This section is from the book "The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book", by Fannie Merritt Farmer. Also available from Amazon: Original 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cook Book.
1/4 lb. Canton ginger 4 lemons
Wipe pears, remove stems, quarter, and core; then cut in small pieces. Add sugar and ginger, and let stand overnight. In the morning add lemons cut in small pieces, rejecting seeds, and cook slowly three hours. Put into a stone jar.
6 lbs. currants
6 lbs. sugar
8 quarts raspberries
Pick over, wash, and drain currants. Put into a preserving kettle, adding a few at a time, and mash. Cook one hour, strain through double thickness of cheese-cloth. Return to kettle, add sugar, heat to boiling-point, and cook slowly twenty minutes. Add one quart raspberries when syrup again reaches boiling-point, skim out raspberries, put in jar, and repeat until raspberries are used. Fill jars to overflowing with syrup, and screw on tops.
1 peck peaches
Half their weight in sugar
1 quart high-proof alcohol or brandy
Remove skins from peaches, and put alternate layers of peaches and sugar in a stone jar; then add alcohol. Cover closely, having a heavy piece of cloth under cover of jar.
Put one pint brandy into a stone jar, add the various fruits as they come into market; to each quart of fruit add the same quantity of sugar, and stir the mixture each morning until all the fruit has been added. Raspberries, strawberries, apricots, peaches, cherries, and pineapples are the best to use.
Wash one peck red peppers, cut a slice from stem end of each, and remove seeds; then cut in thin strips by working around and around the peppers, using scissors or a sharp vegetable knife. Cover with boiling water, let stand two minutes, drain, and plunge into ice-water. Let stand ten minutes, again drain, and pack solidly into pint glass jars.
Boil one quart vinegar and two cups sugar fifteen minutes.
Pour over peppers to overflow jars, cover, and keep in a cold place.
Pare and cut in strips the rind of ripe melons. Soak in alum water to cover, allowing two teaspoons powdered alum to each quart of water. Heat gradually to boiling-point and cook slowly ten minutes. Drain, cover with ice-water, and let stand two hours; again drain, and dry between towels. Weigh, allow one pound sugar to each pound of fruit, and one cup water to each pound of sugar. Boil sugar and water ten minutes. Add melon rind, and cook until tender. Remove rind to a stone jar, and cover with syrup. Two lemons cut in slices may be cooked ten minutes in the syrup.
1 lb. yellow pear tomatoes 1 lb. sugar
2 ozs. preserved Canton ginger 2 lemons
Wipe tomatoes, cover with boiling water, and let stand until skins may be easily removed. Add sugar, cover, and let stand overnight. In the morning pour off syrup and boil until quite thick; skim, then add tomatoes, ginger, and lemons which have been sliced and the seeds removed. Cook until tomatoes have a clarified appearance.
 
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