Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/82

78 five minutes. Then skim carefully and draw to one side of the fire before putting in the fruit to be preserved. In doing vegetable marrow it is as well to let it soak twelve hours (at least) in salt and water, to take out the acrid taste of unripe marrow. The lemon juice can be added after it is nearly cooked if liked, or it can be boiled in the syrup first. It makes very delicious preserve, and can be flavoured with citron, orange, or pineapple, which is a great improvement. The syrup for preserving need not necessarily be clarified with white of egg. It can be done very well with cold water, a little thrown in now and then when the syrup is boiling fast, and skim at once, or directly the impurities rise. Some fruits require, or are the better for boiling in clear water before preserving in syrup—quinces for instance, and pears. Pineapples are delicious done in this way, but it is advisable to prick them here and there with a knitting needle or a bonnet pin before they are put in at all. If you do it after they have been in they may fall to pieces. Syrup for preserving requires great care in making, as if the least burnt or smoked, all the jam or preserve will be spoiled.

To Preserve Fruit without Sugar.—This is an American recipe, therefore should be good. Have some wide mouthed bottles or jars, and having well washed and dried them, hold them for a moment over sulphur fumes to purify the inside. Fill them with the fresh sound fruit, packing it closely and right up to the neck. Now cork tightly with new sound corks and tie down, wrap each bottle in a piece of calico and stand all together in a boiler and pour in cold water up to the shoulders of the bottles. Bring the water to boiling, and boil gently for fifteen minutes. Withdraw the fire and let them cool slowly.

Ingredients: To every pint of juice one tablespoonful of whisky or brandy.

Mode: SqueeseSqueeze [sic] the juice from the lemons and strain it very carefully through fine muslin, and to every pint of juice allow one tablespoonful of whisky or brandy. Bottle, cork, and seal the corks, and keep in a cool place. The juice must be done at once, and not left to stand.

By many people preserving is considered almost a distinct art. I shall not go very deeply into the subject for the simple reason that every housekeeper has her own way of making jams, jellies, &amp;c., and almost every one’s way is totally different from others. All I shall do will be to give a few special hints, which I have found out for myself, and the recipes for preserving a few native fruits, which I flatter myself are unknown to any one else. The old fashioned idea of using only copper pans for preserving has quite gone out, and one makes jam in almost anything nowadays, save and except (of course always) an iron pot. Enamelled pans are most used, and in the bush are an improvement on even the copper pan of our grandmothers on account of the cleaning, for servants are not, as a rule, willing to spend half-an-hour scouring and brightening. They take no pride in the utensils, though the mistress may, and for that reason it is