly perfect, leaving the steins on, and put into a preserve-kettle, with enough warm water to cover them. Heat this to boiling, slowly, and simmer until the skins break. Drain, cool, and skin them ; then, with a penknife, extract the cores through the blossom ends. Weigh them ; allow a pound and a quarter of sugar and a teacupful of water to every pound of fruit. Boil the water and sugar together until the scum ceases to rise; put in the fruit, cover the kettle, and simmer until the apples are a clear red, and tender. Take out with a skimmer; spread upon dishes to cool and harden; add to the syrup the juice of one lemon to three pounds of fruit, and boil until clear and rich. Fill your jars three-quarters full of the apples, pour the syrup in, and, when cool, tie up.

Preserved Green-gages and Large Purple

Plums+

Weigh the fruit and scald in boiling water to make the skins come off easily. Let them stand in a large bowl an hour after they are peeled, that the juice may exude. Drain this off; lay the plums in the kettle, alternately with layers of sugar, allowing pound for pound; pour the juice over the top and heat slowly to a boil. Take out the plums at this point, very carefully, with a perforated skimmer, draining them well through it, and spread upon broad dishes in the sun. Boil the syrup until thick and clear, skimming it faithfully. Return the plums to this, and boil ten minutes. Spread out again until cool and firm ; keeping the syrup hot on the fire, fill your jars three-quarters full of the fruit; pour on the scalding syrup, cover to keep in the heat, and, when cold, tie up.

Or,

If you do not care to take the trouble of peeling the fruit, prick it in several places with a needle, and proceed as directed.

Unique Preserves+

Gather young cucumbers, a little longer than your middle finger, and lay in strong brine one week. Wash them and soak a day and a night in fair water, changing this four times. Line a bell-metal kettle with vine-leaves, lay in the cucumbers, with a little alum scattered among them; fill up with clear water; cover with vine-leaves, then with a close lid, and green as for pickles. Do not let them boil. When well greened, drop in ice-water. When perfectly cold, wipe, and with a small knife slit down one side ; dig out the seeds; stuff with a mixture of chopped raisins and citron; sew up the incision with fine thread. Weigh them, and make a syrup, allowing a pound of sugar for every one of cucumbers, with a pint of water. Heat to a lively boil, skim, and drop in the fruit Simmer half an hour, take out and spread upon a dish in the sun while you boil down the syrup, with a few slices of ginger-root added. When thick, put in the cucumbers again; simmer five minutes and put up in glass jars; tying them up when cold.