Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches

spoon and holding it in the open air to see if it congeals. If you find, that after sufficient boiling, it still continues thin, you can make it congeal by stirring in an ounce or more of isinglass, dissolved and strained. When the jelly is done, put it into tumblers, and lay on the top double tissue paper cut exactly to fit the inside of the glass; pressing it down with your fingers. You may make plum jelly in the same manner, allowing a pound and a half of sugar to a pint of juice. TO PRESERVE APRICOTS. Take ripe apricots; scald them, peel them, cut them in half, and extract the stones. Then weigh the apricots, and to each pound allow a pound of loaf-sugar. Put them into a tureen or large pan, in alternate layers of apricots and sugar; cover them, and let them stand all night. Next morning put all together into a preserving kettle, and boil them moderately a quarter of an hour. Then take them out, spread them on dishes, and let them stand till next day. Then boil them again in the same syrup another quarter of an hour. Afterwards, spread them out to cool, put them into glass jars, and pour the syrup over them. Peaches may be preserved in the same manner. Also large plums or green gages; but to the plums you must allow additional sugar. TO DRY PEACHES. The best peaches for drying are juicy free-stones. They must be quite ripe. Cut them in half, and take out the stones. It is best not to pare them; as dried peaches are much richer with the skin on, and it dissolves and becomes imperceptible when they are cooked. Spread them out in a sunny balcony or on a scaffold, and let them dry gradually till they become somewhat like leather; always bringing them in at sunset, and not putting them out if the weather is damp or cloudy. They may also be dried in kilns or large ovens. Apples are dried in the same manner, except that they must be pared