How To Preserve Peaches

Select peaches that are ripe, but not soft. Pour boiling water upon them, and let it stand five or six minutes; then pour it off, and pull off the skins. This is the easiest way, and the most economical, as none of the peach is wasted with the skin. In a lot of peaches for preserving, there may be a few that you will have to pare; but most of them will part with the skin when scalded, except the cling-stones.

Weigh equal quantities of fruit (with the stones in), and fine sugar, and put them together in an earthen pan over night. The next day pour off the syrup, and boil it a few minutes; then set off the kettle and remove the scum. Return the kettle to the fire, and when it boils lay the peaches into it. Boil them very slowly three quarters of an hour, then lay them into the jars; boil the syrup fifteen minutes more, and pour over them.

The blood peaches are a beautiful fruit when preserved. The yellow cling-stone is handsome, but very inconvenient as the fruit adheres so closely to the stone. Almost any kind of peach is good, stewed in half a pound of clean brown sugar to a pound of stoned fruit, and will keep several weeks in the autumn.

How To Preserve Pears

Weigh three quarters of a pound of sugar for a pound of pears. Boil the fruit whole, with the stems on, in barely water enough to cover them, till they are tender, but not very soft. Then take them from the kettle, and put in the sugar, boil it ten or fifteen minutes, then set it off, and after removing the scum, put in the pears, and boil them till they begin to have a clear look. The difference in the size, and in the solidity of this fruit is so great that exact directions as to time cannot be given. When you have laid the pears into jars, boil the syrup another half hour, skim it if necessary, and then pour it upon the fruit. If you wish to give a more decided flavor to preserved pears, add peach water, or sliced lemons, when the syrup is boiling. Clean brown sugar does very well for preserving this fruit.

In selecting pears to preserve, choose such as are rather acid. The sweet ones are best baked. The Iron pears, if you will have patience to boil them long enough, make an excellent preserve. Divide them into halves or quarters if you choose. But they are often done whole. Boil them in just water enough, covered close, two or three hours. Make a syrup as directed above, and boil them in it an hour and a half.