Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/1274

1134 and strain until clear. Replace the syrup in the pan, add the apples and lemon-juice, and simmer gently until the apples are tender, but not broken. Place them in jars or wide-necked bottles, pour the syrup over them, and cover the preparation so as to completely exclude the air. Store in a cool, dry place.

Time.—About 50 minutes. Average Cost, 3s. 7d.

2502.—APRICOT JAM OR MARMALADE.

Ingredients.—Equal weight of firm, ripe apricots and fine preserving sugar.

Method.—Skin the apricots carefully, break them in halves and remove the stones. Weigh the fruit, and allow an equal amount of sugar. Pile the apricots on a large dish, sprinkle each layer with sugar, let them stand for 12 hours, and meanwhile remove the kernels from the stones and blanch them. When ready, place the fruit, sugar and kernels in a preserving-pan, simmer very gently, skimming meanwhile, and as the pieces of apricot become clear remove them from the syrup and place them at once in the pots. Pour on the syrup and kernels, cover with pieces of paper dipped in salad-oil, and stretch over the tops of the jars tissue paper, brushed over with white of egg. When dry, the cover will be perfectly hard and air-tight.

Time.—12 hours, sprinkled with sugar. Average Cost, 10d. to 1s. per lb.

2503.—APRICOT JELLY. (Fr.—Gelee d'Abricot.)

Ingredients.—Ripe apricots. To each lb. of fruit, weighed after the stones and skins are removed, allow 1 lb. of preserving sugar and the juice of 1 lemon.

Method.—Remove the skins, break the apricots in halves, and blanch the kernels. Weigh the fruit, put it into a preserving-pan with an equal amount of sugar, and add the prepared kernels and lemon-juice. Simmer gently, stir frequently until reduced to the consistency of thick marmalade, then pour into small pots. Cover first with paper moistened with salad-oil, and afterwards with tissue paper brushed over with white of egg; store in a dry cool place.

Time.—About 1 hour. Average Cost, 10d. to 1s. per lb.

2504.—APRICOTS, TO DRY. (See Greengages, To Preserve Dry, No. 2554.)

2505.—BARBERRIES IN BUNCHES.

Ingredients.—1 pint of syrup, barberries.

Method.—Prepare some small pieces of clean white wood, 3 inches long and ¼ of an inch wide; tie the fruit to these in nice bunches. Have ready some clear syrup, Recipe No. 2599; put in the barberries, and simmer them in it for ½ an hour on two successive days, and