The San Angelo press. (San Angelo, Tex.) 1897-1907, 1905-07-13
HINTS ON PRESERVING.
How TO Make Jams and JeIlies out of
Fruit

How 10 Make Jams and Jellies out of
Fruit.
Now is the season when fruit is
abundant, cheap and in the best condl-
ton for making jams, preserves and
jellies. Preserves mean fruit that Is
cooked with sugar, equal weight, and
left whole or nearly so. Jams are
where the fruit Is crushed and boiled
with sugar to n thick mass. Jelly Is
where only the Juice Of the fruit Is
used, with an equal quantity OF sugar
cup for cup full
Blackberries, raspbcrrles, plums,
greengages and peaches are best for
jam. Red currants Concord grapes,
apples, crab apples and ounces make
the best Jelly, while all the fruits can
he simply preserved, made into jam
or canned. But canning is not con
sidered here: 1t Is too difficult to give
certain rules for. But these three kinds
Of preserved fruits never spoil II made
after these rules.
To make good jellies the housekeeper
must have proper utensils. Jelly
glasses with metal covers cost but lit
tie, and the smaller size gives the best
satisfaction. Pint bottles for preserves
and Jam are better than larger ones.
An eight quart agate kettle, an agate
spoon, skinner, wooden spoon, n
dipper holding pint n measuring cup.
fruit funnel and pair of scales to
weigh sugar and fruit are needed: also
cheesecloth jelly bag.
Jelly cannot be made of Strawberries
alone, as they lack pectln. Apples,
crab apples, currants and grapes have
the most. So by adding the juice from
any one of those fruits to the straw
berries jelly can be made.
The Jelly bag of cheesecloth should
be wrung out of hot water when the
boiled fruit IL put into II to drain.
All fruits for jelly should be put into
the kettle with just water enough to
be visible Mt the top and then boiled
long enough TO cook the fruit. A few
minutes suffice for all except pears and
ounces. Apples and ounces should
be washed and Quartcred without peel
ing or taking out the cores for jelly.
For preserves ounces should be peeled
and Cored.
When cooked, fruit, juice and all are
to be put in the jelly bag, hung up and
left to drain all night The clear juice
is then measured, cup for cup OF juice
and sugar, which must have been dried
so that It Is hot in the oven. Boil 1t
twenty minutes over gentle fire, tax
ing off the scum as 1t rises without stir
ring. Have the jelly glasses standing
on wet cloths, each with Il spoon in 1t.
FIJI and let the jelly stand all night
and in the morning pour melted white
wax over the surface. This keeps 1t
from molding. Paste the name of each
kind on the glass, cover and wrap In
dark blue paper. 1t Is better TO have
the fruit under rather than over ripe.
Preserved ounces, pears and other
hard fruit should be pared, cored and
duartered and put to boil with one
quarter of pound of sugar to each
pint of water. Boil until a straw will
pierce them. Take them out of the sirup
and add three-quarters more of sugar
to every pint of strip and let 1t boil
well, skimming 1t. Add the fruit and
allow it to boil ten minutes. This will
keep forever.
Jam of any kind requires that the
fruit boil soft and then be mashed and
returned to the fire with Its equal
weight of sugar and allowed to boil
fifteen minutes. Peaches and all kinds
of plums, being soft, should be dropped
into boiling strip when wanted whole
or boiled and mashed first for jam
Peaches, apricots and cherries are bet
ter If a few Of the pits are left In the