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Plums, Preserved Dry

Divide them, take out the stones, and put the plums into a syrup made with half the weight of the fruit in sugar boiled with as much water as will dissolve it. Keep the plums covered with the syrup, and let them simmer very gently until they are tender without losing their shape. Lift the pan off the fire, and let the fruit stand in the syrup until the next day. Strain the syrup, boil it up with more sugar, so that there may be an equal weight of sugar and fruit, and let it boil almost to candy. Pour it out, and let it get cold. Put it back into the pan with the fruit. Let it simmer gently for a few minutes until the plums are quite soft. Let them remain in the syrup for three days, drain them, and spread them singly on dishes to dry. Time, five days. Or, put the plums whole into a syrup made with their weight in sugar and as much water as will dissolve the sugar. Let them boil gently for about twenty minutes, then let them remain in the syrup until the juice flows freely, and boil them a second time. Lift out the plums carefully, one by one, put them into deep jars, and pour the syrup over them. Leave them until the next day, drain them, and spread them singly on dishes to dry. Or, take plums which are fully grown but not ripe; prick them, put them into a pan of cold water, and let them remain until it is on the point of boiling. Let them cool, and drain them in a sieve. Take as many pounds of sugar as there are of fruit, and boil it to a strong syrup with as much water as will dissolve it. Put the plums in, and boil them gently for twenty minutes. The next day boil them again until the sugar is ready to candy. Pour the plums into deep jars, and let them stand all night in a cool oven. Let them get cold, then lift them out, and spread them singly on dishes to dry.