Page:Marion Harland's Complete Cook Book.djvu/641

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Cap the berries, preserving all the juice that flows from them. Weigh the fruit and allow to every pound of it one pound of granulated sugar. Put the sugar and juice into the preserving kettle and cook slowly until the sugar is entirely dissolved, then carefully lay in the berries. Simmer for seven minutes; turn all into shallow porcelain-lined pans or stoneware dishes, and set in the hot sun, covering each dish with a pane of glass, or with mosquito netting. Leave in the hot sunshine every day until the syrup is thick. Put into preserve jars and keep in a dark, cool, dry place.

Sort the berries, reserving those of uniform size and perfect shape, and use the remainder for the juice. Mash them thoroughly and let them drip through a flannel bag. Measure the strained juice and allow one pound of sugar to one pound of juice, put over the fire in a preserving kettle and let them boil twenty minutes or until the syrup begins to jelly.

Weigh the reserved whole berries and allow an equal amount of sugar. Add both to the hot syrup in the kettle and let them simmer carefully. If it soon becomes firm, the mixture is cooked sufficiently. The berries should be cooked through, yet not long enough to shrivel. Fill jelly glasses with it while hot, and seal.

Peel the tomatoes, and to every pound of them allow a pound of granulated sugar. Cover the tomatoes with the sugar and set aside over night. In the morning drain off the syrup and boil it, skimming frequently. Lay in the tomatoes and simmer for twenty minutes, then remove them and spread on platters in the sunshine while the syrup boils until thick. Add the juice of three lemons to seven pounds of sugar just before taking from the fire. Pack the tomatoes in jars, and fill these to overflowing with the boiling syrup. Seal immediately.