The Indian Cookery Book by - (good fiction books to read txt) 📕

>hard and snaps, the fruit to be preserved must be instantly put in and

boiled.

 

366.—Capillaire

 

To a quart of water add three pounds of lump sugar, one pound of soft

sugar, and the whites and yolks of two eggs well beaten up; boil it

gently, and skim well; on the scum ceasing to rise, remove the pan

from the fire, add two ounces of the best orange-flower water, and

strain through flannel.

 

367.—Ceylon Moss, Seaweed, and Iceland Moss Preserves

 

Steep the moss or weed for two or three days in fresh water, changing

the water two or three times a day; wash it well once before boiling

it; to every seer or two pounds of the weed add a wineglassful of the

best vinegar; allow it to simmer over a gentle fire until it thickens,

so as to congeal on a glass; then strain the moss or weed through a

towel, pour the liquid into clarified sugar or syrup, and boil them

together for half an hour; pour the jelly into large wide dishes, and

when quite cold cut it into cakes. If desired, the jelly may be

coloured or tinted with cochineal.

 

368.—Guava Jelly

 

Select ripe guavas, and as they are peeled and quartered throw them

into a large bowl of fresh clean water; then boil them in as much

other clean water as will only cover the fruit, and when perfectly

tender, so as to dissolve to the touch, strain through a fine sieve or

towel without breaking or pressing the fruit, and allow it to drip

through for twelve to eighteen or twenty-four hours if necessary. Put

the juice on the fire again without a cover to the preserving-pan;

boil and skim well; add gradually good clean sugar to your taste; when

nearly done, add lime-juice in the proportion of ten large juicy limes

to every hundred guavas; after it has boiled until no more scum rises,

and the jelly is quite clear, pour it while the jelly is warm into

glass or stone jars, and cork them down when quite cold. A hundred

guavas will give two to two and a half jars of jelly, and will take

from two to two and a half hours’ cooking or boiling.

 

369.—Guava Cheese

 

After all the water or juice has drained from the guavas boiled for

jelly, pass the fruit or pulp through a sieve, rejecting the seeds;

add lime-juice and sugar to taste, and boil over a slow fire to a

consistency stiff enough for it to remain unmoved in a spoon; rub a

little butter in a mould, fill it with the cheese while hot, and place

it in a heat, or in an expiring oven, to dry; the colour may be

improved with the aid of cochineal.

 

370.—Mango Jelly

 

Peel and stone a hundred green mangoes, and cut each into four,

throwing them as they are ready into a solution of weak lime-water,

strained of all sediment. When all have been peeled and stoned, remove

them into a large vessel, pour in as much cold water as will entirely

cover them, and boil them until they are quite dissolved; then

carefully strain the liquid without pressing the fruit, and let it

drip all night. Boil the juice again in an open preserving-pan, and

cut away the scum as it rises; then add gradually good clean white

sugar until it is sweetened to taste; continue to boil steadily until

the scum has ceased to rise, and the jelly is quite clear and

transparent; allow some of it to drop on a plate and cool; if it

congeals, remove the pan and fill the bottles while the jelly is

slightly warm, and cork down when quite cold.

 

371.—Mango Marmalade

 

Pass through a sieve the pulp of the mangoes which had been boiled for

jelly; add plenty of clean white sugar, without quite destroying the

acidity of the fruit; boil it over a slow fire until it acquires the

thickness of guava cheese, and bottle while it is yet warm.

 

N.B.—This marmalade is will adapted for rolly-polly puddings, tarts,

mango fool, and the preparation of sauces for boiled goose, ducks, &c.

 

372.—Green Mango Preserve

 

Select mangoes slightly under the middling size, taking care that they

are not bruised or injured in any way. Steep them in clean water;

grate the outer coat, or peel very finely, so as to remove thoroughly

a fine coat of green from the surface; cut them sufficiently

lengthways to extract the stones, and then throw them into lime-water.

Remove them into a copper preserving-pan with clean water, and parboil

them, skimming them well; throw them into a sieve, and allow all the

water to drain away; have a large quantity of good syrup prepared,

allowing two pounds of sugar to every twenty-five mangoes; throw the

mangoes into the syrup, and allow them to simmer; cut away the scum

until the sugar inclines to crystallize; then remove the pan from the

fire, and put the preserve into wide-mouthed bottles; before corking

them down, it will be necessary to examine the syrup every two or

three days, and if it be found that it is becoming thin, it will have

to be reboiled; just as the boiling is about to be finished, the

mangoes ought to be put into it to warm up; this precaution must be

taken every time the syrup has been reboiled, until there is no

further appearance of fermentation; the bottles may then be securely

corked down, and the preserve will keep good for years.

 

373.—Another Way

 

Peel and stone good middling-sized green mangoes, and steep them in

lime-water; parboil them in fresh water, and then in syrup until it

thickens; put them into bottles, and examine them daily; if any signs

of fermentation appear, reboil the syrup, and put in the fruit at the

end of the boiling; the reboiling to be continued until the syrup has

ceased to ferment.

 

The difference between this and the foregoing preserve is only in

appearance: the former will be of a greenish tint, and the latter of a

rich light brown.

 

N.B.—Care must be taken to have plenty of syrup at the starting, so

that at the end of the two or three reboilings there may be enough

left to cover the fruit.

 

374.—Pine-apple Preserve

 

Take care that the pines are not green, nor yet quite ripe; remove the

peel, cutting it deeply, and then all the seeds and eyes; cut each

pine into six slices, lay them in a preserving-pan, and sprinkle over

each layer a good quantity of sugar, a few sticks of cinnamon, and a

few bay-leaves, covering the uppermost layer with a larger quantity of

sugar; allow them to simmer over a tolerably brisk fire until the

sugar has all melted; then reduce the fire, and continue to simmer

until the pines have quite changed colour and become tender; remove

them out of the syrup into a colander, and allow them to drain, but

continue to boil the syrup with all that drops from the fruit until it

has thickened; then return the fruit into the syrup and finish the

boiling. Bottle when quite cool, but before corking them for good,

ascertain the state of the syrup every two or three days; if it shows

signs of fermentation, remove it from the fruit and reboil it; this

operation must be continued until the syrup has ceased to ferment; the

fruit is not to be reboiled, but only returned into the syrup when

the boiling is about to be finished.

 

375.—Another Way

 

Finish the preserve by boiling the sliced pines and sugar together

until the fruit has become of quite a dark colour, and the syrup so

thick that it is not likely to ferment. There is, however, the

objection to this method that the fruit becomes more or less leathery,

and is not mellow like that preserved according to the foregoing

recipe.

 

376.—Peach Preserve

 

Clean the peaches, slit them with a silver or plated knife, and remove

the stones; have a very strong syrup ready, and while it is boiling

hot throw in the peaches, and let them stand over a slow fire for six

to eight hours; then remove them from the fire, and twelve hours after

drain off the syrup and reboil it; return the fruit into the syrup,

and if it shows any disposition to ferment, boil it again; when

satisfied it will not ferment any more, add a little brandy, say a

wineglassful to every fifty peaches, and boil the whole over a slow

fire for two hours. Bottle when quite cold. The kernels from the

stones may be put in if desired.

 

377.—Another Way

 

Clean the peaches, and put them with the stones into a preserving-pan

with sufficient water to cover them; allow them to simmer until quite

tender, cutting away the scum, and then spread them on a dish to cool.

Make a syrup, allowing three-quarters of a pound of sugar to every

pound of fruit, and while it is boiling hot put in the peaches, and

boil them gently until the syrup is quite thick. Two days after drain

off the syrup and reboil it, returning the fruit into it while hot; if

at the end of twenty-four or thirty-six hours it has become thin

again, it must be reboiled; a little brandy should be added finally.

 

N.B.—If the peaches are boiled in two waters, the first may be thrown

away, but the second, in which the peaches should be boiled a longer

time, may be taken for making the syrup.

 

378.—Pulwal Preserve

 

Take two seers or four pounds of large full-grown pulwals without any

decay; peel, slit, remove the seeds, and throw them into cold water;

wash them thoroughly, and parboil them in clean water; then put them

in a colander, and set them aside to cool. Prepare a good strong syrup

of half a seer of sugar and a quarter of a seer or half a pound of

green ginger well bruised; throw the pulwals in, and allow them to

simmer until the syrup thickens. They should be removed immediately

the colour becomes quite brown, but the syrup must be kept boiling

till it has acquired the proper consistency; return the pulwals into

the syrup, and, if necessary, reboil it two or three days after, if it

appears to have become thin, or inclined to ferment.

 

379.—Another Way

 

Take two seers or four pounds of good large fresh pulwals; thoroughly

grate the outer surface, half slit them, remove the seeds, and throw

them into water; parboil them in clean water, remove them into a

colander, and allow them to drain and dry; then stuff each pulwal with

some bruised green ginger, tie or bind them with fine cotton, put them

into a strong syrup made of half a seer of sugar, and allow them to

simmer until they change colour; remove them, and continue to boil the

syrup until it thickens; then return them into the syrup, and in two

or three days reboil the syrup, if it has become thin, or appears

inclined to ferment.

 

380.—Candied Pulwal

 

The same process is observed as directed for pulwal preserve, the

chief difference being that hot or boiling clarified sugar or syrup

must be used, and the preserve exposed to the sun, spread out on fresh

oiled paper, to dry.

 

381.—Tipparee (commonly called Gooseberry) Preserve

 

Shell or remove the pods of the tipparees, and wipe away all dust;

prick each with a bamboo or other wooden pin, and put them into a

preserving-pan; strew some sugar over each layer of fruit, making the

final layer of sugar thicker than the others, and simmer the whole

until all the juice has been extracted, and the