The Toronto Cook Book

Two pounds of any kind of hard apples, two pounds of loaf sugar, one and a half pints of water, one ounce of tincture of ginger. Boil the sugar and water until they form a rich syrup, adding the ginger when it boils up. Pare, core, and cut the apples into pieces; dip them in cold water to preserve the color, and boil them in the syrup until transparent; but be careful not to let them break. Put the pieces of apple into jars, pour over the syrup, and carefully exclude the air, by well covering them. It will remain good for some time, if kept in a dry place. Iced Currants One-quarter pint of water, the whites of two eggs, currants, pounded sugar. Select very fine bunches of red or white currants, and well beat the whites of the eggs. Mix these with water; then take the currants, a bunch at a time, and dip them in; let them drain for a minute or two, and roll them in very finely-pounded sugar. Lay them to dry on paper, when the sugar will crystallize around each currant, and have a very pretty effect. All fresh fruit may be prepared in the same manner; and a mixture of various fruits iced in this way and arranged on one dish looks very well for a summer dessert. To Bottle Fresh Fruit Take fresh fruit, such as currants, raspberries, cherries, gooseberries, plums of all kinds, damsons, etc., (full-grown but not too ripe, and gathered in dry weather), pick off the stalks without bruising or breaking the skin, and reject any kind that is at all blemished. If gathered in the damp, or if the skins are cut at all, the fruit will mould. Have ready some perfectly dry wide-mouthed glass bottles, with new corks to fit them tightly, burn a match in each bottle to exhaust the air, and quickly place the fruit in to be preserved; gently cork the bottles, and put them in a very cool oven, where let remain until the fruit has shrunk away a fourth part. Then take the bottles out, do not open them, but immediately push the corks in tight, cut off the tops, and cover them with melted wax. If kept in a dry place, the fruit will remain good for months, and on this principally depends the success of the preparation, for if stored away in a place that is the least damp, the fruit will soon spoil. — H. L. M. The Toronto Cook Book Canned Strawberries After the berries are pulled, let as many as can be put carefully in the preserving kettle at once be placed on a platter. To each pound of fruit add three-quarters of a pound of sugar; let them stand two or three hours, till the juice is drawn from them ; pour it in the kettle and let it come to a boil ; and remove the scum which rises; then put in the berries very gently. As soon as they come thoroughly to a boil put them in warm jars, and seal while boiling hot. Be sure the jars are air-tight. Canned Plums To every pound of fruit allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar; for the thin syrup, a quarter of a pound of sugar to each pint of water. Select fine fruit, and prick with a needle to prevent bursting. Simmer gently in a syrup made with the above proportion of sugar and water. Let them boil not longer than five minutes. Put the plums in a jar; pour in the hot syrup, and seal. Greengages are also delicious done in this manner. Canned Currants