Marmalade

This is made of the pulp of fruits with the juice, unless that has been used for jelly. When fruit is not abundant, it is well to make marmalade at the same time with jellies, especially from peaches, quinces, and grapes. After draining, rub the fruit pulp through a sieve, add an equal weight of sugar, and boil very slowly half or three quarters of an hour. Stir often to prevent burning.

Preserves

These are usually prepared with equal weights of sugar and fruit. Although too rich for daily use, there are many people who prefer them to the canned fruit, and there are some fruits which are better with the full weight of sugar. The fruit should be ripe, fresh, and perfectly sound. The following rules illustrate the best methods for the different varieties of fruit.

Peaches

Pare the peaches; or remove the skins by plunging the peaches into boiling lye (two gallons of water and one pint of wood ashes). When the skins will slip easily, take the peaches out with a skimmer and plunge them into cold water; rinse in several waters, and there will be no taste of the lye. Weigh, and add three fourths of a pound of sugar to each pound of fruit. Halve them, and use some of the pits, or leave them whole as you please. The stones improve the flavor. Make a syrup by adding as little water as possible to the sugar, -about one cupful to each pound of sugar. When it boils, skim till clear, then add the peaches, and cook until transparent.

Brandy Beaches

Prepare the peaches as above, and use half a cup of the best brandy to every pound of fruit. Add the brandy just as the syrup is taken from the fire. Some people prefer the yellow peaches, but white-fleshed freestone peaches have a delicious flavor.

Damsons and Greengages should be pricked in many places with a large needle, to prevent the skins from bursting. Or scald them and remove the skins, as sometimes they harden in cooking. Prepare the syrup as for peaches. Cook only a few at a time, that they may not be broken. On three successive mornings pour off the syrup, and boil it gently for ten minutes. This will thoroughly cook the fruit, without destroying the shape.

Preserved Quinces

Use the orange quinces. Wipe, pare, quarter, and remove all the core and the hard part under the core. Take an equal weight of sugar. Cover the quinces with cold water. Let them come slowly to a boil. Skim, and when nearly soft put one quarter of the sugar on the top, but do not stir. When this boils, add another part of the sugar, and continue until all the sugar is in the kettle. Let them boil slowly until the color you like, either light or dark.

Another way is to cook the quinces in water till tender, drain, and put them in a stone jar in layers, with an equal weight of sugar. Cover closely. In a cold dry place they will keep perfectly. They are lighter-colored and more tender than when cooked in the syrup. Watch them during the first month, and if there be any signs of fermentation, set the jar in a kettle of hot water till the fruit is scalded. Reserve the broken or unshapely pieces of quince, cut them in small cubes, and use with Strawberry Tomatoes. Allow three quarters of a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. Make the syrup, and cook the fruit in it till tender. Skim it out, and boil the syrup down for ten minutes. Fill the jars, and seal at once. Equal parts of sweet apple, cooked with the quince but with no extra sugar, can scarcely be distinguished from the quince.

Preserved Pineapple

Remove the skin and all the eyes, take the pineapple in your left hand, and with a silver fork begin at the stem end of the fruit and fork out small bits. This will leave the core, which is juiceless and tasteless, in your hand. Weigh the pineapple after it is thus prepared, and sprinkle over it three quarters of a pound of sugar to one pound of pineapple. When a syrup is formed, cook the apple slowly in it until transparent, then remove the fruit and boil the syrup a little longer. Or slice the pineapple in half-inch slices, and cut out the core. Cook in the syrup, being careful not to break the slices.

Preserved Strawberries, Raspberries, Currants, Blackberries, and Cherries. - Measure a bowl of fruit and the same quantity of sugar. Put in a preserving-kettle, over night, a layer of fruit, and then one of sugar. In the morning cook slowly without stirring, until the liquid is clear and the fruit soft. Skim thoroughly before putting into the jars. Cherries should be stoned. The pits may be used if the flavor be desired.

No. 2. - Use only large and selected fruit, and allow one cup of sugar to a pint jar of fruit. Pick over the fruit, and put at once into the jars, with as little handling as possible, and sprinkle each layer with sugar. Place the jars in a boiler of water, and let the water boil ten minutes. Have a little syrup boiling, and fill each jar to the brim with the boiling syrup, and seal at once.