Grapes preserved after this manner will keep for years in localities where canned fruit often spoils during the heat of summer. They can at any time be opened and prepared for the table like fresh grapes with no differ ence in the ta.ste. The water in which they were preserved, makes a delightful cooling drink, as it con tains a large percentage of tartaric acid, which gives it a pleasant acidity.
To Preserve Lemon Peel.—Make a thick sirup of white sugar, chop the lemon peel fine, and boil in the sirup ten minutes. Put in glass tumblers and paste paper over them. A tea spoonful of this may be used to im prove a loaf cake or a dish of sauce.
Ginger Pears.—Peel ripe pears, re move the cores, and cut into thin slices. To 4 pounds of pears allow the juice of 2 large lemons, 3i pounds of sugar, and a i pound .of ginger root scraped and cut into thin slices. To this add about a gill of water. Mix all together, except the lemon juice and the fruit. Place over the fire and heat until the sugar is dis solved. Then drop in the pears, add the lemon juice, and boil slowly for one hour. Can while hot.
Pears Preserved in Nolasses.—Use hard pears. Cut the blossom ends, leaving on the stem. Peel, drop in cold water and put on the fire. Heat gradually and stew until tender. Re move the pears from the liquid and place in a dish where they can be kept warm at the side of the range.
To each pound of the liquid in which the fruit was cooked add a pint of molasses. Return to the fire, add a little ginger, and boil for half an hour. Take off the scum as it rises. Again place the pears in the liquid and cook for twenty minutes. They should be packed very tightly in jars and sealed while hot.
To Preserve Pineapples.—Slice the pineapples thin, about an inch in thickness. Put them into a jar. Make a sirup, using it a pound of sugar to a pint of water. Simmer on the back of the stove until dissolved. After standing for a day pour it over the fruit. Let it stand for one hour, then simmer it again, having added a little more sugar. Repeat the proc ess three or four times. The last time pour the boiling sirup over the fruit.
Or pare and cut the fruit in thin slices, weigh the slices, and to each pound allow a pound of loaf sugar. Dissolve the sugar, stir it and set it over the fire in a preserving kettle. Boil ten rainutes and skim well. Then put in the pineapple slices and boil them until they are clear and soft, being careful that they do not break. About half an hour is the usual time. Let them cool in a large dish before putting them into the jars, being careful that you do not break them while handling. Pour the boiling sirup over them and cover with brandied paper.