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Syrups, Fruit

To have fruit-juices fit for preservation, it is necessary, in the first place, to select fully-ripe and undecayed fruit, and after mashing the fruit it should receive an addition of five to ten per cent. of sugar, and then be left to undergo a slight fermentation. The juice after filtration becomes perfectly clear, and is much improved in flavour and colour. Raspberries, whortleberries, currants, cherries, etc., may be thus treated, but the delicate flavour of the strawberry requires some modification of the process. In this, two pounds of carefully-picked strawberries--the wild strawberry of the wood is the best--are put into a glass jar with two and a half pound of white powdered sugar, and occasionally shaken. The sugar extracts the juice, and the berries shrivel to a dry pulp, and after filtering the syrup is ready for use. Heating must be carefully avoided, as it would at once destroy the fragrance of the fruit. As to cherries, the so-called morella is recommended--and by leaving the cracked stones in the pulp, a flavour like that of bitter almonds will be imparted. In making syrup of the fruit-juices prepared as above indicated, be careful never to make use of any metallic vessels or spoons, and always to take best refined loaf sugar in lumps, five parts of juice to eight parts of sugar constituting a good proportion. The lumps of sugar are moistened with just enough water to cause them to dissolve readily, when the allotted juice is added, and the whole is to be rapidly heated to boiling, which, however, must only be continued for a few minutes. With good sugar no skimming is necessary, and filtering through flannel or other woollen cloth wetted in water containing a few drops of sulphuric acid, and well wrung, will make the syrup perfectly clear. It is best to fill the preserve jar with the syrup when cold, but if it has been done when hot, the vessel must be filled up after cooling, as the vapour condenses on the portion of the vessel left empty, and, running down, dilutes the upper portion of the syrup, and thus makes it more liable to spoil.

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