The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887) written by Mrs. F.L. Gillette

M >> Mrs. F.L. Gillette >> The Whitehouse Cookbook (1887)

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PRESERVED PEARS.

One pound of fruit, one pound of sugar; pare off the peeling thin.
Make a nice syrup of nearly one cupful of water and one pound of
sugar, and when clarified by boiling and skimming put in the pears and
stew gently until clear. Choose rather pears like the Seckle for
preserving, both on account of the flavor and size. A nice way is to
stick a clove in the blossom end of each pear, for this fruit seems to
require some extraneous flavor to bring out its own piquancy. Another
acceptable addition to pear preserves may be found instead, by adding
the juice and thinly pared rind of one lemon to each five pounds of
fruit. If the pears are hard and tough, parboil them until tender
before beginning to preserve, and from the same water take what you
need for making their syrup.

If you can procure only large pears to preserve, cut them into halves,
or even slices, so that they can get done more quickly, and lose
nothing in appearance, either.

PINEAPPLE PRESERVES.

Twist off the top and bottom and pare off the rough outside of
pineapples; then weigh them and cut them in slices, chips or quarters,
or cut them in four or six and shape each piece like a whole
pineapple; to each pound of fruit, put a teacupful of water; put it in
a preserving kettle, cover it and set it over the fire and let them
boil gently until they are tender and clear; then take them from the
water, by sticking a fork in the centre of each slice, or with a
skimmer, into a dish.

Put to the water white sugar, a pound for each pound of fruit; stir it
until it is all dissolved; then put in the pineapple, cover the kettle
and boil them gently until transparent throughout; when it is so, take
it out, let it cool and put it in glass jars; let the syrup boil or
simmer gently until it is thick and rich and when nearly cool, pour it
over the fruit. The next day secure the jars, as before directed.

Pineapple done in this way is a beautiful and delicious preserve. The
usual manner of preserving it by putting it into the syrup without
first boiling it, makes it little better than sweetened leather.

TO PRESERVE WATERMELON RIND AND CITRON.

Pare off the green skin, cut the watermelon rind into pieces. Weigh
the pieces and allow to each pound a pound and a half of loaf sugar.
Line your kettle with green vine-leaves, and put in the pieces
_without_ the sugar. A layer of vine-leaves must cover each layer of
melon rind. Pour in water to cover the whole and place a thick cloth
over the kettle. Simmer the fruit for two hours, after scattering a
few bits of alum amongst it. Spread the melon rind on a dish to cool.
Melt the sugar, using a pint of water to a pound and a half of sugar,
and mix with it some beaten white of egg. Boil and skim the sugar.
When quite clear, put in the rind and let it boil two hours; take out
the rind, boil the syrup again, pour it over the rind, and let it
remain all night. The next morning, boil the syrup with lemon juice,
allowing one lemon to a quart of syrup. When it is thick enough to
hang in a drop from the point of a spoon, it is done. Put the rind in
jars and pour over it the syrup. It is not fit for use immediately.

Citrons may be preserved in the same manner, first paring off the
outer skin and cutting them into quarters. Also green limes.

TO PRESERVE AND DRY GREENGAGES.

To every pound of sugar allow one pound of fruit, one quarter pint of
water.

For this purpose, the fruit must be used before it is quite ripe and
part of the stalk must be left on. Weigh the fruit, rejecting all that
is in the least degree blemished, and put it into a lined saucepan
with the sugar and water, which should have been previously boiled
together to a rich syrup. Boil the fruit in this for ten minutes,
remove it from the fire, and drain the greengages. The next day boil
up the syrup and put in the fruit again, let it simmer for three
minutes, and drain the syrup away. Continue this process for five or
six days, and the last time place the greengages, when drained, on a
hair-sieve, and put them in an oven or warm spot to dry; keep them in
a box, with paper between each layer, in a place free from damp.

PRESERVED PUMPKINS.

To each pound of pumpkin allow one pound of roughly pounded loaf
sugar, one gill of lemon juice.

Obtain a good, sweet pumpkin; halve it, take out the seeds and pare
off the rind; cut it into neat slices. Weigh the pumpkin, put the
slices in a pan or deep dish in layers, with the sugar sprinkled
between them; pour the lemon juice over the top, and let the whole
remain for two or three days. Boil all together, adding half a pint of
water to every three pounds of sugar used until the pumpkin becomes
tender; then turn the whole into a pan, where let it remain for a
week; then drain off the syrup, boil it until it is quite thick, skim,
and pour it boiling over the pumpkin. A little bruised ginger and
lemon rind, thinly pared, may be boiled in the syrup to flavor the
pumpkin.

_A Southern Recipe._

PRESERVING FRUIT. (New Mode.)

Housekeepers who dislike the tedious, old-time fashion of clarifying
sugar and boiling the fruit, will appreciate, the following two
recipes, no fire being needed in their preparation. The first is for
"tutti frutti," and has been repeatedly tested with unvarying success.

Put one quart of white, preserving, fine Batavia brandy into a
two-gallon stone jar that has a tightly fitting top. Then for every
pound of fruit, in prime condition and perfectly dry, which you put in
the brandy, use three-quarters of a pound of granulated sugar; stir
every day so that the sugar will be dissolved, using a clean, wooden
spoon kept for the purpose. Every sort of fruit may be used, beginning
with strawberries and ending with plums. Be sure and have at least one
pound of black cherries, as they make the color of the preserve very
rich. Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, apricots, cherries
(sweet and sour), peaches, plums, are all used, and, if you like,
currants and grapes. Plums and grapes should be peeled and seeded,
apricots and peaches peeled and cut in quarters or eighths or dice;
cherries also must be seeded; quinces may be steamed until tender. The
jar must be kept in a cool, dry place, and the daily stirring must
never be forgotten, for that is the secret of success. You may use as
much of one sort of fruit as you like, and it may be put in from day
to day, just as you happen to have it. Half the quantity of spirits
may be used. The preserve will be ready for use within a week after
the last fruit is put in, and will keep for a number of months. We
have found it good eight months after making.

The second is as follows: Take some pure white vinegar and mix with it
granulated sugar until a syrup is formed quite free from acidity. Pour
this syrup into earthen jars and put in it good, perfectly ripe fruit,
gathered in dry weather. Cover the jars tight and put them in a dry
place. The contents will keep for six or eight months, and the flavor
of the fruit will be excellent.

TO PRESERVE FRUIT WITHOUT 'SUGAR.

Cherries, strawberries, sliced pineapple, plums, apricots,
gooseberries, etc., may be preserved in the following manner--to be
used the same as fresh fruit.

Gather the fruit before it is very ripe; put it in wide-mouthed
bottles made for the purpose; fill them as full as they will hold and
cork them tight; seal the corks; put some hay in a large saucepan, set
in the bottles, with hay between them to prevent their touching; then
fill the saucepan with water to the necks of the bottles, and set it
over the fire until the water is nearly boiled, then take it off; let
it stand until the bottles are cold. Keep them in a cool place until
wanted, when the fruit will be found equal to fresh.

NEW METHOD OF PRESERVING FRUIT.

A new method of preserving fruit is practiced in England. Pears,
apples and other fruits are reduced to a paste by jamming, which is
then pressed into cakes and gently dried. When required for use it is
only necessary to pour four times their weight of boiling water over
them and allow them to soak for twenty minutes and then add sugar to
suit the taste. The fine flavor of the fruit is said to be retained to
perfection. The cost of the prepared product is scarcely greater than
that of the original fruit, differing with the supply and price of the
latter; the keeping qualities are excellent, so that it may be had at
any time of the year and bears long sea-voyages with out detriment. No
peeling or coring is required, so there is no waste.

FRUIT JELLIES.

Take a stone jar and put in the fruit, place this in a kettle of tepid
water and set on the fire; let it boil, closely covered, until the
fruit is broken to pieces; strain, pressing the bag, a stout, coarse
one, hard, putting in a few handfuls each time, and between each
squeezing turning it inside out to scald off the pulp and skins; to
each pint of juice allow a pound of loaf sugar; set the juice on alone
to boil, and, while it is boiling, put the sugar into shallow dishes
or pans, and heat it in the oven, watching and stirring it to prevent
burning; boil the juice just twenty minutes from the time it begins
fairly to boil; by this time the sugar should be _very_ hot; throw it
into the boiling juice, stirring rapidly all the time; withdraw the
spoon when all is thoroughly dissolved; let the jelly come to a boil
to make all certain; withdraw the kettle instantly from the fire; roll
your glasses and cups in hot water, and fill with the scalding liquid;
the jelly will form within an hour; when cold, close and tie up as you
do preserves.

CURRANT JELLY.

Currants for jelly should be perfectly ripe and gathered the _first_
week of the season; they lose their jelly property if they hang on the
bushes too long, and become too juicy--the juice will not be apt to
congeal. Strip them from the stalks, put them into a stone jar, and
set in a vessel of hot water over the fire; keep the water around it
boiling until the currants are all broken, stirring them up
occasionally. Then squeeze them through a coarse cloth or towel. To
each pint of juice allow a pound and a quarter of refined sugar. Put
the sugar into a porcelain kettle, pour the juice over it, stirring
frequently. Skim it before it boils; boil about twenty minutes, or
until it congeals in the spoon when held in the air. Pour it into hot
jelly glasses and seal when cool.

Wild frost grape jelly is nice made after this recipe.

CURRANT JELLY. (New Method.)

This recipe for making superior jelly without heat is given in a
Parisian journal of chemistry, which may be worth trying by some of
our readers. The currants are to be washed and squeezed in the usual
way, and the juice placed in a stone or earthen vessel, and set away
in a cool place in the cellar. In about twenty-four hours a
considerable amount of froth will cover the surface, produced by
fermentation, and this must be removed and the whole strained again
through the jelly bag, then weighed, and an equal weight of powdered
white sugar is to be added. This is to be stirred constantly until
entirely dissolved, and then put into jars, tied up tightly and set
away. At the end of another twenty-four hours a perfectly transparent
jelly of the most satisfactory flavor will be formed, which will keep
as long as if it had been cooked.

QUINCE JELLY.

Quinces for jelly should not be quite ripe, they should be a fine
yellow; rub off the down from them, core and cut them small; put them
in a preserving kettle with a teacupful of water for each pound; let
them stew gently until soft, without mashing; put them in a thin
muslin bag with the liquor; press them very lightly; to each pint of
the liquor put a pound of sugar; stir it until it is all dissolved,
then set it over the fire and let it boil gently, until by cooling
some on a plate you find it a good jelly; then turn it into pots or
tumblers and, when cold, secure as directed for jellies.

RASPBERRY JELLY.

To each pint of juice allow one pound of sugar. Let the raspberries be
freshly gathered, quite ripe, pick from the stalks; put them into a
large jar after breaking the fruit a little with a wooden spoon, and
place this jar, covered, in a saucepan of boiling water. When the
juice is well drawn, which will be in from three-quarters to one hour,
strain the fruit through a fine hair-sieve or cloth; measure the
juice, and to every pint allow the above proportion of white sugar.
Put the juice and sugar into a preserving pan, place it over the fire,
and boil gently until the jelly thickens, when a little is poured on
a plate; carefully remove all the scum as it rises, pour the jelly
into small pots, cover down, and keep in a dry place. This jelly
answers for making raspberry cream and for flavoring various sweet
dishes, when, in winter, the fresh fruit is not obtainable.

APPLE JELLY.

Select apples that are rather tart and highly flavored; slice them
without paring; place in a porcelain preserving kettle, cover with
water, and let them cook slowly until the apples look red. Pour into a
colander, drain off the juice, and let this run through a jelly-bag;
return to the kettle, which must be carefully washed, and boil half an
hour; measure it and allow to every pint of juice a pound of sugar and
half the juice of a lemon; boil quickly for ten minutes.

The juice of apples boiled in shallow vessels, without a particle of
sugar, makes the most sparkling, delicious jelly imaginable. Red
apples will give jelly the color and clearness of claret, while that
from light fruit is like amber. Take the cider just as it is made, not
allowing it to ferment at all, and, if possible, boil it in a pan,
flat, very large and shallow.

GRAPE JELLY.

Mash well the berries so as to remove the skins; pour all into a
preserving kettle and cook slowly for a few minutes to extract the
juice; strain through a colander, and then through a flannel
jelly-bag, keeping as hot as possible, for if not allowed to cool
before putting again on the stove the jelly conies much stiffer; a few
quince seeds boiled with the berries the first time tend to stiffen
it; measure the juice, allowing a pound of sugar to every pint of
juice, and boil fast for at least half an hour. Try a little, and if
it seems done, remove and put into glasses.

FLORIDA ORANGE JELLY.

Grate the yellow rind of two Florida oranges and two lemons, and
squeeze the juice into a porcelain-lined preserving kettle, adding the
juice of two more oranges, and removing all the seeds; put in the
grated rind a quarter of a pound of sugar, or more if the fruit is
sour, and a gill of water, and boil these ingredients together until a
rich syrup is formed; meantime, dissolve two ounces of gelatine in a
quart of warm water, stirring it over the fire until it is entirely
dissolved, then add the syrup, strain the jelly, and cool it in molds
wet in cold water.

CRAB-APPLE JELLY.

The apples should be juicy and ripe. The fruit is then quartered, the
black spots in the cores removed, afterward put into a preserving
kettle over the fire, with a teacupful of water in the bottom to
prevent burning; more water is added as it evaporates while cooking.
When boiled to a pulp, strain the apples through a coarse flannel,
then proceed as for currant jelly.

PEACH JELLY.

Pare the peaches, take out the stones, then slice them; add to them
about a quarter of the kernels. Place them in a kettle with enough
water to cover them. Stir them often until the fruit is well cooked,
then strain, and to every pint of the juice add the juice of a lemon;
measure again, allowing a pound of sugar to each pint of juice; heat
the sugar very hot, and add when the juice has boiled twenty minutes;
let it come to a boil and take instantly from the fire.

ORANGE SYRUP.

Pare the oranges, squeeze and strain the juice from the pulp. To one
pint of juice allow one pound and three-quarters of loaf sugar. Put
the juice and sugar together, boil and skim it until it is cream; then
strain it through a flannel bag and let it stand until it becomes
cool, then put in bottles and cork tight.

Lemon syrup is made in the same way, except that you scald the lemons
and squeeze out the juice, allowing rather more sugar.

ORANGE MARMALADE.

Allow pound for pound. Pare half the oranges and cut the rind into
shreds. Boil in three waters until tender and set aside. Grate the
rind of the remaining oranges; take off, and throw away every bit of
the thick white inner skin; quarter all the oranges and take out the
seeds. Chop or cut them into small pieces; drain all the juice that
will come away without pressing them over the sugar; heat this,
stirring until the sugar is dissolved, adding a _very_ little water,
unless the oranges are very juicy. Boil and skim five or six minutes;
put in the boiled shreds and cook ten minutes; then the chopped fruit
and grated peel, and boil twenty minutes longer. When cold, put into
small jars, tied up with bladder or paper next the fruit, cloths
dipped in wax over all. A nicer way still is to put away in tumblers
with self-adjusting metal tops. Press brandied tissue paper down
closely to the fruit.

LEMON MARMALADE

Is made as you would prepare orange--allowing a pound and a quarter of
sugar to a pound of the fruit, and using but half the grated peel.

RAISINS. (A French Marmalade.)

This recipe is particularly valuable at seasons when fruit is scarce.
Take six fine large cooking apples, peel them, put them over a slow
fire, together with a wine-glass of Medeira wine and half a pound of
sugar. When well stewed, split and stone two and a half pounds of
raisins, and put them to stew with the apples and enough water to
prevent their burning. When all appears well dissolved, beat it
through a strainer bowl, and lastly through a sieve. Mold, if you
like, or put away in small preserve jars, to cut in thin slices for
the ornamentation of pastry, or to dish up for eating with cream.

STRAWBERRY JAM.

To each pound of fine and not too ripe berries, allow three-quarters
of a pound of sugar. Put them into a preserving pan and stir gently,
not to break up the fruit; simmer for one-half hour and put into pots
air-tight. An excellent way to seal jellies and jams is as the German
women do: cut round covers from writing paper a half-inch too large
for the tops, smear the inside with the unbeaten white of an egg, tie
over with a cord, and it will dry quickly and be absolutely
preservative. A circular paper dipped in brandy and laid over the
toothsome contents before covering, will prevent any dampness from
affecting the flavor. I have removed covers heavy with mold to find
the preserve intact.

GOOSEBERRY JAM.

Pick the gooseberries just as they begin to turn. Stem, wash and
weigh. To four pounds of fruit add half a teacupful of water; boil
until soft and add four pounds of sugar and boil until clear. If
picked at the right stage the jam will be amber colored and firm, and
very much nicer than if the fruit is preserved when ripe.

BRANDIED PEACHES OR PEARS.

Four pounds of fruit, four pounds of sugar, one pint of best white
brandy. Make a syrup of the sugar and enough water to dissolve it. Let
this come to a boil; put the fruit in and boil five minutes. Having
removed the fruit carefully, let the syrup boil fifteen minutes
longer, or until it thickens well; add the brandy and take the kettle
at once from the fire; pour the hot syrup over the fruit and seal. If,
after the fruit is taken from the fire, a reddish liquor oozes from
it, drain this off before adding the clear syrup. Put up in glass
jars. Peaches and pears should be peeled for brandying. Plums should
be pricked and watched carefully for fear of bursting.

RASPBERRY JAM.

To five or six pounds of fine red raspberries (not too ripe) add an
equal quantity of the finest quality of white sugar. Mash the whole
well in a preserving kettle; add about one quart of currant juice (a
little less will do) and boil gently till it jellies upon a cold
plate; then put into small jars; cover with brandied paper and tie a
thick white paper over them. Keep in a dark, dry and cool place.

Blackberry or strawberry jam is made the same way, leaving out the
currant juice.

A NEW WAY OF KEEPING FRUIT.

It is stated that experiments have been made in keeping fruit in jars
covered only with cotton batting, and at the end of two years the
fruit was sound. The following directions are given for the process:
Use crocks, stone butter-jars or any other convenient dishes. Prepare
and cook the fruit precisely as for canning in glass jars; fill your
dishes with fruit while hot and immediately cover with cotton batting,
securely tied on. Remember that all putrefaction is caused by the
invisible creatures in the air. Cooking the fruit expels all these,
and they cannot pass through the cotton batting. The fruit thus
protected will keep an indefinite period. It will be remembered that
Tyndall has proved that the atmospheric germs cannot pass through a
layer of cotton.

MACEDOINES.

Suspend in the centre of the jelly mold a bunch of grapes, cherries,
berries, or currants on their stems, sections of oranges, pineapples,
or brandied fruits, and pour in a little jelly when quite cold, but
not set. It makes a very agreeable effect. By a little ingenuity you
can imbed first one fruit and then another, arranging in circles, and
pour a little jelly successively over each. Do not re-heat the jelly,
but keep it in a warm place, while the mold is on ice and the first
layers are hardening.

[Illustration]

CANNED FRUITS

Berries and all ripe, mellow fruit require but little cooking, only
long enough for the sugar to penetrate. Strew sugar over them, allow
them to stand a few hours, then merely scald with the sugar; half to
three-quarters of a pound is considered sufficient. Harder fruits like
pears, quinces, etc., require longer boiling. The great secret of
canning is to make the fruit or vegetable perfectly air-tight. It must
be put up boiling hot and the vessel filled to the brim.

Have your jars conveniently placed near your boiling fruit, in a tin
pan of hot water on the stove, roll them in the hot water, then fill
immediately with the hot, scalding fruit, fill to the top, and seal
quickly with the tops, which should also be heated; occasionally screw
down the tops tighter, as the fruit shrinks as it cools, and the glass
contracts and allows the air to enter the cans. They must be perfectly
air-tight. The jars to be kept in a dark, cool, dry place.

Use glass jars for fruit always, and the fruit should be cooked in a
porcelain or granite-iron kettle. If you are obliged to use common
large-mouthed bottles with corks, steam the corks and pare them to a
close fit, driving them in with a mallet. Use the following wax for
sealing: One pound of resin, three ounces of beeswax, one and one-half
ounces of tallow. Use a brush in covering the corks and as they cool,
dip the mouth into the melted wax. Place in a basin of cold water.
Pack in a cool, dark and dry cellar. After one week, examine for
flaws, cracks or signs of ferment.

The rubber rings used to assist in keeping the air from the fruit cans
sometimes become so dry and brittle as to be almost useless. They can
be restored to normal condition usually by letting them lie in water
in which you have put a little ammonia. Mix in this proportion: One
part of ammonia and two parts water. Sometimes they do not need to lie
in this more than five minutes, but frequently a half hour is needed
to restore their elasticity.

CANNED PEACHES.

To one pound of peaches allow half a pound of sugar; to six pounds of
sugar add half a tumbler of water; put in the kettle a layer of sugar
and one of peaches until the whole of both are in. Wash about eight
peach leaves, tie them up and put into the kettle, remembering to take
them out when you begin to fill up the jars. Let the sugared fruit
remain on the range, but away from the fire, until upon tipping the
vessel to one side you can see some liquid; then fill the jars, taking
them out of hot water into which they were put when cold, remaining
until it was made to boil around them. In this way you will find out
if the glass has been properly annealed; for we consider glass jars
with stoppers screwing down upon India-rubber rings as the best for
canning fruit in families. They should be kept in a dark closet; and
although somewhat more expensive than tin in the first instance, are
much nicer and keep for years with careful usage.

Fruit must be of fine flavor and _ripe_, though not _soft_, to make
nice canned fruit.

Peaches should be thrown into cold water as they are peeled, to
prevent a yellowish crust.

CANNED GRAPES.

There is no fruit so difficult to can nicely as the grape; by
observing the following instructions you will find the grapes rich and
tender a year from putting up. Squeeze the pulp from the skin, as the
seeds are objectionable; boil the pulp, until the seeds begin to
loosen, in one kettle, having the skins boiling, in a little water,
hard in another kettle, as they are tough. When the pulp seems tender,
put it through the sieve; then add the skins, if tender, with the
water they boil in, if not too much. We use a large coffeecupful of
sugar for a quart can; boil until thick and can in the usual way.