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Apple Preserves
Take three-quarters of a pound sugar to each pound apples; make a syrup of the sugar and water in which root ginger (bruised and tied in a bag) has been boiled until the strength is well extracted, add a little lemon-juice or sliced lemon, skim off all scum, and boil in the syrup a few apples at a time, until they are transparent, and place in jar. When all are done, boil the syrup until thick, pour, boiling hot, over the apples, and cover closely. Well-flavored fruit, not easily broken in cooking, should be used. The ginger may be omitted if disliked.
A straightforward whole-fruit preserve: apple pieces poached in a ginger-lemon syrup until translucent, then packed and covered with reduced syrup. The book gives ratios rather than a yield, so scale to whatever fruit you have.
- The hinge: cook in small batches"Boil in the syrup a few apples at a time" is the whole technique. Crowding the pan drops the syrup temperature, and the fruit stews and collapses instead of turning clear and firm. Keep the syrup at a steady boil and lift each batch out with a slotted spoon as it goes transparent.
- The ratio in cupsThree-quarters of a pound of sugar per pound of fruit is roughly 1 2/3 to 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar per pound of prepared apples. The recipe gives no quantity for the water; about a cup of the ginger water per pound of sugar is a workable starting point, since you will reduce it hard at the end anyway.
- Which apples"Not easily broken in cooking" rules out McIntosh and most early eating apples. Northern Spy, Granny Smith, Winesap, Braeburn and crab apples hold their shape. Peel, core and cut into thick wedges or leave small fruit whole.
- Root gingerIn books of this period this most likely means whole dried ginger root rather than the fresh rhizome, and certainly not ground. Bruise a knob with the flat of a knife, tie it in cheesecloth, and simmer it in the water until the water tastes strongly of ginger. Fresh ginger will work but gives a brighter, less resinous flavour; you will need noticeably more of it by weight.
- Lemon does real workIt is not only flavour. The added acid helps keep the syrup from crystallising and sharpens the sweetness. The recipe asks only for "a little"; a tablespoon of juice per pound of fruit is a sensible reading.
- Judging the finished syrup"Boil until thick" is judged by eye: the syrup should sheet off a spoon rather than drip. If you prefer a thermometer, the modern jam-set point of around 220F is a reasonable target. Overshoot and it will candy in the jar once cold.
- Filling and sealing"Cover closely" belongs to an era of paper, bladder or wax covers rather than sealed jars. Use standard canning jars, leave 1/4 inch headspace, and either process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes or treat the jars as refrigerator preserves and use them within a couple of months. Do not rely on the hot syrup alone to seal them for the pantry.
Preserves of this kind — whole or large pieces of fruit suspended in a heavy syrup, as distinct from jam or marmalade — were a staple of the nineteenth-century American storeroom. The high proportion of sugar to fruit is not extravagance but preservation: sugar at that concentration binds much of the water spoilage organisms need, which is part of why such recipes were often written with no processing step at all. Dried ginger root appears in earlier English apple and quince preserves as well, ginger being among the cheaper keeping spices; the author's shrug that it "may be omitted if disliked" is in keeping with a book that assumes a cook with judgement rather than one following orders.