Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-10-06

late fruit than is required by the small
fruits which claim attention earlier in
the season, at least as far as preparing
it for the preserving kettle. Fruit which
is to be made into delicious marmalades
and spicy sweet pickles needs only to be
carefully looked over, the perfect speci-
mems wiped off with a soft towel, and
the others rejected or cut in two and all
imperfections removed; but for pre-
serves, which are to tempt by their
looks as well as flavor, the skins and
sometimes the core also must be re-
moved.
Blackberries should be made into
jelly and jam or canned, as the case
may be. as soon as possible after they
are picked from the vines. To can
them. boil i've minutes, add six ounces
of sugar to each quart of berries, boil
five minutes longer and put while hotin
cans or glass jars. To make into jelly
boil them until soft, then strain, meas
ure the juice, and boil fifteen minutes;
then add soant cupful of sugar for
each cupful of juice. as measured, and
boil ten minutes. Unless the berries
contain an unusual amount of water the
Jelly will be perfectly solid, but as it is
impossible to always Judge correctly
and jelly is spoiled if it has to be cooked
overt is well to try spoonful in
saucer; if it jellies around the edge as it
cools it is done.
Blackberries make good jam, which
IS excellent for making tarts, and fol
breakfast with warm bread. Measure
the fruit before it is put in the kettle;
allow one-third less sugar than fruit,
| but do not put it in until the fruit has
cooked we'll for half an hour. After the
berries have become soft mash them
with wooden spoon, boil twenty min
utes after the sugar has been added,
stirring frequently.
To make genuine old-time preserves,
pound of sugar to each pound of fruit
is used. The result is delicious, rich
conserve, which does not need the pro-
lection of new-fashioned self-sealino
Jars to insure its keeping. Bit, excel.
lent as they are. like many other good
things, they should be used in small
quantities. and they should be reserved
for extra occasions, and the palmer
canned fruits hold more prominent
place on the everyday table.
Peaches may be preserved whole.
though they make nicer appearance
If the stone is removed, but in either
case they should be peeled. A syrup is
made by putting the sugar and water
enough to dissolve it into the preserv.
ing kettle; when it boils add the peach.
es, and boil very gently until the fruit
is soft enough to allow straw to pene.
trate it and has acquired clear amber
color.
Ounces, pears and sweet apples are
preserved in the same way.
In making sweet pickles. whole, per-
feet fruit should be used. 1t is well to
make marmalade at the same time,
then the perfect fruit can be selected
for the pickles. and all that must be cut
in two or have imperfect places cut out
can be used for the marmalade. To
make a syrup for picking fruit, take
four pounds of sugar, one quart of CT
der vinegar. and one pint of water for
eight pounds of fruit; add one-half
ounce of mace, one ounce of cinnamon
in sticks and ne-quarter ounce of
whole cloves; let the syrup come to a
boil before putting in the fruit. After
the fruit is added let it boil until tender,
but not until it is considered thorough
ly cooked. Remove the fruit to glass
jars and pour the syrup over it. Let it
cool before sealing up. Peaches and
crab-apples make the best pickles.
Crab-apples make a very pleasant
tasting jelly and are one of the best
fruits for marmalade. Jelly, when
made from yellow crab-apples, has a
delicate amber color lovely to behold.
To make into jelly add two quarts of
water to half peck of apples and cook
soft. Squeeze through a jelly bag and
strain; boil the juice ten minutes, then
add one cupful of sugar to each cupful
of juice. The juice should be measured
when put in the kettle, not after it has
boiled; boil ten minutes longer, then
pour into glasses.
Crab-apples, grapes, plums. peaches
and ounces make good marmalade. A
general rule is to cook the fruit until
soft, then put it through a colander; re-
turn the pulp to the kettle. add scant
cupful of sugar to each cupful of pulp;
boil three-quarters of an hour. It must
cook slowly and be stirred frequently or
it will scorch. 1t is better to put mar
malade into small bowls. If put in large
jars it remains soft. but, if rightly made,
it will, when put in bowls; become per-
fectly solid.
time.
Peach and apple butter is usually
made in a quantity, and must be stirred
all the time it is cooking The stone is
taken from the peaches and the core
from apples, but neither are peeled.
Enough water to cover the bottom of
the kettle well is put in with the fruit
and half pound of sugar to each pound
of fruit added. Apple butter should be
cooked an hour and quarter at least,
and peach butter needs little longer
Plums are made into butter the same
way.
Oranges make most delicate flavor
ing for preserve made from watermel-
on rinds, but, if a sharper taste is liked,
lemons may be used. The melon should
be cut in slices, the rind peeled off and
the red part removed, leaving the firm
white rind. Cut into small pieces about
two inches long. Weigh it and Use half
pound of sugar TO one pound of mel
on. Strain the juice from the inside of
the melon, without cooking, and make
strip with it and the sugar; add the
rinds and boil until clear; then flavor to
taste with the orange or lemon: LEI. il