The Book of Household Management Part 188

_Seasonable_.--Make this in August or September.

BARBERRIES IN BUNCHES.

1523. INGREDIENTS.--1 pint of syrup No. 1513, barberries.

_Mode_.--Prepare some small pieces of clean white wood, 3 inches long and 1/4 inch wide, and tie the fruit on to these in nice bunches. Have ready some clear syrup, made by recipe No. 1513; put in the barberries, and simmer them in it for 2 successive days, boiling them for nearly 1/2 hour each day, and covering them each time with the syrup when cold.

When the fruit looks perfectly clear, it is sufficiently done, and should be stored away in pots, with the syrup poured over, or the fruit may be candied.

_Time_.--1/2 hour to simmer each day.

_Seasonable_ in autumn.

_Note_.--The berries in their natural state make a very pretty garnis.h.i.+ng for dishes, and may even be used for the same purpose, preserved as above, and look exceedingly nice on sweet dishes.

TO MAKE BARLEY-SUGAR.

1524. INGREDIENTS.--To every lb. of sugar allow 1/2 pint of water, 1/2 the white of an egg.

_Mode_.--Put the sugar into a well-tinned saucepan, with the water, and, when the former is dissolved, set it over a moderate fire, adding the well-beaten egg before the mixture gets warm, and stir it well together.

When it boils, remove the sc.u.m as it rises, and keep it boiling until no more appears, and the syrup looks perfectly clear; then strain it through a fine sieve or muslin bag, and put it back into the saucepan.

Boil it again like caramel, until it is brittle, when a little is dropped in a basin of cold water: it is then sufficiently boiled. Add a little lemon-juice and a few drops of essence of lemon, and let it stand for a minute or two. Have ready a marble slab or large dish, rubbed over with salad-oil; pour on it the sugar, and cut it into strips with a pair of scissors: these strips should then be twisted, and the barley-sugar stored away in a very dry place. It may be formed into lozenges or drops, by dropping the sugar in a very small quant.i.ty at a time on to the oiled slab or dish.

_Time_.--1/4 hour.

_Average cost_, 7d.

_Sufficient_ for 5 or 6 sticks.

CARROT JAM TO IMITATE APRICOT PRESERVE.

1525. INGREDIENTS.--Carrots; to every lb. of carrot pulp allow 1 lb. of pounded sugar, the grated rind of 1 lemon, the strained juice of 2, 6 chopped bitter almonds, 2 tablespoonfuls of brandy.

_Mode_.--Select young carrots; wash and sc.r.a.pe them clean, cut them into round pieces, put them into a saucepan with sufficient water to cover them, and let them simmer until perfectly soft; then beat them through a sieve. Weigh the pulp, and to every lb. allow the above ingredients. Put the pulp into a preserving-pan with the sugar, and let this boil for 5 minutes, stirring and skimming all the time. When cold, add the lemon-rind and juice, almonds and brandy; mix these well with the jam; then put it into pots, which must be well covered and kept in a dry place. The brandy may be omitted, but the preserve will then not keep: with the brandy it will remain good for months.

_Time_.--About 3/4 hour to boil the carrots; 5 minutes to simmer the pulp.

_Average cost_, 1s. 2d. for 1 lb. of pulp, with the other ingredients in proportion.

_Sufficient_ to fill 3 pots.

_Seasonable_ from July to December.

TO MAKE CHERRY BRANDY.

1536. INGREDIENTS.--Morella cherries, good brandy; to every lb. of cherries allow 3 oz. of pounded sugar.

_Mode_.--Have ready some gla.s.s bottles, which must be perfectly dry.

Ascertain that the cherries are not too ripe and are freshly gathered, and cut off about half of the stalks. Put them into the bottles, with the above proportion of sugar to every lb. of fruit; strew this in between the cherries, and, when the bottles are nearly full, pour in sufficient brandy to reach just below the cork. A few peach or apricot kernels will add much to their flavour, or a few blanched bitter almonds. Put corks or bungs into the bottles, tie over them a piece of bladder, and store away in a dry place. The cherries will be fit to eat in 2 or 3 months, and will remain good for years. They are liable to shrivel and become tough if too much sugar be added to them.

_Average cost_, 1s. to 1s. 6d. per lb.

_Sufficient_.--1 lb. of cherries and about 1/4 pint of brandy for a quart bottle. _Seasonable_ in August and September.

DRIED CHERRIES.

1527. CHERRIES may be put in a slow oven and thoroughly dried before they begin to change colour. They should then be taken out of the oven, tied in bunches, and stored away in a dry place. In the winter, they may be cooked with sugar for dessert, the same as Normandy pippins.

Particular care must be taken that the oven be not too hot. Another method of drying cherries is to stone them, and to put them into a preserving-pan, with plenty of loaf sugar strewed amongst them. They should be simmered till the fruit shrivels, when they should be strained from the juice. The cherries should then be placed in an oven, cool enough to dry without baking them. About 5 oz. of sugar would be required for 1 lb. of cherries, and the same syrup may be used again to do another quant.i.ty of fruit.

CHERRY JAM.

1528. INGREDIENTS.--To every lb. of fruit, weighed before stoning, allow 1/2 lb. of sugar; to every 6 lbs. of fruit allow 1 pint of red-currant juice, and to every pint of juice 1 lb. of sugar.

_Mode_.--Weigh the fruit before stoning, and allow half the weight of sugar; stone the cherries, and boil them in a preserving-pan until nearly all the juice is dried up; then add the sugar, which should be crushed to powder, and the currant-juice, allowing 1 pint to every 6 lbs. of cherries (original weight), and 1 lb. of sugar to every pint of juice. Boil all together until it jellies, which will be in from 20 minutes to 1/2 hour; skim the jam well, keep it well stirred, and, a few minutes before it is done, crack some of the stones, and add the kernels: these impart a very delicious flavour to the jam.

_Time_.--According to the quality of the cherries, from 3/4 to 1 hour to boil them; 20 minutes to 1/2 hour with the sugar.

_Average cost_, from 7d. to 8d. per lb. pot.

_Sufficient_.--1 pint of fruit for a lb. pot of jam.

_Seasonable_.--Make this in July or August.

TO PRESERVE CHERRIES IN SYRUP.

(_Very delicious_.)

1529. INGREDIENTS.--4 lbs. of cherries, 3 lbs. of sugar, 1 pint of white-currant juice.

_Mode_.--Let the cherries be as clear and as transparent as possible, and perfectly ripe; pick off the stalks, and remove the stones, damaging the fruit as little as you can. Make a syrup with the above proportion of sugar, by recipe No. 1512; mix the cherries with it, and boil them for about 15 minutes, carefully skimming them; turn them gently into a pan, and let them remain till the next day; then drain the cherries on a sieve, and put the syrup and white-currant juice into the preserving-pan again. Boil these together until the syrup is somewhat reduced and rather thick; then put in the cherries, and let them boil for about 5 minutes; take them off the fire, skim the syrup, put the cherries into small pots or wide-mouthed bottles; pour the syrup over, and when quite cold, tie them down carefully, so that the air is quite excluded.

_Time_.--15 minutes to boil the cherries in the syrup; 10 minutes to boil the syrup and currant-juice; 6 minutes to boil the cherries the second time.

_Average cost_ for this quant.i.ty, 3s. 6d.

_Seasonable_.--Make this in July or August.

BLACK-CURRANT JAM.

1530. INGREDIENTS.--To every lb. of fruit, weighed before being stripped from the stalks, allow 3/4 lb. of loaf sugar, 1 gill of water.

_Mode_.--Let the fruit be very ripe, and gathered on a dry day. Strip it from the stalks, and put it into a preserving-pan, with a gill of water to each lb. of fruit; boil these together for 10 minutes; then add the sugar, and boil the jam again for 30 minutes, reckoning from the time when the jam simmers equally all over, or longer, should it not appear to set nicely when a little is poured on to a plate. Keep stirring it to prevent it from burning, carefully remove all the sc.u.m, and when done, pour it into pots. Let it cool, cover the top of the jam with oiled paper, and the top of the jars with a piece of tissue-paper brushed over on both sides with the white of an egg: this, when cold, forms a hard stiff cover, and perfectly excludes the air. Great attention must be paid to the stirring of this jam, as it is very liable to burn, on account of the thickness of the juice.