The Book of Household Management Part 194

I.

1566. INGREDIENTS.--Equal weight of fine loaf sugar and Seville oranges; to 12 oranges allow 1 pint of water.

_Mode_.--Let there be an equal weight of loaf sugar and Seville oranges, and allow the above proportion of water to every dozen oranges. Peel them carefully, remove a little of the white pith, and boil the rinds in water 2 hours, changing the water three times to take off a little of the bitter taste. Break the pulp into small pieces, take out all the pips, and cut the boiled rind into chips. Make a syrup with the sugar and water; boil this well, skim it, and, when clear, put in the pulp and chips. Boil all together from 20 minutes to 1/2 hour; pour it into pots, and, when cold, cover down with bladders or tissue-paper brushed over on both sides with the white of an egg. The juice and grated rind of 2 lemons to every dozen of oranges, added with the pulp and chips to the syrup, are a very great improvement to this marmalade.

_Time_.--2 hours to boil the orange-rinds; 10 minutes to boil the syrup; 20 minutes to 1/2 hour to boil the marmalade.

_Average cost_, from 6d. to 8d. per lb. pot.

_Seasonable_.--This should be made in March or April, as Seville oranges are then in perfection.

II.

1567. INGREDIENTS.--Equal weight of Seville oranges and sugar; to every lb. of sugar allow 1/2 pint of water.

_Mode_.--Weigh the sugar and oranges, score the skin across, and take it off in quarters. Boil these quarters in a muslin bag in water until they are quite soft, and they can be pierced easily with the head of a pin; then cut them into chips about 1 inch long, and as thin as possible.

Should there be a great deal of white stringy pulp, remove it before cutting the rind into chips. Split open the oranges, sc.r.a.pe out the best part of the pulp, with the juice, rejecting the white pith and pips.

Make a syrup with the sugar and water; boil it until clear; then put in the chips, pulp, and juice, and boil the marmalade from 20 minutes to 1/2 hour, removing all the sc.u.m as it rises. In boiling the syrup, clear it carefully from sc.u.m before the oranges are added to it.

_Time_.--2 hours to boil the rinds, 10 minutes the syrup, 20 minutes to 1/2 hour the marmalade.

_Average cost_, 6d. to 8d. per lb. pot.

_Seasonable_.--Make this in March or April, when Seville oranges are in perfection.

AN EASY WAY OF MAKING ORANGE MARMALADE.

1568. INGREDIENTS.--To every lb. of pulp allow 1-1/2 lb. of loaf sugar.

_Mode_.--Choose some fine Seville oranges; put them whole into a stewpan with sufficient water to cover them, and stew them until they become perfectly tender, changing the water 2 or 3 times; drain them, take off the rind, remove the pips from the pulp, weigh it, and to every lb.

allow 1-1/2 of loaf sugar and 1/2 pint of the water the oranges were last boiled in. Boil the sugar and water together for 10 minutes; put in the pulp, boil for another 10 minutes; then add the peel cut into strips, and boil the marmalade for another 10 minutes, which completes the process. Pour it into jars; let it cool; then cover down with bladders, or tissue-paper brushed over on both sides with the white of an egg.

_Time_.--2 hours to boil the oranges; altogether 1/2 hour to boil the marmalade.

_Average cost_, from 6d. to 8d. per lb. pot.

_Seasonable_--Make this in March or April.

ORANGE MARMALADE MADE WITH HONEY.

1569. INGREDIENTS.--To 1 quart of the juice and pulp of Seville oranges allow 2 lbs. of honey, 1 lb. of the rind.

_Mode_.--Peel the oranges and boil the rind in water until tender, and cut it into strips. Take away the pips from the juice and pulp, and put it with the honey and chips into a preserving-pan; boil all together for about 1/2 hour, or until the marmalade is of the proper consistency; put it into pots, and, when cold, cover down with bladders.

_Time_.--2 hours to boil the rind, 1/2 hour the marmalade.

_Average cost_, from 7d. to 9d. per lb. pot.

_Seasonable_.--Make this in March or April.

TO PRESERVE ORANGES.

1570. INGREDIENTS.--Oranges; to every lb. of juice and pulp allow 2 lbs.

of loaf sugar; to every pint of water 1/2 lb. of loaf sugar.

_Mode_.--Wholly grate or peel the oranges, taking off only the thin outside portion of the rind. Make a small incision where the stalk is taken out, squeeze out as much of the juice as can be obtained, and preserve it in a basin with the pulp that accompanies it. Put the oranges into cold water; let them stand for 3 days, changing the water twice; then boil them in fresh water till they are very tender, and put them to drain. Make a syrup with the above proportion of sugar and water, sufficient to cover the oranges; let them stand in it for 2 or 3 days; then drain them well. Weigh the juice and pulp, allow double their weight of sugar, and boil them together until the sc.u.m ceases to rise, which must all be carefully removed; put in the oranges, boil them for 10 minutes, place them in jars, pour over them the syrup, and, when cold, cover down. They will be fit for use in a week.

_Time_.--3 days for the oranges to remain in water, 3 days in the syrup; 1/2 hour to boil the pulp, 10 minutes the oranges.

_Seasonable_.--This preserve should be made in February or March, when oranges are plentiful.

ORANGE SALAD.

1571. INGREDIENTS.--6 oranges, 1/4 lb. of muscatel raisins, 2 oz. of pounded sugar, 4 tablespoonfuls of brandy.

_Mode_.--Peel 5 of the oranges; divide them into slices without breaking the pulp, and arrange them on a gla.s.s dish. Stone the raisins, mix them with the sugar and brandy, and mingle them with the oranges. Squeeze the juice of the other orange over the whole, and the dish is ready for table. A little pounded spice may be put in when the flavour is liked; but this ingredient must be added very sparingly.

_Average cost_, 1s.

_Sufficient_ for 5 or 6 persons.

_Seasonable_ from November to May.

COMPOTE OF PEACHES.

1572. INGREDIENTS.--1 pint of syrup No. 1512, about 15 small peaches.

_Mode_.--Peaches that are not very large, and that would not look well for dessert, answer very nicely for a compote. Divide the peaches, take out the stones, and pare the fruit; make a syrup by recipe No. 1512, put in the peaches, and stew them gently for about 10 minutes. Take them out without breaking, arrange them on a gla.s.s dish, boil the syrup for 2 or 3 minutes, let it cool, pour it over the fruit, and, when cold, it will be ready for table.

_Time_.--10 minutes. _Average cost_, 1s. 2d.

_Sufficient_ for 5 or 6 persons. _Seasonable_ in August and September.

PEACH AND NECTARINE.--The peach and nectarine, which are among the most delicious of our fruits, are considered as varieties of the same species, produced by cultivation. The former is characterized by a very delicate down, while the latter is smooth; but, as a proof of their ident.i.ty as to species, trees have borne peaches on one part and nectarines on another; and even a single fruit has had down on one side, and on the other none; the trees are almost exactly alike, as well as the blossoms. Pliny states that the peach was originally brought from Persia, where it grows naturally. At Montreuil, a village near Paris, almost the whole population is employed in the cultivation of peaches; and this occupation has maintained the inhabitants for ages, and, in consequence, they raise better peaches than anywhere else in France. In Maryland and Virginia, peaches grow nearly wild in orchards resembling forests; but the fruit is of little value for the table, being employed only in fattening hogs and for the distillation of peach brandy. On the east side of the Andes, peaches grow wild among the cornfields and in the mountains, and are dried as an article of food. The young leaves of the peach are sometimes used in cookery, from their agreeable flavour; and a liqueur resembling the fine noyeau of Martinique may be made by steeping them in brandy sweetened with sugar and fined with milk: gin may also be flavoured in the same manner. The kernels of the fruit have the same flavour. The nectarine is said to have received its name from nectar, the particular drink of the G.o.ds. Though it is considered as the same species as the peach, it is not known which of the varieties come from the other; the nectarine, is by some considered as the superior fruit.

PEACHES PRESERVED IN BRANDY.

1573. INGREDIENTS.--To every lb. of fruit weighed before being stoned, allow 1/4 lb. of finely-pounded loaf sugar; brandy.

_Mode_.--Let the fruit be gathered in dry weather; wipe and weigh it, and remove the stones as carefully as possible, without injuring the peaches much. Put them into a jar, sprinkle amongst them pounded loaf sugar in the above proportion, and pour brandy over the fruit. Cover the jar down closely, place it in a saucepan of boiling water over the fire, and bring the brandy to the simmering-point, but do not allow it to boil. Take the fruit out carefully, without breaking it; put it into small jars, pour over it the brandy, and, when cold, exclude the air by covering the jars with bladders, or tissue-paper brushed over on both sides with the white of an egg. Apricots may be done in the same manner, and, if properly prepared, will be found delicious.

_Time_.--From 10 to 20 minutes to bring the brandy to the simmering-point.