Twentieth century home cook book

The difficulty in keeping vegetables prevents their being canned in the country. They really should be sealed hermetically in a dense cloud of steam, and when boiling hot. The directions for canning corn will suffice for the kitchen. Cut, or better, pare and scrape the corn from the cob, and when it comes to a boil fill it into tin cans and solder hermetically—air tight. Puncture the top of each can with a small hole for the escape of steam. Set the cans in a vessel of water and boil hard for two hours. Then, while the steam is rising, drop a little solder over the hole. Keep in a cool place. VII. Preserving in Sugar. Very little fruit is so preserved nowadays. This plan is generally used for rinds, like citron, melon, etc. The directions for watermelon will answer for all: After cutting your rind properly, boil it in clean water, with vine leaves between each layer; a piece of alum, the size of a hickory nut, is sufficient for a kettleful. After boiling it, put it into ice-water to cool; then repeat this a second time, each time putting it to cool; each time boiling one hour. Prepare the syrup with one and one-fourth pounds of sugar to each pound of fruit; green ginger boiled in the water you make your syrup with flavors it, or three lemons to six pounds of fruit. If the syrup thickens too fast, add a little water; the rind should be boiled in the water until clear and green. VIII. Marmalade. This is a kind of preserves that is much liked. Quince, peach and apple marmalade are the kinds mostly prepared, though any fruits may be used. Marmalade should be put away in jars covered with oiled paper, and made perfectly air-tight. Quince Marmalade. — Select ripe yellow quinces, wash clean, pare and core them and cut them into small pieces. To each pound of quinces allow half a pound of white sugar; put the parings and cores into a kettle, with enough water to cover them, and boil slowly until quite soft. Then, having put the quinces with the sugar in a porcelain kettle, strain over them, through a cloth, the liquid from the parings, and cover; boil the whole over a clear fire until it becomes quite smooth and thick, keeping it covered, except when you are skimming it, a.nd watching and stirring closely, to prevent sticking at the bottom. When cold, put in glass jars. Peach Marmalade — Allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit ; boil the pits until the water is well flavored; peel and quarter the peaches, and add to the water boiling, half an hour before adding the sugar ; stir constantly ; boil an hour after adding the sugar. Apple Marmalade. — Select four pounds of cooking apples; pare and core them, put them in an enameled saucepan with about a quart of sweet cider and two pounds of white sugar. Boil them until the fruit is quite soft. Squeeze it through a colander, and then through a sieve. Strawberry Marmalade. — Pick ripe strawberries free from hull ; to a pound of fruit put three-quarters of a pound of sugar; mash them together in a smooth mass; put them in a kettle over a gentle fire; stir with a wooden spoon, and cook until it is jelly-like and thick; cool a little, and if it thickens up like jelly, it is done. Then put in small jars or tumblers, and cover with paper as directed above. Plum Marmalade. — Simmer the plums in water until they become soft, and then strain them and pass the pulp through a sieve. Put in a pan over a slow fire, together with an equal quantity of powdered loaf sugar; mix the whole well together, and let it simmer for some time until it becomes of the proper consistence. Then pour it into jelly-pots, and cover the surface with powdered loaf sugar.