9. Let fruit for preserving be gathered always in perfectly dry weather,

and be free both from the morning and evening dew, and as much so as possible from dust. When bottled, it must be steamed or baked during the day on which it is gathered, or there will be a great loss from the bursting of the bottles; and for jams and jellies it cannot be too soon boiled down after it is taken from the trees. TO EXTRACT THE JUICE OF PLUMS FOR JELLY. Take the stalks from the fruit, and throw aside all that is not perfectly sound: put it into very clean, large stone jars, and give part of the harder kinds, such as bullaces and damson, a gash with a knife as they are thrown in; do this especially in filling the upper part of the jars. Tie one or two folds of thick paper over them, and set them for the night into an oven from which the bread has been drawn four or five hours; or cover them with bladder, instead of paper, place them in pans, or in a copper[166] with water which will reach to quite two-thirds of their height, and boil them gently from two to three hours, or until the fruit is quite soft, and has yielded all the juice it will afford: this last is the safer and better mode for jellies of delicate colour. Footnote 166: The fruit steams perfectly in this, if the cover be placed over. TO WEIGH THE JUICE OF FRUIT. Put a basin into one scale, and its weight into the other; add to this last the weight which is required of the juice, and pour into the basin as much as will balance the scales. It is always better to weigh than to _measure_ the juice for preserving, as it can generally be done with more exactness. RHUBARB JAM. The stalks of the rhubarb (or spring-fruit, as it is called) should be taken for this preserve, which is a very good and useful one, while they are fresh and young. Wipe them very clean, pare them quickly, weigh, and cut them into half-inch lengths; to every pound add an equal weight of good sugar in fine powder; mix them well together, let them remain for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour to draw out the juice a little, then turn them into a preserving-pan, let them heat rather slowly, but as soon as the stalks are tender boil the preserve rapidly, stirring it well for about half an hour. It will be of excellent flavour, and will serve admirably for tarts. A somewhat cheaper mode of making the jam is to stew it until tender in its own juices, and then to boil it rapidly until it is tolerably dry, to add to it only half its weight of sugar, and to give it from twenty to thirty minutes boiling. Spring fruit (rhubarb), 4 lbs.; sugar, 4 lbs.: heated slowly, and when tender, boiled quickly, 30 minutes. GREEN GOOSEBERRY JELLY. Wash some freshly gathered gooseberries very clean; after having taken off the tops and stalks, then to each pound pour three-quarters of a pint of spring water, and simmer them until they are well broken; turn the whole into a jelly-bag or cloth, and let all the juice drain through; weigh and boil it rapidly for fifteen minutes. Draw it from the fire, and stir in it until entirely dissolved, an equal weight of good sugar reduced to powder; boil the jelly from fifteen to twenty minutes longer, or until it jellies strongly on the spoon or skimmer; clear it perfectly from scum, and pour it into small jars, moulds, or glasses. It ought to be very pale and transparent. The sugar may be added to the juice at first, and the preserve boiled from twenty-five to thirty-five minutes, but the colour will not then be so good. When the fruit abounds, the juice may be drawn from it with very little water, as directed for apples, page 523, when it will require much less boiling. Gooseberries, 6 lbs.; water, 4 pints: 20 to 30 minutes. Juice boiled quickly, 15 minutes; to each pound, 1 pound sugar: 15 to 20 minutes. GREEN GOOSEBERRY JAM. (_Firm and of good colour._) Cut the stalks and tops from the fruit, weigh and bruise it slightly, boil it for six or seven minutes, keeping it well turned during the time, then to every three pounds of gooseberries add two and a half of sugar beaten to powder, and boil the preserve quickly for three-quarters of an hour. It must be constantly stirred, and carefully cleared from scum. This makes a fine, firm, and refreshing preserve if the fruit be rubbed through a sieve before the sugar is added. If well reduced afterwards, it may be converted into a _gâteau_, or gooseberry-solid, with three pounds of sugar, or even a smaller proportion. The preceding jam will often turn in perfect form from the moulds or jars which contain it; and if freed from the seeds, would be very excellent: it is extremely good even made as above. For all preserves, the _reduction_, or boiling down to a certain consistence, should take place principally before the sugar is mingled with them; and this has the best effect when added to the fruit and dissolved in it by degrees. Green gooseberries, 6 lbs.: 6 to 7 minutes. Sugar, 5 lbs.; 3/4 hour. TO DRY GREEN GOOSEBERRIES. Take the finest green gooseberries, fully grown, and freshly gathered; cut off the buds, split them across the tops half way down, and with the small end of a tea or of an egg spoon, scoop out the seeds. Boil together for fifteen minutes a pound and a half of the finest sugar, and a pint of water; skim this syrup thoroughly and throw into it a pound of the seeded gooseberries; simmer them from five to seven minutes, when they ought to be clear and tender; when they are so, lift them out, and throw as many more into the syrup; drain them a little when done, spread them singly on dishes, and dry them _very_ gradually in a quite cool stove or oven, or in a sunny window. They will keep well in the syrup, and may be potted in it, and dried when wanted for use. Green gooseberries without seeds, 2 lbs.; water, 1 pint; sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: boiled, 15 minutes. Gooseberries simmered, 5 to 7 minutes. GREEN GOOSEBERRIES FOR TARTS. Fill very clean, dry, wide-necked bottles with gooseberries gathered the same day, and before they have attained their full growth. Cork them lightly, wrap a little hay round each of them, and set them up to their necks in a copper of cold water which should be brought very gradually to boil. Let the fruit be gently simmered until it appears shrunken and perfectly scalded; then take out the bottles, and with the contents of one or two fill up the remainder, and use great care not to break the fruit in doing this. When all are ready pour _scalding_ water into the bottles and cover the gooseberries entirely with it, or they will become mouldy at the top. Cork the bottles well immediately, and cover the necks with melted resin; keep them in a cool place; and when the gooseberries are used pour off the greater part of the water, and add sugar as for the fresh fruit, of which they will have the flavour and appearance; and they will be found more wholesome prepared in this manner than if simply baked or steamed in the bottles. RED GOOSEBERRY JAM. The small rough red gooseberry, when fully ripe, is the best for this preserve, which may, however, be made of the larger kinds. When the tops and stalks have been taken carefully from the fruit, weigh, and boil it quickly for three-quarters of an hour, keeping it well stirred; then for six pounds of the gooseberries, add two and a half of good roughly-powdered sugar; boil these together briskly, from twenty to twenty-five minutes and stir the jam well from the bottom of the pan, as it is liable to burn if this be neglected. Small red gooseberries, 6 lbs.: 3/4 hour. Pounded sugar, 2-1/2 lbs.: 20 to 25 minutes. VERY FINE GOOSEBERRY JAM. Seed the fruit, which for this jam may be of the larger kind of rough red gooseberry: those which are smooth skinned are generally of far inferior flavour. Add the pulp which has been scooped from the prepared fruit to some whole gooseberries, and stir them over a moderate fire for some minutes to extract the juice; strain and weigh this; pour two pounds of it to four of the seeded gooseberries, boil them rather gently for twenty-five minutes, add fourteen ounces of good pounded sugar to each pound of fruit and juice, and when it is dissolved boil the preserve from twelve to fifteen minutes longer, and skim it well during the time. Seeded gooseberries, 4 lbs.; juice of gooseberries, 2 lbs.: 25 minutes. Sugar, 5-1/4 lbs. (or 14 oz. to each pound of fruit and juice): 12 to 15 minutes. JELLY OF RIPE GOOSEBERRIES. (_Excellent._) Take the tops and stalks from a gallon or more of any kind of well-flavoured ripe red gooseberries, and keep them stirred gently over a clear fire until they have yielded all their juice, which should then be poured off without pressing the fruit, and passed first through a fine sieve, and afterwards through a double muslin-strainer, or a jelly-bag. Next weigh it, and to every three pounds add one of white currant juice, which has previously been prepared in the same way; boil these quickly for a quarter of an hour, then draw them from the fire and stir to them half their weight of good sugar; when this is dissolved, boil the jelly for six minutes longer, skim it thoroughly, and pour it into jars or moulds. If a very large quantity be made, a few minutes of additional boiling must be given to it _before_ the sugar is added. Juice of red gooseberries, 3 lbs.; juice of white currants, 1 lb.: 15 minutes. Sugar, 2 lbs.: 6 minutes. _Obs._—The same proportion of red currant juice, mixed with that of the gooseberries, makes an exceedingly nice jelly. UNMIXED GOOSEBERRY JELLY. Boil rapidly for ten minutes four pounds of the juice of red gooseberries, prepared as in the preceding receipt; take it from the fire, and stir in it until dissolved three pounds of sugar beaten to powder; boil it again for five minutes, keeping it constantly stirred and thoroughly skimmed. Juice of red gooseberries, 4 lbs.: 10 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 5 minutes. GOOSEBERRY PASTE. Press through a sieve the gooseberries from which the juice has been taken for jelly, without having been drained very closely from them; weigh and then boil the pulp for upwards of an hour and a quarter, or until it forms a dry paste in the pan; stir to it, off the fire, six ounces of good pounded sugar for each pound of the fruit, and when this is nearly dissolved boil the preserve from twenty to twenty-five minutes, keeping it stirred without cessation, as it will be liable to burn should this be neglected. Put it into moulds, or shallow pans, and turn it out when wanted for table. Pulp of gooseberries, 4 lbs.: 1-1/4 to 1-3/4 hour. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 to 25 minutes. TO DRY RIPE GOOSEBERRIES WITH SUGAR. Cut the tops, but not the stalks, from some ripe gooseberries of the largest size, either red or green ones, and after having taken out the seeds as directed for unripe gooseberries, boil the fruit until clear and tender, in syrup made with a pound of sugar to the pint of water, boiled until rather thick. Seeded gooseberries, 2 lbs.; sugar, 1-1/2 lb.; water, 1 pint: boiled to syrup. Gooseberries, simmered 8 to 12 minutes, or more. _Obs._—Large ripe gooseberries freed from the blossoms, and put into cold syrup in which cherries or any other fruit has been boiled for drying, then heated very gradually, and kept at the point of boiling for a few minutes before they are set by for a couple of days, answer extremely well as a dry preserve. On the third day the syrup should be drained from them, simmered, skimmed, and poured on them the instant it is taken from the fire; in forty-eight hours after, they may be drained from it and laid singly upon plates or dishes, and placed in a gentle stove. JAM OF KENTISH OR FLEMISH CHERRIES. This is a very agreeable preserve when it is made as we shall direct; but if long boiled with a large proportion of sugar, as it frequently is, both the bright colour and the pleasant flavour of the cherries will be destroyed. Stone, and then weigh the fruit; heat it rather slowly that the juice may be well drawn out before it begins to boil, and stew the cherries until they are tolerably tender, then boil them quickly, keeping them well turned and stirred from the bottom of the pan, for three-quarters of an hour or somewhat longer should there still remain a large quantity of juice. Draw the pan from the fire, and stir in gradually half a pound of sugar for each pound of cherries. An ounce or two more may occasionally be required when the fruit is more than usually acid, and also when a quite sweet preserve is liked. When the sugar is dissolved continue the boiling rapidly for about twenty minutes longer; clear off all the scum as it appears, and keep the jam stirred _well_ and constantly, but not quickly, to prevent its adhering to the bottom of the preserving-pan. Stoned Kentish or Flemish cherries, 6 lbs.: without sugar, 1 hour or rather more. Sugar roughly powdered, 3 lbs.: (or 3-1/2 lbs.) About 20 minutes quick boiling. _Obs._—Heat the fruit and boil it gently until it is quite tender, turning it often, and pressing it down into the juice; then quicken the boiling to evaporate the juice before the sugar is added. Cherries which are bruised will not make good preserve: they always remain tough. TO DRY CHERRIES WITH SUGAR. (_A quick and easy method._) Stone some fine, sound, Kentish or Flemish cherries; put them into a preserving-pan, with six ounces of sugar reduced to powder, to each pound of the fruit; set them over a moderate fire, and simmer them gently for nearly or quite twenty minutes; let them remain in the syrup until they are a little cooled, then turn them into a sieve, and before they are cold lay them singly on dishes, and dry them very gradually, as directed for other fruits. When the cherries are quite ripe the stones may generally be drawn out with the stalks, by pressing the fruit gently at the same time; but when this method fails, they must be extracted with a new quill, cut round at the end: those of the _very_ short-stalked, turnip-shaped cherry, which abounds, and is remarkably fine in many parts of Normandy, and which we have occasionally met with here, though it is not, we believe, very abundant in our markets, are easily removed with a large pin, on the point of which the stone may be caught at the stalk end, just opposite the seam of the fruit, and drawn out at the top, leaving the cherry apparently entire. DRIED CHERRIES. (_Superior Receipt._) To each pound of cherries weighed after they are stoned, add eight ounces of good sugar, and boil them very softly for ten minutes: pour them into a large bowl or pan, and leave them for two days in the syrup; then simmer them again for ten minutes, and set them by in it for two or three days; drain them slightly, and dry them very slowly, as directed in the previous receipts. Keep them in jars or tin canisters, when done. These cherries are generally preferred to such as are dried with a larger proportion of sugar; but when the taste is in favour of the latter, from twelve to sixteen ounces can be allowed to the pound of fruit, which may then be potted in the syrup and dried at any time; though we think the flavour of the cherries is better preserved when this is done within a fortnight of their being boiled. Cherries, stoned, 8 lbs.; sugar, 4 lbs.: 10 minutes. Left two or three days. Boiled again, 10 minutes; left two days; drained and dried. CHERRIES DRIED WITHOUT SUGAR. These are often more pleasant and refreshing to invalids and travellers than a sweetened confection of the fruit, their flavour and agreeable acidity being well preserved when they are simply spread on dishes or hamper-lids, and slowly dried.[167] Throw aside the bruised and decayed fruit, and arrange the remainder singly, and with the stalks uppermost on the dishes. The Kentish cherries are best for the purpose, but morellas also answer for it excellently. The former are sometimes stoned, and simmered until quite tender in their own juice, before they are dried; but this is scarcely an improvement on the more usual method of leaving them entire. Footnote 167: The dishes on which they are laid should be changed daily. TO DRY MORELLA CHERRIES. Take off the stalks but do not stone the fruit; weigh and add to it an equal quantity of the best sugar reduced quite to powder, strew it over the cherries and let them stand for half an hour; then turn them gently into a preserving-pan, and simmer them softly from five to seven minutes. Drain them from the syrup, and dry them like the Kentish cherries. They make a _very fine_ confection. COMMON CHERRY CHEESE. Stone the fruit, or if this trouble be objected to, bruise and boil it without, until it is sufficiently tender to press through a sieve, which it will be in from twenty to thirty minutes. Weigh the pulp in this case, and boil it quickly to a dry paste, then stir to it six ounces of sugar for the pound of fruit, and when this is dissolved, place the pan again over, but not _upon_, a brisk fire, and stir the preserve without ceasing, until it is so dry as not to adhere to the finger when touched; then press it immediately into small moulds or pans, and turn it from them when wanted for table. When the cherries have been stoned, a good common preserve may be made of them without passing them through a sieve, with the addition of five ounces of sugar to the pound of fruit, which must be boiled very dry both before and after it is added. Kentish or Flemish cherries without stoning: 20 to 30 minutes. Passed through a sieve. To each pound of pulp (first boiled dry), 6 oz. sugar. To each pound of cherries stoned and boiled to a dry paste, 5 oz. sugar. CHERRY PASTE. (FRENCH.) Stone the cherries; boil them gently in their own juice for thirty minutes; press the whole through a sieve; reduce it to a very dry paste; then take it from the fire, and weigh it; boil an equal proportion of sugar to the candying point; mix the fruit with it; and stir the paste, without intermission, over a moderate fire, until it is again so dry as to form a ball round the spoon, and to quit the preserving-pan entirely; press it quickly into small moulds, and when it is cold, paper, and store it like other preserves. STRAWBERRY JAM. Strip the stalks from some fine scarlet strawberries, weigh, and boil them for thirty-five minutes, keeping them very constantly stirred; throw in eight ounces of good sugar, beaten small, to the pound of fruit; mix them well off the fire, then boil the preserve again quickly for twenty-five minutes. Strawberries, 6 lbs.: 35 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 25 minutes. _Obs._—We do not think it needful to give directions with each separate receipt for skimming the preserve with care, and keeping it constantly stirred, but neither should in any case be neglected. STRAWBERRY-JELLY. _A very Superior Preserve._ (_New Receipt._) The original directions for this delicious jelly, published in the earlier editions of this work, were the result of perfectly successful trials made in the summer of their insertion; but, after much additional experience, we find that the receipt may be better adapted to our varying seasons, which so much affect the quality of our fruit, and rendered more certain in its results by some alterations; we therefore give it anew, recommending it strongly for trial, especially to such of our readers as can command from their own gardens ample supplies of strawberries in their best and freshest state. Like all fruit intended for preserving, they should be gathered in dry weather, after the morning dew has quite passed off them, and be used the same day. Strip away the stalks, and put the strawberries into an enamelled stewpan if at hand, and place it very high over a clear fire, that the juice may be drawn from them gently; turn them over with a silver or wooden spoon from time to time, and when the juice has flowed from them abundantly, let them simmer until they shrink, but be sure to take them from the fire before the juice becomes thick or pulpy from over-boiling. Thirty minutes, or sometimes even longer, over a _very_ slow fire, will not be too much to extract it from them. Turn them into a new, well-scalded, but _dry_ sieve over a clean pan, and let them remain until the juice ceases to drop from them; strain it then through a muslin strainer, weigh it in a basin, of which the weight must first be taken, and boil it quickly in a clean preserving-pan from fifteen to twenty minutes, and stir it often during the time: then take it from the fire, and throw in by degrees, for every pound of juice, fourteen ounces of the best sugar coarsely pounded, stirring each portion until it is dissolved. Place the pan again over the fire, and boil the jelly—still quickly—for about a quarter of an hour. Occasionally it may need a rather longer time than this, and sometimes less: the exact degree can only be ascertained by a little experience, in consequence of the juice of some varieties of the fruit being so much thinner than that of others. The preserve should jelly strongly on the skimmer, and fall in a mass from it before it is poured out; but if boiled beyond this point it will be spoiled. If made with richly-flavoured strawberries, and carefully managed, it will be very brilliant in colour, and in flavour really equal if not superior to guava jelly; while it will retain all the delicious odour of the fruit. No skimmer or other utensil of tin should be used in making it; and an enamelled preserving-pan is preferable to any other for all red fruit. It becomes very firm often after it is stored, when it appears scarcely set in the first instance; it is, however, desirable that it should jelly at once. Fruit kept hot to draw out the juice, 1/2 hour or longer. Boiled quickly without sugar, 15 to 20 minutes. To each pound 14 oz. of sugar: 12 to 15 minutes. TO PRESERVE STRAWBERRIES OR RASPBERRIES, FOR CREAMS OR ICES, WITHOUT BOILING. Let the fruit be gathered in the middle of a warm day, in very dry weather; strip it from the stalks directly, weigh it, bruise it _slightly_, turn it into a bowl or deep pan, and mix with it an equal weight of fine dry sifted sugar, and put immediately into small, wide-necked bottles; cork these firmly without delay, and tie bladder over the tops. Keep them in a cool place, or the fruit will ferment. The mixture should be stirred softly, and only just sufficiently to blend the sugar and the fruit. The bottles must be perfectly dry, and the bladders, after having been cleaned in the usual way, and allowed to become nearly so, should be moistened with a little spirit on the side which is to be next to the cork. Unless these precautions be observed, there will be some danger of the whole being spoiled. Equal weight of fruit and sugar. RASPBERRY JAM. This is a very favourite English preserve, and one of the most easily made that can be. The fruit for it should be ripe and perfectly sound; and as it soon decays or becomes mouldy after it is gathered, it should be fresh from the bushes when it is used. That which grows in the shade has less flavour than the fruit which receives the full warmth of the sun. Excellent jam for common family use may be made as follows:— Bruise gently with the back of a wooden spoon, six pounds of ripe and freshly-gathered raspberries, and boil them over a brisk fire for twenty-five minutes; stir to them half their weight of good sugar, roughly powdered, and when it is dissolved, boil the preserve quickly for ten minutes, keeping it well stirred and skimmed. Raspberries, 6 lbs.: 25 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 10 minutes. VERY RICH RASPBERRY JAM OR MARMALADE. No. 1.—Weigh the finest fruit that can be procured, and bruise it with the back of a wooden spoon after it is put into the preserving-pan. Boil it gently, keeping it well turned, for about five minutes, then stir to it gradually nearly or quite its weight of dry pounded sugar, and continue the boiling rather rapidly for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, and be careful to remove all the scum as it rises. The preserve will be clear, smooth, and very thick when it is sufficiently boiled, and should then be taken from the pan without delay, as it will very quickly _set_. No. 2.—Draw gently from the smallest of the raspberries from half to a whole pound of juice, and boil down in this three pounds of the fruit, after it has been crushed with a spoon as usual. In ten minutes, if the fruit be quite ripe, the sugar may be added. Three pounds to four of the raspberries and their juice, will make a quite sweet preserve. It should be gradually stirred in until dissolved, and not be allowed to boil during the time. Ten or fifteen minutes will then suffice generally to bring it to the proper degree for jellying firmly. No. 1.—Fine raspberries: 5 minutes. Sugar, nearly or quite equal weight: 15 to 20 minutes. No. 2.—Raspberry-juice, 1 lb.; ripe raspberries, 3 lbs. (or 4): 10 minutes. To each pound of fruit and juice, sugar 3/4 lb.: 10 to 15 minutes. _Obs._—All fruit jams are much improved by the addition of a certain portion of juice to the fruit which is boiled down; they then partake more of the nature of jelly. GOOD RED OR WHITE RASPBERRY JAM. Boil quickly, for twenty minutes, four pounds of either red or white sound ripe raspberries in a pound and a half of currant-juice of the same colour; take the pan from the fire, stir in three pounds of sugar, and when it is dissolved, place the pan again over the fire, and continue the boiling for ten minutes longer: keep the preserve well skimmed and stirred from the beginning. Raspberries, 4 lbs.; currant-juice, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 10 minutes. RASPBERRY JELLY FOR FLAVOURING CREAMS. Take the stalks from some quite ripe and freshly-gathered raspberries, stir them over the fire until they render their juice freely, then strain and weigh it; or press it from them through a cloth, and then strain it clear; in either case boil it for five minutes after it is weighed, and for each pound stir in a pound and a quarter of good sugar reduced quite to powder, sifted, and made very hot; boil the preserve quickly for five minutes longer, and skim it clean. The jelly thus made will sufficiently sweeten the creams without any additional sugar. Juice of raspberries, 4 lbs.: 5 minutes. Sugar, made hot, 5 lbs.: 5 minutes. ANOTHER RASPBERRY JELLY. (_Very Good._) Bruise the fruit a _little_, and place it high above a clear fire, that the juice may be gently drawn from it: it may remain thus for twenty minutes or longer without boiling, and be simmered for four or five; strain and weigh it; boil it quickly for twenty minutes, draw it from the fire, add three-quarters of a pound of good sugar for each pound of juice, and when this is dissolved place the pan again on the fire, and boil the preserve _fast_ from twelve to fifteen minutes longer; skim it thoroughly, and keep it well stirred: the preserve will then require rather less boiling. When it jellies in falling from the spoon or skimmer, it is done. Nothing of tin or iron should be used in making it, as these metals will convert its fine red colour into a dull purple. Fruit, simmered 5 to 6 minutes. Juice of raspberries, 4 lbs.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 12 to 15 minutes. Or: juice of raspberries, 4 lbs.; juice of white currants, 2 lbs.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 10 minutes, or less. RED CURRANT JELLY. With three parts of fine ripe red currants freshly gathered, and stripped from the stalks, mix one of white currants; put them into a clean preserving-pan, and stir them gently over a clear fire until the juice flows from them freely; then turn them into a fine hair-sieve, and let them drain well, but without pressure. Pass the juice through a folded muslin or a jelly-bag; weigh it, and then boil it _fast_ for a quarter of an hour; add for each pound, eight ounces of sugar coarsely powdered, stir this to it off the fire until it is dissolved, give the jelly eight minutes more of quick boiling, and pour it out. It will be firm, and of excellent colour and flavour. Be sure to clear off the scum as it rises, both before and after the sugar is put in, or the preserve will not be clear. Juice of red currants, 3 lbs.; juice of white currants, 1 lb.: 15 minutes. Sugar, 2 lbs.: 8 minutes. _Obs._—An excellent jelly may be made with equal parts of the juice of red and of white currants, and of raspberries, with the same proportion of sugar and degree of boiling as in the foregoing receipt. SUPERLATIVE RED CURRANT JELLY. (_Norman Receipt._) Strip carefully from the stems some quite ripe currants of the finest quality, and mix with them an equal weight of _good_ sugar reduced to powder; boil these together quickly for exactly eight minutes, keep them stirred all the time, and clear off the scum—which will be very abundant—as it rises; then turn the preserve into a very clean sieve, and put into small jars the jelly which runs through it, and which will be delicious in flavour, and of the brightest colour. It should be carried immediately, when this is practicable, to an extremely cool but not a damp place, and left there until perfectly cold. The currants which remain in the sieve make an excellent jam, particularly if only part of the jelly be taken from them. In Normandy where the fruit is of richer quality than in England, this preserve is boiled only two minutes, and is both firm and beautifully transparent. Currants, 3 lbs.; sugar, 3 lbs.: 8 minutes. _Obs._—This receipt we are told by some of our correspondents is not generally quite successful in this country, as the jelly, though it keeps well and is of the finest possible flavour, is scarcely firm enough for table. We have ourselves found this to be the case in cold damp seasons; but the preserve even then was valuable for many purposes, and always agreeable eating. FRENCH CURRANT JELLY. Mix one-third of white currants with two of red, and stir them over a gentle fire until they render their juice freely; pour it from them, strain and weigh it; for every four pounds break three of fine sugar into large lumps, just dip them into cold water, and when they are nearly dissolved boil them to a thick syrup; stir this without ceasing until it falls in large thick white masses from the skimmer; then pour in the currant juice immediately, and when the sugar is again dissolved, boil the whole quickly for five minutes, clear off the scum perfectly, pour the jelly into jars or warm glasses, and set it in a cool place. Red currants, two-thirds; white currants, one-third; juice, 4 lbs.; sugar boiled to candy height, 3 lbs.: jelly boiled, 5 minutes. _Obs._—A flavouring of raspberries is usually given to currant jelly in France, the preserve being there never served with any kind of joint, as it is with us. DELICIOUS RED CURRANT JAM. This, which is but an indifferent preserve when made in the usual way, will be found a very fine one if the following directions for it be observed; it will be extremely transparent and bright in colour, and will retain perfectly the flavour of the fruit. Take the currants at the height of their season, the finest that can be had, free from dust, but gathered on a dry day; strip them with great care from the stalks, weigh and put them into a preserving-pan with three pounds of the best sugar reduced to powder, to four pounds of the fruit: stir them gently over a brisk clear fire, and boil them quickly for exactly eight minutes from the first full boil. As the jam is apt to rise over the top of the pan, it is better not to fill it more than two-thirds, and if this precaution should not be sufficient to prevent it, it must be lifted from the fire and held away for an instant. To many tastes, a still finer jam than this (which we find sufficiently sweet) may be made with an equal weight of fruit and sugar boiled together for seven minutes. There should be great exactness with respect to the time, as both the flavour and the brilliant colour of the preserve will be injured by longer boiling. Red currants (without stalks), 4 lbs.; fine sugar, 3 lbs.: boiled quickly, 8 minutes. Or, equal weight fruit and sugar: 7 minutes. VERY FINE WHITE CURRANT JELLY. The fruit for this jelly should be very white, perfectly free from dust, and picked carefully from the stalks. To every pound add eighteen ounces of double refined sifted sugar, and boil them together quickly for eight minutes; pour it into a delicately clean sieve, and finish it by the directions given for the Norman red currant jelly (page 559). White currants, 6 lbs.; highly refined sugar, 6-3/4 lbs.: 6 minutes. WHITE CURRANT JAM, A BEAUTIFUL PRESERVE. Boil together quickly for seven minutes an equal weight of fine white currants, stalked with the greatest nicety, and of the best sugar pounded and passed through a sieve. Stir the preserve gently the whole time, and be careful to skim it thoroughly. White currants, 4 lbs.; best sugar, 4 lbs.: 7 minutes. CURRANT PASTE. Stalk and heat some red currants as for jelly, pour off three parts of the juice, which can be used for that preserve, and press the remainder, with the pulp of the fruit, closely through a hair sieve reversed; boil it briskly, keeping it stirred the whole time, until it forms a dry paste; then for each pound (when first weighed) add seven ounces of pounded sugar, and boil the whole from twenty-five to thirty minutes longer, taking care that it shall not burn. This paste is remarkably pleasant and refreshing in cases of fever, and acceptable often for winter-desserts. Red currants boiled from 5 to 7 minutes, pressed with one-fourth of their juice through a sieve, boiled from 1-1/2 to 2 hour. To each pound 7 oz. pounded sugar: 25 to 30 minutes. _Obs._—Confectioners add the pulp, after it is boiled dry, to an equal weight of sugar at the candy height: by making trial of the two methods, the reader can decide on the better one. FINE BLACK CURRANT JELLY. Stir some black currants over the fire until they have yielded their juice; strain, weigh, and boil it for twenty minutes; add to it three pounds and a half of sifted sugar of good quality, made quite hot, and when it is dissolved boil the jelly for five minutes only, clearing off the scum with care. This, though an excellent preserve, is too sweet for our own taste, and we think one made with less sugar likely to be more acceptable in cases of indisposition generally. Juice of black currants, 4 lbs.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 3-1/2 lbs.: 5 minutes. COMMON BLACK CURRANT JELLY. Boil from three to six pounds of the juice rapidly for twenty minutes, stirring it well; then mix with it off the fire, half a pound of sugar for each pound of juice, and continue the boiling for ten minutes. Juice of black currants, 3 to 6 lbs.: 20 minutes. To each pound juice 1/2 lb. good sugar: 10 minutes. _Obs._—This jelly may be made with Lisbon sugar, but will then require rather more boiling. BLACK CURRANT JAM AND MARMALADE. No fruit jellies so easily as black currants when they are ripe; and their juice is so rich and thick that it will bear the addition of a very small quantity of water sometimes, without causing the preserve to mould. When the currants have been very dusty, we have occasionally had them washed and drained before they were used, without any injurious effects. Jam boiled down in the usual manner with this fruit is often very dry. It may be greatly improved by taking out nearly half the currants when it is ready to be potted, pressing them well against the side of the preserving-pan to extract the juice: this leaves the remainder far more liquid and refreshing than when the skins are all retained. Another mode of making fine black currant jam—as well as that of any other fruit—is to add one pound at least of juice, extracted as for jelly, to two pounds of the berries, and to allow sugar for it in the same proportion as directed for each pound of them. For marmalade or paste, which is most useful in affections of the throat and chest, the currants must be stewed tender in their own juice, and then rubbed through a sieve. After ten minutes’ boiling, sugar in fine powder must be stirred gradually to the pulp, off the fire, until it is dissolved: a few minutes more of boiling will then suffice to render the preserve thick, and it will become quite firm when cold. More or less sugar can be added to the taste, but it is not generally liked very sweet. _Best black currant jam._—Currants, 4 lbs.; juice of currants, 2 lbs.: 15 to 20 minutes’ gentle boiling. Sugar, 3 to 4 lbs.: 10 minutes. _Marmalade, or paste of black currants._—Fruit, 4 lbs.: stewed in its own juice 15 minutes, or until quite soft. Pulp boiled 10 minutes. Sugar, from 7 to 9 oz. to the lb.: 10 to 14 minutes. _Obs._—The following are the receipts originally inserted in this work, and which we leave unaltered. To six pounds of the fruit, stripped carefully from the stalks, add four pounds and a half of sugar. Let them heat gently, but as soon as the sugar is dissolved boil the preserve rapidly for fifteen minutes. A more common kind of jam may be made by boiling the fruit by itself from ten to fifteen minutes, and for ten minutes after half its weight of sugar has been added to it. Black currants, 6 lbs.; sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 15 minutes. Or: fruit, 6 lbs.: 10 to 15 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 10 minutes. _Obs._—There are few preparations of fruit so refreshing and so useful in illness as those of black currants, and it is therefore advisable always to have a store of them, and to have them well and carefully made. NURSERY PRESERVE. Take the stones from a couple of pounds of Kentish cherries, and boil them twenty minutes; then add to them a pound and a half of raspberries, and an equal quantity of red and of white currants, all weighed after they have been cleared from their stems. Boil these together quickly for twenty minutes; mix with them three pounds and a quarter of common sugar, and give the preserve fifteen minutes more of quick boiling. A pound and a half of gooseberries may be substituted for the cherries; but they will not require any stewing before they are added to the other fruits. The jam must be well stirred from the beginning, or it will burn to the pan. Kentish cherries, 2 lbs.: 20 minutes. Raspberries, red currants, and white currants, of each 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 3-1/4 lbs.: 15 minutes. ANOTHER GOOD COMMON PRESERVE. Boil together, in equal or unequal portions (for this is immaterial), any kinds of early fruit, until they can be pressed through a sieve; weigh, and then boil the pulp over a brisk fire for half an hour; add half a pound of sugar for each pound of fruit, and again boil the preserve quickly, keeping it well stirred and skimmed, from fifteen to twenty minutes. Cherries, unless they be morellas, must first be stewed tender apart, as they will require a much longer time to make them so than any other of the first summer fruits. A GOOD MÉLANGE, OR MIXED PRESERVE. Boil for three-quarters of an hour in two pounds of clear red gooseberry juice, one pound of very ripe greengages, weighed after they have been pared and stoned; then stir to them one pound and a half of good sugar, and boil them quickly again for twenty minutes. If the quantity of preserve be much increased, the time of boiling it must be so likewise: this is always better done before the sugar is added. Juice of ripe gooseberries, 2 lbs.; greengages, pared and stoned, 1 lb.: 3/4 hour. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes. GROSEILLÉE. (_Another good preserve._) Cut the tops and stalks from a gallon or more of well-flavoured ripe gooseberries, throw them into a large preserving-pan, boil them for ten minutes, and stir them often with a wooden spoon; then pass both the juice and pulp through a fine sieve, and to every three pounds’ weight of these add half a pint of raspberry-juice, and boil the whole briskly for three-quarters of an hour; draw the pan aside, stir in for the above portion of fruit, two pounds of sugar, and when it is dissolved renew the boiling for fifteen minutes longer. Ripe gooseberries, boiled 10 minutes. Pulp and juice of gooseberries, 6 lbs.; raspberry-juice, 1 pint: 3/4 hour. Sugar, 4 lbs.: 15 minutes. _Obs._—When more convenient, a portion of raspberries can be boiled with the gooseberries at first. SUPERIOR PINE-APPLE MARMALADE. (_A New Receipt._) The market-price of our English pines is generally too high to permit their being very commonly used for preserve; and though some of those imported from the West Indies are sufficiently well-flavoured to make excellent jam, they must be selected with judgment for the purpose, or they will possibly not answer for it. They should be fully ripe, but perfectly sound: should the stalk end appear mouldy or discoloured, the fruit should be rejected. The degree of flavour which it possesses may be ascertained with tolerable accuracy by its odour; for if of good quality, and fit for use, it will be _very_ fragrant. After the rinds have been pared off, and every dark speck taken from the flesh, the pines may be rasped on a fine and delicately clean grater, or sliced thin, cut up quickly into dice, and pounded in a stone or marble mortar; or a portion may be grated, and the remainder reduced to pulp in the mortar. Weigh, and then heat and boil it gently for ten minutes; draw it from the fire, and stir to it by degrees fourteen ounces of sugar to the pound of fruit; boil it until it thickens and becomes very transparent, which it will be in about fifteen minutes, should the quantity be small: it will require a rather longer time if it be large. The sugar ought to be of the best quality and beaten quite to powder; and for this, as well as for every other kind of preserve, it should be _dry_. A remarkably fine marmalade may be compounded of English pines only, or even with one English pine of superior growth, and two or three of the West Indian mixed with it; but all when used should be _fully ripe_, without at all verging on decay; for in no other state will their delicious flavour be in its perfection. In making the jam always avoid placing the preserving-pan _flat upon the fire_, as this of itself will often convert what would otherwise be excellent preserve, into a strange sort of compound, for which it is difficult to find a name, and which results from the sugar being subjected—when in combination with the acid of the fruit—to a degree of heat which converts it into _caramel_ or highly-boiled barley-sugar. When there is no regular preserving-stove, a flat trivet should be securely placed across the fire of the kitchen-range to raise the pan from immediate contact with the burning coals, or charcoal. It is better to grate down, than to pound the fruit for the present receipt should any parts of it be ever so slightly tough; and it should then be slowly stewed until quite tender before any sugar is added to it; or with only a very small quantity stirred in should it become too dry. A superior marmalade even to this, might probably be made by adding to the rasped pines a little juice drawn by a gentle heat, or expressed cold, from inferior portions of the fruit; but this is only supposition. A FINE PRESERVE OF THE GREEN ORANGE PLUM. (_Sometimes called the Stonewood plum._) This fruit, which is very insipid when ripe, makes an excellent preserve if used when at its full growth, but while it is still quite hard and green. Take off the stalks, weigh the plums, then gash them well (with a silver knife, if convenient) as they are thrown into the preserving-pan, and keep them gently stirred without ceasing over a moderate fire, until they have yielded sufficient juice to prevent their burning; after this, boil them quickly until the stones are entirely detached from the flesh of the fruit. Take them out as they appear on the surface, and when the preserve looks quite smooth and is well reduced, stir in three-quarters of a pound of sugar beaten to a powder, for each pound of the plums, and boil the whole very quickly for half an hour or more. Put it, when done, into small moulds or pans, and it will be sufficiently firm when cold to turn out well: it will also be transparent, of a fine green colour, and very agreeable in flavour. Orange plums, when green, 6 lbs.: 40 to 60 minutes. Sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 30 to 50 minutes. _Obs._—The blanched kernels of part of the fruit should be added to this preserve a few minutes before it is poured out: if too long boiled in it they will become tough. They should always be wiped very dry after they are blanched. GREENGAGE JAM, OR MARMALADE. When the plums are thoroughly ripe, take off the skins, stone, weigh, and boil them quickly without sugar for fifty minutes, keeping them well stirred; then to every four pounds add three of good sugar reduced quite to powder, boil the preserve from five to eight minutes longer, and clear off the scum perfectly before it is poured into the jars. When the flesh of the fruit will not separate easily from the stones, weigh and throw the plums whole into the preserving-pan, boil them to a pulp, pass them through a sieve, and deduct the weight of the stones from them when apportioning the sugar to the jam. The Orleans plum may be substituted for greengages in this receipt. Greengages, stoned and skinned, 6 lbs.: 50 minutes. Sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 5 to 8 minutes. PRESERVE OF THE MAGNUM BONUM, OR MOGUL PLUM. Prepare, weigh, and boil the plums for forty minutes; stir to them half their weight of good sugar beaten fine, and when it is dissolved continue the boiling for ten additional minutes, and skim the preserve carefully during the time. This is an excellent marmalade, but it may be rendered richer by increasing the proportion of sugar. The blanched kernels of a portion of the fruit stones will much improve its flavour, but they should be mixed with it only two or three minutes before it is taken from the fire. When the plums are not entirely ripe, it is difficult to free them from the stones and skins: they should then be boiled down and pressed through a sieve, as directed for greengages, in the receipt above. Mogul plums, skinned and stoned, 6 lbs.: 40 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 5 to 8 minutes. TO DRY OR PRESERVE MOGUL PLUMS IN SYRUP. Pare the plums, but do not remove the stalks or stones; take their weight of dry sifted sugar, lay them into a deep dish or bowl, and strew it over them; let them remain thus for a night, then pour them gently into a preserving-pan with all the sugar, heat them slowly, and let them just simmer for five minutes; in two days repeat the process, and do so again and again at an interval of two or three days, until the fruit is tender and very clear; put it then into jars, and keep it in the syrup, or drain and dry the plums very gradually, as directed for other fruit. When they are not sufficiently ripe for the skin to part from them readily, they must be covered with spring water, placed over a slow fire, and just scalded until it can be stripped from them easily. They may also be entirely prepared by the receipt for dried apricots which follows, a page or two from this. MUSSEL PLUM CHEESE AND JELLY. Fill large stone jars with the fruit, which should be ripe, dry, and sound; set them into an oven from which the bread has been drawn several hours, and let them remain all night; or, if this cannot conveniently be done, place them in pans of water, and boil them gently until the plums are tender, and have yielded their juice to the utmost. Pour this from them, strain it through a jelly bag, weigh, and then boil it rapidly for twenty-five minutes. Have ready, broken small, three pounds of sugar for four of the juice, stir them together until it is dissolved, and then continue the boiling quickly for ten minutes longer, and be careful to remove all the scum. Pour the preserve into small moulds or pans, and turn it out when it is wanted for table: it will be very fine, both in colour and in flavour. Juice of plums, 4 lbs.: 25 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 10 minutes. The cheese.—Skin and stone the plums from which the juice has been poured, and after having weighed, boil them an hour and a quarter over a brisk fire, and stir them constantly; then to three pounds of fruit add one of sugar, beaten to powder; boil the preserve for another half hour, and press it into shallow pans or moulds. Plums, 3 lbs.: 1-1/4 hour. Sugar, 1 lb.: 30 minutes. APRICOT MARMALADE. This may be made either by the receipt for greengage, or Mogul plum marmalade; or the fruit may first be boiled quite tender, then rubbed through a sieve, and mixed with three-quarters of a pound of sugar to the pound of apricots: from twenty to thirty minutes will boil it in this case. A richer preserve still is produced by taking off the skins, and dividing the plums in halves or quarters, and leaving them for some hours with their weight of fine sugar strewed over them before they are placed on the fire; they are then heated slowly and gently simmered for about half an hour. TO DRY APRICOTS. (_A quick and easy method._) Wipe gently, split, and stone some fine apricots which are not over-ripe; weigh, and arrange them evenly in a deep dish or bowl, and strew in fourteen ounces of sugar in fine powder, to each pound of fruit; on the following day turn the whole carefully into a preserving-pan, let the apricots heat slowly, and simmer them very softly for six minutes, or for an instant longer, should they not in that time be quite tender. Let them remain in the syrup for a day or two, then drain and spread them singly on dishes to dry. To each pound of apricots, 14 oz. of sugar; to stand 1 night, to be simmered from 6 to 8 minutes, and left in syrup 2 or 3 days. DRIED APRICOTS. (_French Receipt._) Take apricots which have attained their full growth and colour, but before they begin to soften; weigh, and wipe them lightly; make a small incision across the top of each plum, pass the point of a knife through the stalk end, and gently push out the stones without breaking the fruit; next, put the apricots into a preserving-pan, with sufficient cold water to float them easily; place it over a moderate fire, and when it begins to boil, should the apricots be quite tender, lift them out and throw them into more cold water, but simmer them, otherwise, until they are so. Take the same weight of sugar that there was of the fruit before it was stoned, and boil it for ten minutes with a quart of water to the four pounds; skim the syrup carefully, throw in the apricots (which should previously be well drained on a soft cloth, or on a sieve), simmer them for one minute, and set them by in it until the following day, then drain it from them, boil it for ten minutes, and pour it on them the instant it is taken from the fire; in forty-eight hours repeat the process, and when the syrup has boiled ten minutes, put in the apricots, and simmer them from two to four minutes, or until they look quite clear. They may be stored in the syrup until wanted for drying, or drained from it, laid separately on slates or dishes, and dried very gradually: the blanched kernels may be put inside the fruit, or added to the syrup. Apricots, 4 lbs., scalded until tender; sugar 4 lbs.; water, 1 quart: 10 minutes. Apricots, in syrup, 1 minute; left 24 hours. Syrup, boiled again, 10 minutes, and poured on fruit: stand 2 days. Syrup, boiled again, 10 minutes, and apricots 2 to 4 minutes, or until clear. _Obs._—The syrup should be quite thick when the apricots are put in for the last time; but both fruit and sugar vary so much in quality and in the degree of boiling which they require, that no _invariable_ rule can be given for the latter. The apricot syrup strained very clear, and mixed with twice its measure of pale French brandy, makes an agreeable liqueur, which is much improved by infusing in it for a few days half an ounce of the fruit-kernels, blanched and bruised, to the quart of liquor. We have found that cherries prepared by either of the receipts which we have given for preserving them with sugar, if thrown into the apricot syrup when partially dried, just scalded in it, and left for a fortnight, then drained and dried as usual, become a delicious sweetmeat. Mussel, imperatrice, or any other plums, when quite ripe, if simmered in it very gently until they are tender, and left for a few days to imbibe its flavour, then drained and finished as usual, are likewise excellent. PEACH JAM, OR MARMALADE. The fruit for this preserve, which is a very delicious one, should be finely flavoured, and quite ripe, though perfectly sound. Pare, stone, weigh, and boil it quickly for three-quarters of an hour, and do not fail to stir it often during the time; draw it from the fire, and mix with it ten ounces of well-refined sugar, rolled or beaten to powder, for each pound of the peaches; clear it carefully from scum, and boil it briskly for five minutes; throw in the strained juice of one or two _good_ lemons; continue the boiling for three minutes only, and pour out the marmalade. Two minutes after the sugar is stirred to the fruit, add the blanched kernels of part of the peaches. Peaches, stoned and pared, 4 lbs.; 3/4 hour. Sugar, 2-1/2 lbs.: 2 minutes. Blanched peach-kernels: 3 minutes. Juice of 2 _small_ lemons: 3 minutes. _Obs._—This jam, like most others, is improved by pressing the fruit through a sieve after it has been partially boiled. Nothing can be finer than its flavour, which would be injured by adding the sugar at first; and a larger proportion renders it cloyingly sweet. Nectarines and peaches mixed, make an admirable preserve. TO PRESERVE, OR TO DRY PEACHES OR NECTARINES. (_An easy and excellent Receipt._) The fruit should be fine, freshly gathered, and _fully ripe_, but still in its perfection. Pare, halve, and weigh it after the stones are removed; lay it into a deep dish, and strew over it an equal weight of highly refined pounded sugar; let it remain until this is nearly dissolved, then lift the fruit gently into a preserving-pan, pour the juice and sugar to it, and heat the whole over a very slow fire; let it just simmer for ten minutes, then turn it softly into a bowl, and let it remain for two days; repeat the slow heating and simmering at intervals of two or three days, until the fruit is quite clear, when it may be potted in the syrup, or drained from it, and dried upon large clean slates or dishes, or upon wire-sieves. The flavour will be excellent. The strained juice of a lemon may be added to the syrup, with good effect, towards the end of the process, and an additional ounce or two of sugar allowed for it. DAMSON JAM. (VERY GOOD.) The fruit for this jam should be freshly gathered and quite ripe. Split, stone, weigh, and boil it quickly for forty minutes; then stir in half its weight of good sugar roughly powdered, and when it is dissolved, give the preserve fifteen minutes additional boiling, keeping it stirred, and thoroughly skimmed. Damsons, stoned, 6 lbs.: 40 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 15 minutes. _Obs._—A more refined preserve is made by pressing the fruit through a sieve after it is boiled tender; but the jam is excellent without. DAMSON JELLY. Bake separately in a very slow oven, or boil in a pan or copper of water as described at page 497, any number of fine ripe damsons, and one-third the quantity of bullaces, or of any other pale plums, as a portion of their juice will, to most tastes, improve, by softening the flavour of the preserve, and will render the colour brighter. Pour off the juice clear from the fruit, strain and weigh it; boil it quickly without sugar for twenty-five minutes, draw it from the fire, stir into it ten ounces of good sugar for each pound of juice, and boil it quickly from six to ten minutes longer, carefully clearing off all the scum. The jelly must be often stirred before the sugar is added, and constantly afterwards. DAMSON, OR RED PLUM SOLID. (GOOD.) Pour the juice from some damsons which have stood for a night in a very cool oven, or been stewed in a jar placed in a pan of water; weigh and put it into a preserving-pan with a pound and four ounces of pearmains (or of any other fine boiling apples), pared, cored, and quartered, to each pound of the juice; boil these together, keeping them well stirred, from twenty-five to thirty minutes, then add the sugar, and when it is nearly dissolved, continue the boiling for ten minutes. This, if done with exactness, will give a perfectly smooth and firm preserve, which may be moulded in small shapes, and turned out for table. The juice of any good red plum may be used for it instead of that of damsons. To each pound clear damson-juice, 1-1/4 lb. pearmains (or other good apples), pared and cored: 25 to 30 minutes. Sugar, 14 oz.: 10 minutes. EXCELLENT DAMSON CHEESE. When the fruit has been baked or stewed tender, as directed above, drain off the juice, skin and stone the damsons, pour back to them from a third to half of their juice, weigh and then boil them over a clear brisk fire, until they form quite a dry paste; add six ounces of pounded sugar for each pound of the plums; stir them off the fire until this is dissolved, and boil the preserve again without quitting or ceasing to stir it, until it leaves the pan quite dry, and adheres in a mass to the spoon. If it should not stick to the fingers when lightly touched, it will be sufficiently done to keep very long; press it quickly into pans or moulds; lay on it a paper dipped in spirit when it is perfectly cold; tie another fold over it, and store it in a dry place. Bullace cheese is made in the same manner, and almost any kind of plum will make an agreeable preserve of the sort. To each pound of fruit, pared, stoned, and mixed with the juice and boiled quite dry, 6 oz. of pounded sugar, boiled again to a dry paste. RED GRAPE JELLY. Strip from their stalks some fine ripe black-cluster grapes, and stir them with a wooden spoon over a gentle fire until all have burst, and the juice flows freely from them; strain it off without pressure, and pass it through a jelly-bag, or through a twice-folded muslin; weigh and then boil it rapidly for twenty minutes; draw it from the fire, stir in it until dissolved, fourteen ounces of good sugar, roughly powdered, to each pound of juice, and boil the jelly quickly for fifteen minutes longer, keeping it constantly stirred, and perfectly well skimmed. It will be very clear, and of a beautiful pale rose-colour. Juice of black-cluster grapes: 20 minutes. To each pound of juice, 14 oz. good sugar: 15 minutes. _Obs._—We have proved this jelly only with the kind of grape which we have named, but there is little doubt that fine purple grapes of any sort would answer for it well. ENGLISH GUAVA. (_A firm, clear, bright Jelly._) Strip the stalks from a gallon or two of the large kind of bullaces called the shepherd’s bullace; give part of them a cut, put them into stone jars, and throw into one of them a pound or two of imperatrice plums, if they can be obtained; put the jars into pans of water, and boil them as directed at page 497; then drain off the juice, pass it through a thick strainer or jelly-bag, and weigh it; boil it quickly from fifteen to twenty minutes; take it from the fire, and stir in it till dissolved three-quarters of a pound of sugar to the pound of juice; remove the scum with care, and boil the preserve again quickly from eight to twelve minutes, or longer should it not then jelly firmly on the skimmer. When the fruit is very acid, an equal weight of juice and sugar may be mixed together in the first instance, and boiled briskly for about twenty minutes. It is impossible to indicate the _precise_ time which the jelly will require, so much depends on the quality of the plums, and on the degree of boiling previously given to them in the water-bath. When properly made it is remarkably transparent and _very_ firm. It should be poured into shallow pans or small moulds, and turned from them before it is served. When the imperatrice plum cannot be procured, any other that will give a pale red colour to the juice will answer. The bullaces alone make an admirable preserve; and even the commoner kinds afford an excellent one. Juice of the shepherd’s bullace and imperatrice, or other red plum, 4 lbs.: 15 to 20 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 8 to 12 minutes. Or juice of bullaces and sugar, equal weight: 20 minutes. _Obs._—After the juice has been poured from the plums they may be stoned, pared, weighed, and boiled to a paste; then six ounces of sugar added to the pound, and the boiling continued until the preserve is again very dry; a small portion of the juice should be left with the fruit for this. VERY FINE IMPERATRICE PLUM MARMALADE. Weigh six pounds of the fruit when it is quite ripe, but before the frost has touched it; give each plum a cut as it is thrown into the preserving-pan, and when all are done boil them from thirty-five to forty minutes, taking out the stones as they rise to the surface, when they are quite detached from the flesh of the fruit. Draw back the pan from the fire, stir in two pounds of good sugar beaten to powder, and boil the preserve quickly for fifteen minutes. The imperatrice plum is of itself so sweet that this proportion of sugar makes with it a very rich preserve. Imperatrice plums (without the stalks) 6 lbs.: boiled 35 to 40 minutes. Sugar 2 lbs. (added after the stones are out): 15 minutes. _Obs._—Some slight trouble would be avoided by pressing the fruit through a sieve after the first boiling; but we do not think the marmalade would be improved by being freed from the skins of the plums. TO DRY IMPERATRICE PLUMS. (_An easy method._) Put them into jars, or wide-necked bottles, with half a pound of good sugar, rolled or pounded, to twice the weight of fruit; set them into a very cool oven for four or five hours; or, if more convenient, place them, with a little hay between them, in a pan of cold water and boil them gently for rather more than three hours. Leave them in the syrup for a few days, and finish them as directed for the drying of other fruits. Tie a bladder over the necks of the jars or bottles before they are placed in the pan of water, and fasten two or three folds of paper over the former, or cork the bottles when the fruit is to be baked. The sugar should be put in after the fruit, without being shaken down; it will then dissolve gradually, and be absorbed by it equally. To each pound of plums, 8 ounces pounded sugar: baked in cool oven 4 or 5 hours, or steamed 3 hours. TO BOTTLE FRUIT FOR WINTER USE. Gather the fruit in the middle of the day in very dry weather; strip off the stalks, and have in readiness some perfectly clean and dry wide-necked bottles; turn each of these the instant before it is filled, with the neck downwards, and hold in it two or three lighted matches: drop in the fruit before the vapour escapes, shake it gently down, press in some new corks, dip the necks of the bottles into melted resin, set them at night into an oven from which the bread has been drawn six or seven hours at least, and let them remain until the morning: if the heat be too great the bottles will burst. Currants, cherries, damsons, greengages, and various other kinds of plums will remain good for quite twelve months when bottled thus, if stored in a dry place. To steam the fruit, put the bottles into a copper or other vessel up to their necks in cold water, with a little hay between and under them; light the fire, let the water heat slowly, and keep it at the point of gentle simmering until the fruit is sufficiently scalded. Some kinds will of course require a much longer time than others. From half to three quarters of an hour will be sufficient for gooseberries, currants, and raspberries; but the appearance of all will best denote their being done. When they have sunk almost half the depth of the bottles, and the skins are shrivelled, extinguish the fire, but leave them in the water until it is quite cold; then wipe and store the bottles in a dry place. A bit of moistened bladder tied over corks is better than the resin when the fruit is steamed. APPLE JELLY. Various kind of apples may be used successfully to make this jelly, but the nonsuch is by many persons preferred to all others for the purpose. The Ripstone pippin, however, may be used for it with very good effect, either solely, or with a mixture of pearmains. It is necessary only that the fruit should be finely flavoured, and that it should boil easily to a marmalade. Pare, core, quarter, and weigh it quickly that it may not lose its colour, and to each pound pour a pint of cold water and boil it until it is well broken, without being reduced to a quite thick pulp, as it would then be difficult to render the juice perfectly clear, which it ought to be. Drain this well from the apples, either through a fine sieve or a folded muslin strainer, pass it afterwards through a jelly-bag, or turn the fruit at once into the last of these, and pour the liquid through a second time if needful. When it appears quite transparent, weigh, and reduce it by quick boiling for twenty minutes; draw it from the fire, add two pounds of sugar broken very small, for three of the decoction; stir it till it is entirely dissolved, then place the preserving-pan again over a clear fire and boil the preserve quickly for ten minutes, or until it jellies firmly upon the skimmer when poured from it; throw in the strained juice of a small lemon for every two pounds of jelly, two minutes before it is taken from the fire. Apples, 7 lbs.; water, 7 pints: 1/2 to full hour. Juice, 6 lbs.: 20 minutes _quick_ boiling. Sugar, 4 lbs.: 10 to 25 minutes. Juice three lemons. EXCEEDINGLY FINE APPLE JELLY. Pare quickly some highly flavoured juicy apples of any kind, or of various kinds together, for this is immaterial; slice, without dividing them; but first free them from the stalks and eyes; shake out some of the pips, and put the apples evenly into very clean large stone jars, just dipping an occasional layer into cold water as this is done, the better to preserve the colour of the whole. Set the jars into pans of water, and boil the fruit slowly until it is quite soft, then turn it into a jelly-bag or cloth and let the juice all drop from it. The quantity which it will have yielded will be small, but it will be clear and rich. Weigh, and boil it for ten minutes, then draw it from the fire, and stir into it, until it is entirely dissolved, twelve ounces of _good_ sugar to the pound and quarter (or pint) of juice. Place the preserve again over the fire and stir it without intermission, except to clear off the scum, until it has boiled from eight to ten minutes longer, for otherwise it will jelly on the surface with the scum upon it, which it will then be difficult to remove, as when touched it will break and fall into the preserve. The strained juice of one small fresh lemon to the pint of jelly should be thrown into it two or three minutes before it is poured out, and the rind of one or two cut very thin may be simmered in the juice before the sugar is added; but the pale, delicate colour of the jelly will be injured by too much of it, and many persons would altogether prefer the pure flavour of the fruit. Juice of apples, 1 quart, or 2-1/2 lbs.: 10 minutes. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 8 to 10 minutes. Juice, 2 small lemons; rind of 1 or more at pleasure. _Obs._—The quantity of apples required for it renders this a rather expensive preserve, where they are not abundant; but it is a remarkably fine jelly, and turns out from the moulds in perfect shape and _very_ firm.[168] It may be served in the second course, or for rice-crust. It is sometimes made without paring the apples, or dipping them into the water, and the colour is then a deep red: we have occasionally had a pint of water added to about a gallon and a half of apples, but the jelly was not then _quite_ so fine in flavour. The best time for making it is from the end of November to Christmas. Quince jelly would, without doubt, be very fine made by this receipt; but as the juice of that fruit is richer than that of the apple, a little water might be added. Alternate layers of apples and quinces would also answer well, we think. Footnote 168: It is, we should say, quite equal to _gelée de pommes_, for which Rouen is somewhat celebrated. QUINCE JELLY. Pare, quarter, core, and weigh some ripe but quite sound quinces, as quickly as possible, and throw them as they are done into part of the water in which they are to be boiled, as directed at page 456; allow one pint of this to each pound of the fruit, and simmer it gently until it is a little broken, but not so long as to redden the juice, which ought to be very pale. Turn the whole into a jelly-bag, or strain the liquid through a fine cloth, and let it drain very closely from it but without the slightest pressure. Weigh the juice, put it into a delicately clean preserving-pan, and boil it quickly for twenty minutes; take it from the fire and stir in it, until it is entirely dissolved, twelve ounces of sugar for each pound of juice, or fourteen ounces if the fruit should be very acid, which it will be in the earlier part of the season; keep it constantly stirred and thoroughly cleared from scum, from ten to twenty minutes longer, or until it jellies strongly in falling from the skimmer; then pour it directly into glasses or moulds. If properly made, it will be sufficiently firm to turn out of the latter, and it will be beautifully transparent, and rich in flavour. It may be made with an equal weight of juice and sugar mixed together in the first instance, and boiled from twenty to thirty minutes. It is difficult to state the time precisely, because from different causes it will vary much. It should be reduced rapidly to the proper point, as long boiling injures the colour: this is always more perfectly preserved by boiling the juice without the sugar first. To each pound pared and cored quinces, 1 pint water: 3/4 to 1-1/2 hour. Juice, boiled 20 minutes. To each pound, 12 oz. sugar: 10 to 20 minutes. Or, juice and sugar equal weight: 20 to 30 minutes. QUINCE MARMALADE. When to economise the fruit is not an object, pare, core, and quarter some of the inferior quinces, and boil them in as much water as will nearly cover them, until they begin to break; strain the juice from them, and for the marmalade put half a pint of it to each pound of fresh quinces: in preparing these, be careful to cut out the hard stony parts round the cores. Simmer them gently until they are perfectly tender, then press them, with the juice, through a coarse sieve; put them into a perfectly clean pan, and boil them until they form almost a dry paste; add for each round of quinces and the half pint of juice, three-quarters of a pound of sugar in fine powder, and boil the marmalade for half an hour, stirring it gently without ceasing: it will be very firm and bright in colour. If made shortly after the fruit is gathered, a little additional sugar will be required; and when a richer and less dry marmalade is better liked, it must be boiled for a shorter time, and an equal weight of fruit and sugar may be used. Quinces, pared and cored, 4 lbs.; prepared juice, 1 quart: 2 to 3 hours. Boiled fast to dry, 20 to 40 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 30 minutes. Richer marmalade: quinces, 4 lbs.; juice, 1 quart; sugar, 4 lbs. QUINCE AND APPLE MARMALADE. Boil together, from three-quarters of an hour to an hour, two pounds of pearmains, or of any other well-flavoured apples, in an equal weight of prepared quince-juice (see page 456), then take them from the fire, and mix with them a pound and a half of sugar, in fine powder; when this is a little dissolved, set the pan again over a brisk fire, and boil the preserve for twenty minutes longer, keeping it stirred all the time. Prepared quince-juice, 2 lbs.; apples, 2 lbs.: 3/4 to 1 hour. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes. QUINCE PASTE. If the full flavour of the quinces be desired, stew them sufficiently tender to press through a sieve, in the prepared juice of page 456, otherwise, in just water enough to about three parts cover them; when they are soft quite through lift them out, let them cool, and then pass them through a sieve; reduce them to a dry paste over a very clear fire, and stir them constantly; then weigh the fruit, and mix it with an equal proportion of pounded sugar, or sugar boiled to candy height (we find the effect nearly the same, whichever method be pursued), and stir the paste without intermission until it is again so dry as to quit the pan and adhere to the spoon in one large ball; press it into shallow pans or dishes; cut it, as soon as cold, into small squares, and should they seem to require it, dry them with a very gentle degree of heat, and when they are again cold store them in tin cases with well-dried foolscap paper between them: the paste may be moulded, when more convenient, and kept until it is wanted for table, in a very dry place. In France, where the fruit is admirably confected, the _pâte de coigns_, or quince paste, is somewhat less boiled than we have directed, and dried afterwards in the sun, or in an extremely gentle oven, in square tin frames, about an inch and a half deep, placed upon clean slates. JELLY OF SIBERIAN CRABS. This fruit makes a jelly of beautiful colour, and of pleasant flavour also: it may be stored in small moulds of ornamental shape, and turned out for rice-crust. Take off the stalks, weigh, and wash the crabs; then, to each pound and a half, add a pint of water and boil them gently until they are broken, but do not allow them to fall to a pulp. Pour the whole into a jelly-bag, and when the juice is quite transparent, weigh it, put it into a clean preserving-pan, boil it quickly for fifteen minutes, take it from the fire, and stir in it until dissolved three-quarters of a pound of fine sugar roughly powdered to each pound of the juice; boil the jelly from fifteen to twenty minutes, skim it very clean, and pour it into the moulds. Should the quantity be large, a few additional minutes’ boiling must be given to the juice before the sugar is added. To each 1-1/2 lb. of crabs; water, 1 pint: 12 to 18 minutes. Juice to be fast boiled, 15 minutes; sugar, to each pound, 3/4 lb.; 15 to 20 minutes. TO PRESERVE BARBERRIES IN BUNCHES. Take the finest barberries without stones that can be procured, tie them together in bunches of four or five sprigs, and for each half pound of the fruit (which is extremely light), boil one pound of very good sugar in a pint of water for twenty minutes, and clear it well from scum; throw in the fruit, let it heat gently, and then boil from five to seven minutes, when it will be perfectly transparent. So long as any snapping noise is heard the fruit is not all done; it should be pressed equally down into the syrup until the whole of the berries have burst; and should then be turned into jars, which must be covered with skin or two or three folds of thick paper, as soon as the preserve is perfectly cold. The barberries thus prepared make a beautiful garnish for sweet dishes, or for puddings. Barberries, tied in bunches, 1-1/2 lb.; sugar 3 lbs.; water 1-1/2 pint: 20 minutes. Barberries boiled in syrup: 5 to 7 minutes. BARBERRY JAM. (_First and best Receipt._) The barberries for this preserve should be quite ripe, though they should not be allowed to hang until they begin to decay. Strip them from the stalks, throw aside such as are spotted, and for each pound of the fruit allow eighteen ounces of well-refined sugar; boil this, with one pint of water to every four pounds, until it becomes white, and falls in thick masses from the spoon; then throw in the fruit, and keep it stirred over a brisk fire for six minutes only; take off the scum, and pour it into jars or glasses. Sugar, 4-1/4 lbs.; water, 1-1/4 pint: boiled to candy height. Barberries, 4 lbs.: 6 minutes. _Barberry Jam. Second Receipt._—The preceding is an excellent receipt, but the preserve will be _very_ good if eighteen ounces of pounded sugar be mixed and boiled with the fruit for ten minutes and this is done at a small expense of time and trouble. Sugar pounded, 2-1/4 lbs.; fruit, 2 lbs.: boiled 10 minutes. SUPERIOR BARBERRY JELLY, AND MARMALADE. Strip the fruit from the stems, wash it in spring-water, drain, bruise it slightly, and put it into a clean stone jar, with no more liquid than the drops which hang about it. Place the jar in a pan of water, and steam the fruit until it is quite tender: this will be in from thirty minutes to an hour. Pour off the clear juice, strain, weigh, and boil it quickly from five to seven minutes, with eighteen ounces of sugar to every pound. For the marmalade, rub the barberries through a sieve with a wooden spoon, and boil them quickly for the same time, and with the same proportion of sugar as the jelly. Barberries boiled in water-bath until tender; to each pound of juice, 1 lb. 2 oz. sugar: 5 minutes. Pulp of fruit to each pound, 18 oz. sugar: 5 minutes. _Obs._—We have always had these preserves made with very ripe fruit, and have found them extremely good; but more sugar may be needed to sweeten them sufficiently when the barberries have hung less time upon the trees. ORANGE MARMALADE. (_A Portuguese Receipt._) Rasp very slightly on a fine and delicately clean grater the rinds of some sound Seville oranges; cut them into quarters, and separate the flesh from the rinds; then with the small end of a tea, or egg-spoon, clear it entirely from the pips, and from the loose inner skin and film. Put the rinds into a large quantity of cold water, and change it when they have boiled about twenty minutes. As soon as they are perfectly tender lift them out, and drain them on a sieve; slice them thin, and add eight ounces of them to each pound of the pulp and juice, with a pound and a half of highly-refined sugar in fine powder; boil the marmalade quickly for half an hour, skim it well, and turn it into the jars. The preserve thus made will not have a very powerful flavour of the orange rind. When more of this is liked, either leave a portion of the fruit unrasped, or mix with the preserve some of the zest which has been grated off, allowing for it its weight of sugar. Or proceed thus: allow to a dozen Seville oranges two fine juicy lemons, and the weight of the whole in sifted sugar, of excellent quality. With a sharp knife cut through the rinds just deep enough to allow them to be stripped off in quarters with the end of a spoon, and throw them for a night into plenty of cold spring-water; on the following morning boil them sufficiently tender to allow the head of a pin to pierce them easily; then drain them well, let them cool, and scrape out the white part of the rind, and cut the remainder into thin chips. In the mean time have the pulp of the fruit quite cleared from the pips and film; put it with the chips into a preserving-pan, heat them slowly, boil them for ten minutes, draw the pan from the fire, and stir gradually in, and dissolve the remainder of the sugar, and boil the preserve more quickly for twenty minutes, or until it thickens and appears ready to jelly. This mode, though it gives a little additional trouble, will prevent the orange-chips from becoming hard, which they will sometimes be if much sugar be added to them at first. The sugar first broken into large lumps, is sometimes made into a very thick syrup, with so much water only as will just dissolve it; the pulp and juice are in that case boiled in it quickly for ten minutes before the chips are added; and a part of these are pounded and stirred into the preserve with the others. March is the proper month for making this preserve, the Seville oranges being then in perfection. For lemon marmalade proceed exactly in the same manner as for this. Rinds of Seville oranges, lightly rasped and boiled tender, 2 lbs.; pulp and juice, 4 lbs.; sugar, 6 lbs.: 1/2 hour. Or, weight of oranges, first taken in sugar, and added, with all the rinds, to the pulp after the whole has been properly prepared. GENUINE SCOTCH MARMALADE. “Take some bitter oranges, and double their weight of sugar; cut the rind of the fruit into quarters and peel it off, and if the marmalade be not wanted very thick, take off some of the spongy white skin inside the rind. Cut the chips as thin as possible, and about half an inch long, and divide the pulp into small bits, removing carefully the seeds, which may be steeped in part of the water that is to make the marmalade, and which must be in the proportion of a quart to a pound of fruit. Put the chips and pulp into a deep earthen dish, and pour the water boiling over them; let them remain for twelve or fourteen hours, and then turn the whole into the preserving-pan, and boil it until the chips are perfectly tender. When they are so, add by degrees the sugar (which should be previously pounded), and boil it until it jellies. The water in which the seeds have been steeped, and which must be taken from the quantity apportioned to the whole of the preserve, should be poured into a hair-sieve, and the seeds well worked in it with the back of a spoon; a strong clear jelly will be obtained by this means, which must be washed off them by pouring their own liquor through the sieve in small portions over them. This must be added to the fruit when it is first set on the fire.” Oranges, 3 lbs.; water, 3 quarts; sugar, 6 lbs. _Obs._—This receipt, which we have not tried ourselves, is guaranteed as an excellent one by the Scottish lady from whom it was procured. CLEAR ORANGE MARMALADE. (_Author’s Receipt._) This, especially for persons in delicate health, is far more wholesome than the marmalade which contains chips of the orange-rinds. The fruit must be prepared in the same manner, and the pulp very carefully cleared from the pips and skin. The rinds taken off in quarters (after having been washed and wiped quite clean from the black soil which is sometimes found on them), must be boiled extremely tender in a large quantity of water, into which they may be thrown when it boils. They should be well drained upon a large hair sieve reversed, so soon as the head of a pin will pierce them easily; and the white skin and fibres should be scraped entirely from them while they are still warm. They should then be pounded to a paste, and well blended with the pulp and juice, these being added to them by degrees, that they may not remain in lumps. A quarter of a pint of water, in which the seeds have been immersed for an hour or two, well worked up with them, and then passed through a net strainer[169] or coarse sieve, will soften the flavour of the marmalade, and assist its jellying at the same time. Boil it rather quickly without sugar for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, then finish it by the directions for “Orange Marmalade, Portuguese Receipt,” of the preceding page, but regulate the proportion of sugar and the time of boiling as follows:— Footnote 169: Strainers of coarse bobbin-net, which is very cheap, are preferable to muslin for preparations which are jellied, as the water becomes thick when the orange-seeds are steeped in it. Pulp and juice of Seville oranges, 1-1/2 lb.; water strained from pips, 1/2 pint; pounded orange-rinds 3/4 lb.: 15 to 20 minutes. Sugar, 2-3/4 lb. (3 lb. if the fruit should be very acid), half added first, 10 to 15 minutes; with remaining half, 15 to 20 minutes, or until the marmalade becomes quite thick and clear. _Obs._—We have occasionally had more water than the proportion given above used in making this preserve, which is very nice in flavour, but which may be made to suit various tastes by adding a larger or smaller quantity of the rinds; and a larger weight of sugar when it is liked very sweet. When the bitterness of the fruit is objected to, the rinds may be steeped for a night in a plentiful quantity of spring water. FINE JELLY OF SEVILLE ORANGES. (_Author’s Original Receipt._) Although we have appropriated this receipt to another work, we cannot refrain from inserting it here as well, so delicious to our taste is the jelly which we have had made by it. For eighteen full-sized oranges allow a pint and a half of water. Take off the rinds in quarters from ten of them, and then free them entirely from their tough white skin, and with a sharp knife cut them into rather thick slices, and put them with all the pips into the water. Halve the remainder of the fruit without paring it, and squeeze the juice and pips, but _not the pulp_, to the sliced oranges; and place them by the fire in an enamelled stewpan which they will not more than two-thirds fill. Heat and boil them gently between twenty and thirty minutes, then strain the juice closely from them without pressure, through a large square of muslin folded in four, or, if more convenient, pass it first through a very thin and delicately clean cloth, and afterwards through the folded muslin. Weigh and boil it quickly for five minutes; then for each pound stir gradually to it fourteen ounces of highly refined sugar, broken small or roughly powdered; and when it is quite dissolved, continue the boiling for a few minutes longer, when the preserve will jelly easily and firmly, and be pale and beautifully transparent, and most agreeable in flavour. Seville oranges, 18; of which 10 pared and sliced. Water, 1-1/2 pint, and juice of 8 oranges: gently heated and boiled 20 to 30 minutes. Juice boiled quickly 5 minutes. To each lb. 14 oz. sugar: 5 to 8 minutes. _Obs._—On our second trial we had the _very thin_ rind of three of the oranges stewed with the fruit, which we thought an improvement. The jelly in both instances was made, we believe, in April, when the fruit was fully ripe: earlier in the season it would probably require longer boiling. On one occasion it became quite firm _very quickly_ after the sugar was added to the juice; that is to say, in three or four minutes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------