Part 137 (1/2)

Another Way.--Plums for common use are very good done in treacle. Put your plums into an earthen vessel that holds a gallon, having first slit each plum with a knife. To three quarts of plums put a pint of treacle. Cover them over, and set them on hot coals in the chimney corner. Let them stew for twelve hours or more, occasionally stirring, and next day put them up in jars. Done in this manner, they will keep till the next spring.

1640. To Preserve Lemons, Whole, for Dessert.

Take six fine, fresh, well-shaped lemons, cut a hole just round the stalk, and with a marrow-spoon scoop out the pips, and press out the juice, but leave the pulp in the lemons. Put them into a bowl with two or three quarts of spring water, to steep out the bitterness. Leave them three days, changing the water each day; or only two days if you wish them to be very bitter. Strain the juice as soon as squeezed out, boil it with one pound of loaf sugar (setting the jar into which it was strained in a pan of boiling water fifteen or twenty minutes); tie it up, _quite hot_, with bladder, and set by till wanted. Taste the water the lemons are lying in at the end of the third day; if not bitter, lift the lemons out into a china-lined pan, pour the water through a strainer upon them, boil gently one or two hours; set by in a pan. Boil again next day, until so tender that the head of a large needle will easily pierce the rind. Put in one pound of loaf sugar, make it just boil, and leave to cool. Next day boil the syrup, and pour it on the lemons; add one pound of sugar, and hot water to supply what was boiled away. Lift out the lemons, and boil the syrup and pour on them again every day for a fortnight, then every three or four days, adding gradually three pounds of sugar. When the lemons look clear and bright, boil the syrup pretty hard, add the lemon juice which had been set by, just boil, skim; put the lemons into jars, pour the syrup upon them, and tie up the jars _instantly_ with bladder.

[VICE CHEATS ITS VOTARIES.]

1641. Preserved Ginger.

Scald the young roots till they become tender, peel them, and place in cold water, frequently changing the water: then put into a thin syrup, and, in a few days, put into jars, and pour a rich syrup over them.

1642. To Preserve Eggs (1).

It has been long known to housewives, that the great secret of preserving eggs fresh is to place the small end downwards, and keep it in that position--other requisites not being neglected, such as to have the eggs perfectly fresh when deposited for keeping, not allowing them to become wet, keeping them cool in warm weather, and avoiding freezing in winter. Take an inch board of convenient size, say a foot wide, and two and a half feet long, and bore it full of holes, each about an inch and a half in diameter; a board of this size may have five dozen holes bored in it, for as many eggs. Then nail strips of thin board two inches wide round the edges to serve as a ledge. Boards such as this may now be made to const.i.tute the shelves of a cupboard in a cool cellar. The only precaution necessary is to place the eggs as fast as they are laid in these holes, with the small end downwards, and they will keep for months perfectly fresh. The great advantage of this plan is the perfect ease with which the fresh eggs are packed away, and again obtained when wanted. A carpenter would make such a board for a trifling charge.

1643. Preserving Eggs (2).

Another Method.--The several modes recommended for preserving eggs any length of time are not always successful. The egg, to be preserved well, should be kept at a temperature so low that the air and fluids within its sh.e.l.l shall not be brought into a decomposing condition; and, at the same time, the air outside of its sh.e.l.l should be excluded, in order to prevent its action in any way upon the egg.

1644. Preserving Eggs, (3) Mixture for.

The following mixture for preserving eggs was patented several years ago by Mr. Jayne, of Sheffield. He alleged that by means of it he could keep eggs two years. A part of his composition is often made use of--perhaps the whole of it would be better. Put into a tub or vessel one bushel of quicklime, two pounds of salt, half a pound of cream of tartar, and mix the same together, with as much water as will reduce the composition, or mixture, to that consistence that it will cause an egg put into it to swim with its top just above the liquid; then place the eggs therein.

1645. Preserving Eggs (4).

Eggs may be preserved by applying with a brush a solution of gum arabic to the sh.e.l.ls, and afterwards packing them in dry charcoal dust.

1646. Improving Bad b.u.t.ter.

Bad b.u.t.ter may be improved greatly by dissolving it in thoroughly hot water; let it cool, then skim it off, and churn again, adding a little good salt and sugar. A small portion can be tried and approved before doing a larger quant.i.ty. The water should be merely hot enough to melt the b.u.t.ter, or it will become oily.

1647. Rancid b.u.t.ter.

This may be restored by melting it in a water bath, with some coa.r.s.ely powdered animal charcoal, which has been thoroughly sifted from dust, and strained through flannel.

1648. Salt b.u.t.ter.

Salt b.u.t.ter may be freshened by churning it with new milk, in the proportion of a pound of b.u.t.ter to a quart of milk. Treat the b.u.t.ter in all respects in churning as fresh. Cheap earthenware churns for domestic use may be had at any hardware shop.

1649. To Preserve Milk.