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Pears, Jargonelle, Preserved

Gather the pears before they are soft, weigh them, and pare them as thinly as possible. As the fruit is likely to keep longer if the seeds are removed, scoop these out from the end with a fruit-knife, or with a bodkin. Place the pears in a preserving-pan, cover them with a thin syrup made with half a pound of sugar to each pint of water, and let them simmer gently until they are sufficiently tender to be pierced easily with a needle, but they must not be allowed to break. Turn them into a bowl, pour the syrup over them, and leave them to soak for two days. Drain off the syrup, and add to it a further quantity of sugar--so that there will be the same weight of sugar that there was of fruit in the first instance--together with half an ounce of whole ginger and the juice and thinly-pared rind of a lemon to each quart of syrup. Boil for ten minutes, and skim carefully. Put in the pears, and let them simmer gently until they look clear. When they are done enough they may either be drained from the syrup, and dried in the sun or in a gentle oven, or they may be kept in the syrup, and dried or not as they are wanted. Probable cost of pears, 2d. each.