Bottled Crab-apples

Rub the crab-apples over carefully with, a clean dry cloth, and prick each over with a needle to prevent them bursting. Put into a stewpan one pint of water, two pounds of loaf sugar, about sixteen cloves, and quarter-ounce of whole ginger; boil these all together for about fifteen minutes, keeping skimmed while boiling, then strain, reboil, and add to it about a quart of the crab-apples; bring again to the boil, then take up and drain on a hair sieve, and leave them till cold. Repeat this process three times, and at the finish leave them to get cool, when they should be put into jars or bottles that are quite clean and dry; add to each jar sufficient syrup to cover the apples; tie the jars down with bladders, and leave them in a cool dry place till wanted. The crab-apples thus prepared are good for tarts, creams, or dessert.

Preserved Damsons

That fruit is the best for preserving which has been gathered while the sun was on it and when the weather has been dry for a few days previously; the fruit should be perfectly ripe. For each quart of fruit allow half a pound of the best loaf sugar; put the fruit into jars which are quite dry, sprinkle the sugar in, stand the jars in a pan containing cold water, place a little straw between the jars, stand the pan over a moderate fire, let the water come gently to the boil, and let it remain on the stove for about one hour. Remove the pan, and leave the jars as they are till quite cold; strain off the liquor, and boil for fifteen or twenty minutes, then pour on to the fruit; when cold cover over with bladder, and keep in a cool dry place. If liked, the stones can be removed before cooking.

Fruits A La Suedoise

Take one quart of mixed fresh fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, currants, cherries, and gooseberries, pound them to a pulp, and add to them one wineglassful of brandy, one of rum, one of Maraschino, and one of Noyeau, and the juice of six lemons. Put the peel of the lemons into a stewpan with half a pound of loaf sugar, pour over it one pint of boiling water, and let it remain till cold; then add it to the other ingredients, colour with a little carmine, tammy it, and when cold put it in the charged ice-machine and freeze it. Dish up in a pile, entirely cover it with a cold macedoine of fruits, and serve in a bowl or deep dish for dinner after the remove or for a sweet, in which case some fancy cakes should be handed with it.

Fruits Bottled Without Sugar

Pick the fruit when quite dry and ripe, free it from stalks, and arrange it in wide-necked bottles (which should be carefully dried), giving the fruit an occasional shake so that the bottles may be well filled, and cork down lightly. Take a large pan containing boiling water and stand the bottles in it so as to partly cover them, place some hay between each bottle (taking care that the corks do not get wet or the fruit will not keep); then stand the pan in a very moderate oven or on the side of the stove for three and a half to four hours, and set aside till cold; then take up and knock the corks in tightly, and tie them down with bladder or leather. Keep in a dry cool place till wanted.