CANDIED FRUITS, FRUIT AND NUT CANDIES To Candy Fruits. — Use for this purpose fine white loaf sugar in any quantity desired. Dip each lump into clear soft water and drop the moistened lumps into a porcelain or other saucepan. Boil to the caramel state, removing the scum as fast as it appears. Remove the saucepan from the fire and place it in a vessel of hot water. As soon as the sirup ceases to boil, dip the fruit to be candied, one by one, into the hot sirup, and place it to dry and harden in a cool place. Almost any kind of ripe fruit may be candied in this manner, as ripe grapes, plums, cher ries, sections of orange, lemon, or pineapple, etc.
Or make a sirup of 3/ pounds of granulated sugar and 1 pint of soft water or distilled water by boiling 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the fire, immerse the fruit, and let stand 2 or 3 hours. Strain off the sirup, which may be used for other can dies, and let the fruit stand in front of a baking oven with the door open until the moisture is dried out, when the sugar will crystallize.
Candied Peel.—To candy orange or lemon peel, first soak peel in salt and water 4 or 5 days, changing the water frequently as it becomes bitter. When the bitterness has been removed, rinse them in clear warm water and boil in soft water until they are tender. Make a sirup at the rate of 3 pounds of loaf sugar to a pint of water, stir in the peels and boil to the caramel stage. Put them to drain in a sieve, powder them with Confectioners' XXX su gar, and let them dry on the edge of a cool oven with the door open. Store in a cool place to harden.
Candied Orange Marmalade.—Re move the juice and pulp of sweet Florida or navel oranges, taking care to pick out the seeds and inside skin. For bitter marmalade, boil the rinds at once until they become tender. Or, if the bitterness is not desired, use peels that have been soaked four or five days in advance in salt water, but the pulp must be freshly ex tracted.
Finally, in either case boil the peel until it is tender. Chop or crush it fine, stir in the pulp and juice, add double the weight of moist loaf sugar and boil over a slow fire to the cara mel stage, which will take about half an hour. Preserve in small jars cov
ered with waxed paper.
Fruit Sweetmeats.—Make a clari fied sirup of pound of coffee or brown sugar by stirring in the white of ad egg and skimming it out as the sirup boils. Stir in 1 pound of sliced fruit, as peaches, pears, or sweet ap ples, etc., and boil to the thickness or jelly. Or, if desired, place the whole peaches in cold water with out peeling them, and bring them to a boil. Remove and dry them on a towel, and immerse them in boil ing sirup.
Or dip small fruit, as cherries, raspberries, plums, etc., in white of egg, place them in a sieve, dust with XXX powdered sugar, and shake until well coated.
Orange Straws.—Boil orange peel in soft water in a large saucepan un til it is tender, using plenty of water, and changing it frequently as it grows bitter. Place in a sieve to drain, and when cold enough to han dle cut into narrow strips with a sharp, thin knife blade. Boil in sirup to the caramel stage and dry in a warm place.
Fig Candy.—Boil to the hard ball, over a slow fire 1 pound of granu late• sugar in 1 pint of water. Stir in teaspoonful of vinegar, a lump of butter the size of an English wal nut, and pour over split figs pre viously prepared in a buttered pan.
Date Candy. — Remove the pits from any desired quantity of dates, and lay them in rows side by side in the bottom of a buttered pan about 1 inch apart. Pour over these a sirup prepared as for fig candy. Let stand until cold. When nearly cold mark between the rows of dates with a sharp knife blade. When the candy is set cut along these lines and wrap the bars in waxed or buttered paper.
Raisin Candy.—Prepare the sirup as for fig and date candy, cover the bottom of a buttered pan with a layer of seeded raisins, pour on this a thin layer of sirup, add more rai sins, and so continue until the candy is of any desired thickness. Mark in squares when nearly cold.