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Apples Stewed in Whiskey
Pare and core, without dividing, 2 pounds of sweet apples. Place them in a saucepan with 2 glasses of whiskey, a pound and a half of sugar, a little whole ginger, the rind and juice of 2 lemons, and an inch of cinnamon. Simmer very gently for two hours. Take the scum off as it rises, and turn the apples every now and then. When the apples are clear, take them off carefully, place them in the jars in which they are to be kept, boil the liquid a few minutes, and pour it over them. This is a very nice dessert dish. If tied down closely, the fruit will keep twelve months.
A candied-apple preserve rather than a stewed compote: the whole pared apples poach for hours in a heavy whiskey syrup until they turn translucent. Two things need attention before starting — the vague liquid measure and the promise that the jars will keep for a year.
- "2 glasses of whiskey"Genuinely ambiguous. A period wine glass was usually reckoned at around 2 fl oz, though tumblers of several times that were also called glasses, so two glasses could mean anything from about 1/2 cup to well over a cup. Start with about 1 cup and add water or more spirit if the apples are not nearly covered.
- Sugar quantityA pound and a half is about 3 1/2 cups. That is a heavy syrup by design — it is what makes the fruit clear and glossy rather than mushy — so cutting it sharply will change the texture, not just the sweetness.
- Choose a firm apple"Sweet apples" meant a low-acid dessert variety. Golden Delicious, Gala or Braeburn hold their shape; McIntosh and other soft, quick-breaking varieties will collapse long before two hours. Pare thinly and core with an apple corer so each fruit stays whole.
- Whole gingerA knob of dried root ginger, bruised, or a thumb of fresh peeled ginger in one piece. Ground ginger will cloud the syrup and cannot be fished out.
- Heat and timing"Simmer very gently" means bare movement at the surface, around 180-190F, on the lowest burner setting with a heat diffuser if you have one. Two hours suits dense old varieties; check at 45 minutes and stop when the apples look translucent to the centre, however early that is.
- Turning and skimmingThe apples float, so the exposed tops will stay pale unless you roll them every 15 minutes. Skim the greyish foam that rises in the first half hour or the finished syrup will look muddy.
- Reducing the syrupBoiling the liquid "a few minutes" after lifting out the fruit thickens it to a light honey consistency. It sets much firmer once cold, so err on the loose side.
- Ignore the twelve-month claimPaper tied over a jar was the period's idea of a seal. Sugar and spirit slow spoilage but do not make this shelf-stable, and there is no heat processing here. Treat it as a refrigerator preserve: cool, cover, chill, and eat within a week or two. For anything intended for the pantry, follow a current tested canning recipe.
- Yield and servingTwo pounds of apples gives roughly four to six whole fruit — one each, with a spoonful of syrup, cold or barely warm. Cream or a plain custard offsets the sweetness.