Mary at the Farm and Book of Recipes Compiled during Her Visit Part 64

AUNT SARAH'S "CHERRY MARMALADE"

Pitted, red sour cherries were weighed, put through food-chopper, and to each pound of cherries and juice add 3/4 pound of granulated sugar.

Cook about 25 minutes until syrup is thick and fruit looks clear. Fill marmalade pots, cover with parafine when cool, or use pint gla.s.s jars and seal. One is sure of fruit keeping if placed in air-tight jars.

AUNT SARAH'S QUINCE HONEY

Pour 1 quart of water, good measure, in an agate stew-pan on the range with three pounds of granulated sugar. When boiling add 3 large, grated quinces, after paring them. Grate all but the core of quinces.

Boil from 20 to 25 minutes, until it looks clear. Pour into tumblers.

When cold, cover and stand away until used.

PICKLED PEACHES

Twelve pounds of peaches, 1 quart of vinegar, 3 pounds brown sugar.

Rub the fuzz from the peaches. Do not pare them. Stick half a dozen whole cloves in each peach. Add spices to taste, stick-cinnamon, whole doves and mace. Put spices in a small cheese cloth bag and do not remove the bag, containing spices, when putting away the peaches.

Scald sugar, vinegar and spices together and pour over the peaches.

Cover closely and stand away. Do this twice, one day between. The third time place all together in a preserving kettle. Cook a few minutes, then place fruit in jars, about three-quarters filled. Boil down the syrup until about one-quarter has boiled away, pour over the peaches, hot, and seal in air-tight jars. This is an old and very good recipe used by "Aunt Sarah" many years.

CURRANT JELLY

Always pick currants for jelly before they are "dead ripe," and never directly after a shower of rain. Wash and pick over and stem currants.

Place in a preserving kettle five pounds of currants and 1/2 cup of water; stir until heated through then mash with a potato masher. Turn into a jelly bag, allow drip, and to every pint of currant juice add one pound of granulated sugar; return to preserving kettle. Boil twenty minutes, skim carefully, pour into jelly gla.s.ses. When cold cover tops of gla.s.ses with melted parafine.

PINEAPPLE HONEY

Pineapple honey was made in a similar manner to quince honey, using one large grated pineapple to one quart of cold water and three pounds of sugar. Boil 20 minutes.

PRESERVED PINEAPPLE

Pare the pineapples, run through a food chopper, weigh fruit, and to every pound of fruit add three-quarters of a pound of sugar. Mix sugar and fruit together and stand in a cool place over night. In the morning cook until fruit is tender and syrup clear; skim top of fruit carefully; fill jars and seal.

GRAPE CONSERVE

Wash and drain ten pounds of ripe grapes, separate the skins from the pulp, stew pulp until soft, mash through a sieve, reject seeds.

Place pulp and skins in a preserving kettle, add a half pound of seeded raisins and juice and pulp of 4 oranges. Measure and add to every quart of this 3/4 of a quart of sugar. Cook slowly, until the consistency of jam. A cup of coa.r.s.ely-chopped walnut meats may be added, if liked, a few minutes before removing jam from the range.

Fill pint jars and seal.

MARY'S RECIPE FOR RHUBARB JAM

Skin and cut enough rhubarb in half-inch pieces to weigh three pounds.

Add 1/2 cup cold water and 2 pounds of granulated sugar, and the grated yellow rind and juice of 2 large oranges. Cook all together, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching, a half hour, or until clear. This is a delicious jam.

APPLE SAUCE

When making apple sauce, cut good, tart apples in halves after paring them, cut out the cores, then cook, quickly as possible, in half enough boiling water to cover them. Cover the stew-pan closely. This causes them to cook more quickly, and not change color. Watch carefully that they do not scorch. When apples are tender, turn into sieve. Should the apples be quite juicy and the water drained from the apples measure a half pint, add a half pound of sugar, cook 15 or 20 minutes, until it jells, and you have a gla.s.s of clear, amber-colored jelly. Add 1 teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter and sugar to taste to the apple sauce, which has been mashed through the sieve. Apple sauce made thus should be almost the color of the apples before cooking. If the apple sauce is not liked thick, add some of the strained apple juice instead of making jelly; as some apples contain more juice than others.

RHUBARB MARMALADE (AS FRAU SCHMIDT MADE IT)

Cut rhubarb into small pieces, put in stew-pan with just enough water to prevent sticking fast. When cooked tender, mash fine with potato masher, and to three cups of rhubarb, measured before stewing, add 1 cup of granulated sugar, also 1 dozen almonds which had been blanched and cut as fine as possible, and stewed until tender, then added to hot rhubarb and sugar. Cook all together a short time. Serve either hot or cold. A large quant.i.ty may be canned for Winter use.

The addition of almonds gave the marmalade a delicious flavor A good marmalade may be made by adding the juice and thinly shaved outside peel of several lemons to rhubarb. Put all together in kettle on range with sugar. Cook over a slow fire until proper consistency. Turn into jars and leave uncovered until day following, when cover and seal air-tight.

GRAPE FRUIT MARMALADE

For this marmalade take 1 large grape fruit, 2 large oranges and 1 lemon. After thoroughly was.h.i.+ng the outside of fruit, slice all as thinly as possible, rejecting the seeds. Measure and add three times as much water as you have fruit. Let all stand over night. The next morning boil 15 minutes, stand over night again, in a large bowl or agate preserving kettle. The next morning add 1 pound (scant measure) of sugar to each pint of the mixture and boil until it jells. This is delicious if you do not object to the slightly bitter taste of the grape fruit. Put in tumblers, cover closely with paraffin. This quant.i.ty should fill 22 tumblers, if a large grape fruit is used.

ORANGE MARMALADE

Slice whole oranges very thin and cut in short pieces after was.h.i.+ng them. Save the seeds. To each pound of sliced oranges add 3 pints of cold water and let stand 24 hours. Then boil all together until the chipped rinds are tender. All the seeds should be put in a muslin bag and boiled with the oranges. Allow all to stand together until next day, then remove the bag of seeds, and to every pound of boiled fruit add a half pound of sugar. Boil continuously, stirring all the time, until the chips are quite clear and the syrup thick as honey on being dropped on a cold dish. The grated rind and juice of 2 lemons will improve the taste of marmalade if added at last boiling. When cooked sufficiently the marmalade should be clear. Pour at once into gla.s.s jars and cover closely.

CHERRY RELISH

After sour cherries have been pitted, weigh them and cover with vinegar and let stand 24 hours. Take from the vinegar and drain well, then put into stone crocks in layers, with sugar, allowing 1 pound of sugar to 1 pound of cherries. Stir twice each day for ten days, then fill air-tight jars and put away for Winter use. These are an excellent accompaniment to a roast of meat.

CANNED PEACHES

When canning peaches make a syrup composed of 1 cup of sugar to 2 cups of water.

Place in preserving kettle and when sugar has dissolved cook thinly pared peaches, either sliced or cut in halves, in the hot syrup until clear, watching closely that they do not cook too soft. Place carefully in gla.s.s jars, pour hot syrup over and seal in jars.

Aunt Sarah also, occasionally, used a wash-boiler in which to can fruit. She placed in it a rack made of small wooden strips to prevent the jars resting on the bottom of the boiler; filled the jars with uncooked fruit or vegetables, poured over the jars of fruit hot syrup and over the vegetables poured water, placed the jars, uncovered, in the boiler; water should cover about half the height of jars. Boil until contents of jars are cooked, add boiling syrup to fill fruit jars and screw the tops on tightly.

PEAR CONSERVE

Use 5 pounds of pears, not too soft or over-ripe, cut like dice. Cover with water and boil until tender, then add 5 pounds of sugar. Peel 2 oranges, cut in dice the night before using; let diced orange peel stand, covered with cold water until morning. Then cook until orange peel is tender. Add this to the juice and pulp of the two oranges. Add one pound of seeded raisins and cook all together until thick honey.

Put in gla.s.s jars and seal.

LEMON HONEY

The juice of 3 lemons, mixed with 3 cups of sugar. Add 3 eggs, beating 1 in at a time. Add 2 cups of water and 2 tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter. Cook all together 20 minute, until thick as honey.

CANNED STRING BEANS