The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1903-08-12
Preserves.

wise housewife begins to lay up
stores for winter, a few remarks
about preserving may be of use,
says Alice Winston in the Inland
Farmer.
At one time preserves went out
of fashion. 1t was discovered they
were troublesome and expensive
and would not keep, and the great
need of the age was to have
everything canned. But t h a t
fad has passed away to a large
extent, and although every one
cans vegetables and some fruits,
the old fashioned, clear, dainty
preserves are now come back in
full force. If you can, it is a good
plan to have an oil stove which
will enable you to carry out every
thing out under a tree or on a
porch. But if you have got to be
in the kitchen anyway, just have
your porcelain lined kettle well
cleaned and see you have plenty of
wood and go to work on your pre-
serves.
Do not try to save sugar if you
want them to keep, and do not be
lavish with water if you want a
rich, thick syrup. Dark preserves
with thin syrup comes from lack
of sugar, too much water and too
much cooking. Three hours steady
boiling is ample time for them to
he on the stove. You must allow
one pound of sugar for one pound
of fruit. Some economical ladies
put on the fruit and cook down
until clear and then put in three
quarters of pound or half pound
of sugar for each pound of fruit,
but 1 notice their preserves are
dark in color and poor in flavor.
After these general remarks L
must now come to some especial
kinds of preserves. The queen of
the table is the peach. Peel them
rapidly for they turn dark if ex-
posed to the air for any length of
time. Weigh them and put in the
kettle, and allow one, ordinary
coffee cup or dipper of water for
seven pounds. Weigh the sugar
and pour over them, and put on, to
cook, stirring carefully so as not to
break the skins of the fruit. DO
not boil furiously either that or
any other kind of preserve. A
steady bush heat is all that is nee
essarY. 1t is very nice to crack
some stones and after blanching
the kernels, put them among the
fruit to give a flavor. When the
pieces of peach become a clear am
Der, dip out with fruit skinner
and lay on fiat dishes and boil the
syrup until it gets very thick. Re-
turn the peaches to the kettle for
thirty minutes and then you can
put them into glass jars. A piece
of thick paper that just fits over
the top, is a help even when you
use the Mason screw top jars. II
you have no tops to your jars, just
lay couple of pieces of paper on
top the preserves and paste several
thicknesses of paper over the jar
and that will keep them perfectly.
You know our grandmothers used
nothing else and 1 never heard of
their preserves spelling.
Canteloupe preserves is- another
good kind. Take half ripe melons
and peel them and cut them in
three-inch lengths one inch wide.
Put on, with three pieces of white
ginger to large kettle-ful, and
couple of pounds of sugar, and two
quarts of water. Cook slowly until
the pieces of melon are clear. Take
off the stove and drain through
collander until every drop of juice
is out of them. Weigh and lay
aside. Weigh out the same amount
of sugar and put on the stove in
clear kettle with one dipper of
water for each five pounds, little
mace and one lemon sliced thin,
rind and all, for every two and