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Quinces, Preserved Whole

Pare some ripe quinces, and scoop out the cores without opening the fruit. Put them into boiling water, and let them simmer gently until they are tender without being broken. Drain them, put them aside to cool, and boil the liquor with a pound of sugar for every pound of fruit; pour it over the quinces, and let them remain until the next day. Add to the syrup as much apple jelly as will cover the fruit. Dissolve it with the syrup, and put the quinces into it. Let them boil quickly until they look clear, then put them into glasses. Put a small portion of the liquor upon a plate, and if it will jelly when cold, it is ready for pouring over the fruit; if not, it must be boiled until it will do so. If no apple jelly is at hand, it may be made as follows. Take some fine golden pippins or small crab apples, rub them with a soft cloth, and put them, without paring them, into a preserving-pan, with as much water as will barely cover them. Let them simmer gently until the fruit is quite soft. Strain the juice through a jelly-bag, two or three times if necessary, until it is quite clear, and boil it, with a pound of sugar for every pint of liquor, until it will jelly when a little is put upon a plate; it is then ready for use. If liked, quince-juice may be used instead of apple jelly to cover the fruit. To make this, cut up some small quinces without coring or paring them, and boil them in as much water as will cover them until the liquor is strongly flavoured with them. Strain the juice, and boil it, with a pound of sugar to each pint, until it will jelly. If when the quinces are being boiled in the jelly they seem likely to break, they must be lifted one by one carefully out of the syrup, put into a jar, and the syrup poured over them, then boiled again the next day. Time, two or three days.