The Boston cooking-school cook book

CROCK FOR KEEPING PICKLES. ] Orange and Rhubarb Marmalade Remove peel in quarters from eight oranges and prepare as for Orange Marmalade. Divide oranges in sections, remove seeds and tough part of skin. Put into a preserving kettle, add five pounds rhubarb, skinned and cut in one-half inch pieces. Heat to boiling-point, and boil one-half hour; then add four pounds cut sugar and cut rind. Cook slowly two hours. Turn into glasses. Quince Honey Pare and grate five large quinces. To one pint boiling water add five pounds sugar. Stir over fire until sugar is dissolved, add quince, and cook fifteen or twenty minutes. Turn into glasses. When cold it should be about the color and consistency of honey. CANNING AND PRESERVING Preserving fruit is cooking it with from three-fourths to its whole weight of sugar. By so doing, much of the natural flavor of the fruit is destroyed; therefore canning is usually preferred to preserving. Canning fruit is preserving sterilized fruit in sterilized air-tight jars, the sugar being added to give sweetness. Fruits may be canned without sugar if perfectly sterilized, that is, freed from all germ life. Directions for Canning Fruit for canning should be fresh, firm, of good quality, and not over-ripe; if over-ripe, some of the spores may survive the boiling, then fermentation will take place in a short time. For canning fruit, allow one-third its weight in sugar, and two and one-half to three cups water to each pound of sugar. Boil sugar and water ten minutes to make a thin syrup; then cook a small quantity of the fruit at a time in the syrup; by so doing, fruit may be kept in perfect shape. Hard fruits, like pineapple and quince, are cooked in boiling water until nearly soft, then put in syrup to finish cooking. Sterilized jars are then filled with fruit, and enough syrup added to overflow jars. If there is not sufficient syrup, add boiling water, as jars must be filled to overflow. Introduce a spoon between fruit and jar, that air bubbles may rise to the top and break; then