PRESERVED STRAWBERRIES

Weigh the strawberries after you have picked off the stems. To each pound of fruit allow a pound of loaf-sugar, which must be powdered. Strew half of the sugar over the strawberries, and let them stand in a cold place two or three hours. Then put them in a preserving kettle over a slow fire, and by degrees strew on the rest of the sugar. Boil them fifteen or twenty minutes, and skim them well.

Put them in wide-mouthed bottles, and when cold, seal the corks.

If you wish to do them whole, take them carefully out of the syrup, (one at a time) while boiling. Spread them to cool on large dishes, not letting the strawberries touch each other, and when cool, return them to the syrup, and boil them a little longer. Repeat this several times.

Keep the bottles in dry sand, in a place that is cool and not damp.

Gooseberries, currants, raspberries, cherries and grapes may be done in the same manner. The stones must be taken from the cherries (which should be morellas, or the largest and best red cherries;) and the seeds should be extracted from the grapes with the sharp point of a penknife. Gooseberries, grapes, and cherries, require longer boiling than strawberries, raspberries or currants.

PRESERVED CRANBERRIES

Wash your cranberries, weigh them, and to each pound allow a pound of loaf-sugar. Dissolve the sugar in a very little water, (about half a pint of water to a pound of sugar) and set it on the fire in a preserving kettle. Boil it nearly ten minutes, skimming it well. Then put in your cranberries, and boil them slowly, till they are quite soft, and of a fine colour.

Put them warm into your jars or glasses, and tie them up with brandy paper, when cold.

All sorts of sweetmeats keep better in glasses, than in stone of earthen jars. When opened for use, they should be tied up again immediately, as exposure to the air spoils them.

Common glass tumblers are very convenient for jellies, and preserved small fruit. White jars are better than stone or earthen, for large fruit.