PRESERVES AND PRESERVING Preserving Fruit.—The process of preserving is a very simple one, al though it takes a large amount of time and great care. However, any housekeeper can accomplish it. The principal secret of success is that the fruit should be put up and sealed while hot and the jars filled to the brim. It is usually the custom to place the fruit in the kettle, a layer of fruit and a layer of sugar, pound for pound or measure for measure and to let the whole come to a boil at once.
Or place the fruit in a vessel with out the sugar. Put just enough wa ter over it to keep it from scorching, and allow it to boil until the scum rises. Carefully skim away the scum while it continues to rise before add ing the sugar. Many seem to think that the scum rises entirely from the sugar, but the experience of those wbo have used the above-mentioned method is that an equal amount of scum comes from the boiling fruit.
Or weigh the sugar and the fruit, pound for pound, then place the su gar in the kettle without the fruit. Ptit in just enough water to dissolve the sugar and stir until it is dis solved. Now place on the fire and let come to boil. Continue to sim mer for half an hour or so before dip ping in the fruit, being careful to skim away the scum as it rises. Then
place the fruit in the boiling liquid and let it continue to simmer on the back of the stove until the fruit be comes thoroughly impregnated with the boiling sirup.
When about half done lift the fruit from the boiling sirup, place it in large porcelain or other vessels, being careful not to allow any sirup to come with it, and place it in the sun for an hour or more to bleach. After this, again drop the fruit into the sirup and let it boil until tender enough to allow a straw to run through it.
When the fruit is thoroughly done, if the sirup is not as thick as desired, it may continuously simmer until the desired thickness is reached. Then place the fruit in glass jars that have been previously heated and sterilized by boiling in water containing a lit tle borax and rinsing in hot water. After filling the jar with fruit as full as you conveniently can, pour in the boiling sirup until it fills up all the crevices between the fruit, excluding all the air possible. While perform ing this process, place the jar in a pan filled with hot water. This will prevent cracking the jar.