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Preserving and Canning Fruit and Vegetables: Stir

For peaches and ripe pears use 1 quart of sugar and 3 quarts of water to 8 quarts of fruit. Prepare the fruit either whole or in halves as desired. If the latter, remove all the pits except a few in each jar which retain for the sake of their flavor. Stir the sugar into the water over the fire until dissolved and bring slowly to a boil. Skim carefully and let stand where it will remain hot but not boil. Put only a single layer of the prepared fruit in the preserving kettle at a time and cover with some of the hot sirup. Bring slowly to a boil, skim carefully, boil gently for ten minutes, or longer if not fully ripe, can and seal. The fruit is not done until it can be readily pierced with a straw or a silver fork. Unripe or hard pears will require much longer boiling.

For quinces use 1½ quarts of sugar and 2 quarts of water to 4 quarts of fruit. Rub the fruit hard with a coarse crash towel. Then wash and drain. Pare, quarter and core and drop the pieces into cold water acidulated with lemon juice.

Cover the fruit in the preserving kettle with plenty of cold water, bring slowly to a boil and let simmer until tender. Remove the pieces one by one as soon as they can readily be pierced with a silver fork and let drain on a platter. Now strain the water in which the fruit was cooked through cheese cloth and put 2 quarts of the strained liquid over the fire. Stir in the sugar until dissolved, bring slowly to a boil, skim well, add the cooked fruit and boil gently for about twenty minutes. a For crab-apples use 1½ quarts of sugar and 2 quarts of water to 6 quarts of apples. A part of the stem may be left on the fruit if desired, but wash carefully and especially rub well the blossom end. Stir the sugar into the water over the fire until dissolved, bring slowly to a boil, skim, add the fruit and cook gently from twenty to fifty minutes, or until tender, depending upon the kind of fruit.

For plums use 2 quarts of sugar and 1 pint of water to 8 quarts of fruit. Wash and drain the fruit and remove the skins if desired as above suggested. Or if they are left on, prick them thoroughly with a fruit pricker to prevent bursting. Stir the sugar into the water over the fire until dissolved, bring to a boil and carefully skim. Add the fruit in small quantities one or two layers at a time, cook five minutes, can and seal and so continue, adding more sirup from time to time if necessary.

FRUIT PRESERVING While the modern method of canning fruits with small quantities of sugar or none at all is to be preferred in most cases, there are a few fruits which make preserves of such excellent quality that their use may be recommended for special occasions. These are strawberries, sour cherries, sour plums and quinces.

They should be put up preferably in tumblers or small jars.