CHERRIES.

The most beautiful cherries to preserve, are the carnation and common light red, with short stems; select the finest that are not too ripe; take an equal weight with the cherries of double refined sugar, make it into a syrup, and preserve them without stoning, and with the stems on; if they be done carefully, and the "Directions for preserving" closely attended to, the stems will not come off, and they will be so transparent that the stones may be seen.

MORELLO CHERRIES.

Take out the stones with a quill over a deep dish, to save the juice that runs from them; put to the juice a pound of sugar for each pound of cherries, weighed after they are stoned; boil and skim the put in the fruit, and stew till quite clear.

TO DRY CHERRIES.

syrup, then

STONE them, and save the juice: weigh the cherries, and allow one pound of good brown sugar to three of the fruit; boil it with the juice, put the cherries in, stew them fifteen or twenty minutes, take them out, drain off the syrup, and lay the cherries in dishes to dry in the sun; keep the syrup to pour over a little at a time, as it dries on the cherries, which must be frequently turned over; when all the syrup is used, put the cherries away in pots, sprinkling a little powdered loaf sugar between the layers. They make excellent pies, puddings, and charlottes.

RASPBERRY JAM.

To each pound of ripe red or English raspberries, put one pound of loaf sugar—stir it frequently, and stew till it is a thick jelly.

TO PRESERVE STRAWBERRIES.

Get the largest strawberries before they are too ripe; have the best loaf sugar, one pound to each of strawberries—stew them very gently, taking them out to cool frequently, that they may not be mashed; when they look clear, they are done enough.

is

STRAWBERRY JAM

Is made in the same manner as the raspberry, and very fine to mix with cream for blanc mange, puffs, sweetmeat puddings, &c. &c.

GOOSEBERRIES.

Select young gooseberries, make a syrup with one pound of loaf sugar to each of fruit; stew them till quite clear and the syrup becomes thick, but do not let them be mashed. They are excellent made into tarts—do not cover the pan while they are stewing.

APRICOTS IN BRANDY.

Take freshly gathered apricots not too ripe; to half their weight of loaf sugar, add as much water as will cover the fruit; boil and skim it: then put in the apricots, and let them remain five or six minutes; take them up without syrup, and lay them on dishes to cool; boil the syrup till reduced one half; when the apricots are cold, put them in bottles, and cover then

with equal quantities of syrup and French brandy. If the apricots be cling-stones, they will require more scalding.

PEACHES IN BRANDY.

Get yellow soft peaches, perfectly free from defect and newly gathered, but not too ripe; place them in a pot, and cover them with cold weak lye; turn over those that float frequently, that the lye may act equally on them; at the end of an hour take them out, wipe them carefully with a soft cloth to get off the down and skin, and lay them in cold water; make a syrup as for the apricots, and proceed in the same manner, only scald the peaches more.

CHERRIES IN BRANDY.

Get the short stemmed bright red cherries in bunches—make a syrup, with equal quantities of sugar and cherries; scald the cherries, but do not let the skins crack, which they will do if the fruit be too ripe.

MAGNUM BONUM PLUMS IN BRANDY. Select those that are free from blemish—make a syrup with half their weight of sugar, and preserve them in the same manner directed for apricots—green gages. The large amber, and the blue plums, are also excellent, done in the same way.

PICKLING.

LEMON PICKLE.

Grate the yellow rind from two dozen fine fresh

lemons, quarter them, but leave them whole at the

bottom; sprinkle salt on them, and put them in the sun every day until dry; then brush off the salt, put them in a pot with one ounce of nutmegs, and one of mace pounded; a large handful of horse radish scraped and dried, two dozen cloves of garlic, and a pint of mustard seed; pour on one gallon of strong vinegar, tie the pot close, put a board on, and let it stand three months—strain it, and when perfectly clear, bottle it.

TOMATO CATSUP.

Gather a peck of tomatos, pick out the stems, and wash them; put them on the fire without water, sprinkle on a few spoonsful of salt, let them boil steadily an hour, stirring them frequently; strain them through a colander, and then through a sieve; put the liquid on the fire with half a pint of chopped onions, half a quarter of an ounce of mace broke into small pieces; and if not sufficiently salt, add a little more—one table-spoonful of whole black pepper; boil all together until just enough to fill two bottles; cork it tight. Make it in August, in dry weather.

TOMATO MARMALADE.

Gather full grown tomatos while quite green; take out the stems, and stew them till soft; rub them through a sieve, put the pulp on the fire seasoned highly with pepper, salt, and pounded cloves; add some garlic, and stew all together till thick: it keeps well, and is excellent for seasoning gravies, &c. &c.

TOMATO SWEET MARMALADE.

Prepare it in the same manner, mix some loaf sugar with the pulp, and stew until it is a stiff jelly.

TOMATO SOY.

Take a bushel of full ripe tomatos, cut them in slices without skinning—sprinkle the bottom of a large tub with salt, strew in the tomatos, and over each layer of about two inches thick, sprinkle half a pint of salt, and three onions sliced without taking off the skins.

When the bushel of tomatos is thus prepared, let them remain for three days, then put them into a large iron pot, in which they must boil from early in the morning till night, constantly stirring to prevent their sticking and mashing them.

The next morning, pass the mixture through a sieve, pressing it to obtain all the liquor you can; and add to it one ounce of cloves, quarter of a pound of allspice, quarter of a pound of whole black pepper, and a small wine glass of Cayenne; let it boil slowly and constantly during the whole of the day—in the evening, put it into a suitable vessel to cool; and the day after, bottle and cork it well: place it in a cool situation during warm weather, and it will keep for many years, provided it has been boiled very slowly and sufficiently in the preparation. Should it ferment it must be boiled a second time.

PEPPER VINEGAR.

Get one dozen pods of pepper when ripe, take out the stems, and cut them in two; put them in a kettle with three pints of vinegar, boil it away to one quart, and strain it through a sieve. A little of this is excellent in gravy of every kind, and gives a flavour greatly superior to black pepper; it is also very fine when added to each of the various catsups for fish sauce.