American Cookery

page 44

take it out and strain the juice through a coarse hair sieve, to a pint of juice
put a pound of sugar, set it over a fine quick fire in a preserving pan, or a
bell-metal skillet, keep stiring it all the time till the sugar be melted, then
skim the skum off as fast as it rises. When the jelly is very clear and fine,
pour it into earthen or china cups, when cold, cut white papers just the bigness
of the top of the pot, and lay on the jelly, dip those papers in brandy, then
cover the top of the pot and prick it full of holes, set it in a dry place; you
may put some into glasses for present use.

To dry Peaches.
Take the fairest and ripest peaches, pare them into fair water; take their
weight in double refined sugar; of one half make a very thin sirup; then put in
your peaches, boiling them till they look clear, then split and stone them, boil
them till they are very tender, lay them a draining, take the other half of the
sugar, and boil it almost to a candy; then put in your peaches, and let them lie
all night, then lay them on a glass, and set them in a stove, till they are dry,
if they are sugared too much, wipe them with a wet cloth a little; let the first
sirup be very thin, a quart of water to a pound of sugar.

To pickle or make Mangoes of Melons.
Take green melons, as many as you please, and make a brine strong enough to bear
an egg; then pour it boiling hot on the melons, keeping them down under the
brine; let them stand five or six days; then take them out, slit them down on
one side, take out all the seeds, scrape them well in the inside, and wash them
clean with cold water; then take a clove of garlick, a little ginger and nutmeg
sliced, and a little whole pepper; put all these proportionably into the melons,
filling them up with mustard-seeds; then lay them in an earthen pot with the
slit upwards, and take one part of mustard and two parts of vinegar, enough to
cover them, pouring

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