Preserved Quinces

8 lbs. prepared quinces

8 lbs. sugar

2 qts. water

Wash, peel, quarter, and core the quinces before measuring them. Put them into a cooker-pail, add the water, and when they are boiling hard, put them into a cooker for ten hours or more. If not perfectly tender, heat them again to the boiling point and set them in the cooker for as many more hours as they require, depending upon their ripeness. Thoroughly ripe quinces will probably not require this second period of cooking. Add the sugar, bring them to a boil, and set them in the cooker for four hours or more. If they are not rich enough, boil them slowly, uncovered, until they are of the desired consistency. Long, slow boiling is what gives quinces the red colour so much admired.

Citron And Ginger Preserves

6 lbs. fruit (prepared) 4 lemons

1/4 lb. green ginger l 1/2 qts. water

6 lbs. sugar

Pare the citron and cut it into thick slices. Remove the seeds, cut the slices across into cubes, strips, or fancy shapes, and weigh them. Wash the lemons, slice them and remove the seeds. Wash and peel the ginger. Put the citron, lemon, ginger, and water into a cooker-pail. Bring them to a boil and put them into a cooker for eight hours or more, depending upon the hardness of the citron. When this is soft and nearly transparent, add the sugar, boil it, and cook again for four hours or more. Remove the fruit, put it into cans or jars, and boil down the syrup until it will just cover the fruit. Pour it at once over the fruit and close the cans when cooled. Cover them with a clean towel while cooling.

Watermelon rind may be preserved in the same manner.

Preserved Ginger

Buy fresh, green ginger, of good size and quality. Peel or scrape it and cut it into lengths for serving. Cook it in a cooker for ten hours or more in boiling salted water (one-half cupful of salt to one gallon of water). Drain away the brine and add fresh boiling water to more than cover it. When boiling put it again into the cooker for ten hours or more. Change the water and cook it again, repeating this process until the ginger is very tender. It may take several days. Make a syrup, using two cupfuls of sugar to each cupful of water, bring the ginger to a boil in this syrup, set it in a cooker for five or six hours; remove the ginger, boil the syrup down to a rich consistency, and pour it over the ginger.