about twenty minutes lift them out with a perforated ladle and spread on dishes to cool ; put in others, and so continue to change them about, lifting out some and re- turning others to the kettle, until all are equally and suf- ficiently done ; then fill with them small glass jars, see that the sirup covers them completely, and seal up, after covering the surface of the preserves with papers cut to fit, and dipped in brandy. In this way both mould and fermentation are hindered. If finely flavored but plain preserves are desired for filling pies and using on the tea-table, select the high -flavored, tart morello cherry, or the red cluster, which is equally good to the taste and much more pleasing to the eye. Remove carefully every seed, but take good care of the juice that will flow very freely during the seeding process. Weigh out a pound of sugar (A or extra C will do) to every pound of fruit ; place them in a china bowl, in layers, and let them so re- main for two hours, to draw out the sirup, so that no water at all need be used ; then drain off the sirup and put it in your preserving-kettle to boil for fifteen minutes before the cherries are added ; stew them together until the cher- ries are clear ; then put them up in glass jars, but do not seal finally the first day, for if the cherries rise to the top of the sirup you may conclude that more cooking is needed, and return them to the kettle for another boil- ing of twenty minutes. Expose to the sun all your pre- serves of small fruit for several weeks after they are made ; and then, if you have no dark closet in which to store them, wrap each jar in a piece of thick, dark paper, so that light will be excluded from them. Rbd-cubrant Jelly. This is the best of all jellies for use with meats, such {18 mutton, venieop, or ducks. Jelly-making is one of the VIRGINIA COOKERY-BOOK. 233 nicest of processes, and if the house-keeper is not scru- pulously attentive to small precautions mortifying failure is apt to result. Choose dry, clear weather to work in, and, if possible, let the whole process be gotten through with in one day. The least tendency to fermentation pre- vents fruit from forming jelly, and sugar pivM be pure to insure success. It is better not to attempt more than five or six pounds at once, as a larger quantity requires a longer time for boiling than that prescribed, and every element of uncertainty increases the difficulty of attain- ing to an unvarying result. Strip the currants from their stalks, and put them in a porcelain-lined or bell-metal kettle with the least drop of water, to prevent their burn- ing before the juice begins to come; mash them gently with a wooden mallet so as not to break the seeds, and just as soon as the fruit is heated through, and the juice freed, turn them into a flannel, or coarse, porous linen bag, and let the juice drip into a china bowl ; measure the juice, and to one pint allow three-quarters of a pound of best white sugar ; put them on the fire (it must be a brisk one), and stir only enough to blend the sugar well with the juice ; have a watch or clock at hand, and from the minute it comes to a boil allow twenty more, and it should be firm jelly. If you want your currant jelly to be of a bright red color, gather the fruit before it is entirely ripe, which in Virginia is apt to be the last week in June. Another mode of making currant jelly successfully is to put the juice on to boil ten minutes alone, the sugar, meanwhile, being put into a slack oven, where it may be dried and heated without being burnt or discolored. As it must be hot, it will not check boiling, when added to the juice, for more than two minutes, and in ten minutes' boiling afterward the jelly will be firm. The nicest and mpet Qonvenient w«iy of putting up such 234 VmomiA COOKERY-BOOK.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

about twenty minutes lift them out with a perforated ladle and spread on dishes to cool ; put in others, and so continue to change them about, lifting out some and returning others to the kettle, until all are equally and sufficiently done ; then fill with them small glass jars, see that the sirup covers them completely, and seal up, after covering the surface of the preserves with papers cut to fit, and dipped in brandy. In this way both mould and fermentation are hindered. If finely flavored but plain preserves are desired for filling pies and using on the tea-table, select the high -flavored, tart morello cherry, or the red cluster, which is equally good to the taste and much more pleasing to the eye. Remove carefully every seed, but take good care of the juice that will flow very freely during the seeding process. Weigh out a pound of sugar (A or extra C will do) to every pound of fruit ; place them in a china bowl, in layers, and let them so remain for two hours, to draw out the sirup, so that no water at all need be used ; then drain off the sirup and put it in your preserving-kettle to boil for fifteen minutes before the cherries are added ; stew them together until the cherries are clear ; then put them up in glass jars, but do not seal finally the first day, for if the cherries rise to the top of the sirup you may conclude that more cooking is needed, and return them to the kettle for another boiling of twenty minutes. Expose to the sun all your preserves of small fruit for several weeks after they are made ; and then, if you have no dark closet in which to store them, wrap each jar in a piece of thick, dark paper, so that light will be excluded from them. Rbd-cubrant Jelly. This is the best of all jellies for use with meats, such as mutton, venison, or ducks. Jelly-making is one of the nicest of processes, and if the house-keeper is not scrupulously attentive to small precautions mortifying failure is apt to result. Choose dry, clear weather to work in, and, if possible, let the whole process be gotten through with in one day. The least tendency to fermentation prevents fruit from forming jelly, and sugar pivM be pure to insure success. It is better not to attempt more than five or six pounds at once, as a larger quantity requires a longer time for boiling than that prescribed, and every element of uncertainty increases the difficulty of attaining to an unvarying result. Strip the currants from their stalks, and put them in a porcelain-lined or bell-metal kettle with the least drop of water, to prevent their burning before the juice begins to come; mash them gently with a wooden mallet so as not to break the seeds, and just as soon as the fruit is heated through, and the juice freed, turn them into a flannel, or coarse, porous linen bag, and let the juice drip into a china bowl ; measure the juice, and to one pint allow three-quarters of a pound of best white sugar ; put them on the fire (it must be a brisk one), and stir only enough to blend the sugar well with the juice ; have a watch or clock at hand, and from the minute it comes to a boil allow twenty more, and it should be firm jelly. If you want your currant jelly to be of a bright red color, gather the fruit before it is entirely ripe, which in Virginia is apt to be the last week in June. Another mode of making currant jelly successfully is to put the juice on to boil ten minutes alone, the sugar, meanwhile, being put into a slack oven, where it may be dried and heated without being burnt or discolored. As it must be hot, it will not check boiling, when added to the juice, for more than two minutes, and in ten minutes' boiling afterward the jelly will be firm. The nicest and most convenient way of putting up such

Virginia Cookery-book