This section is from the book "Cook Book", by The Ladies of the Church of the Good Shepherd.
Prepare the fruit with care. Make a syrup. "Allow a little more than half a pound to a quart can of fruit. For every two pounds of sugar allow one pint of water, let it dissolve, come to a boil and skim. Fill the cans full of fruit and pqur the boiling syrup over it and put on the tops, and screw them tight. Take a large earthen jar or a tiu boiler, put a cloth on the bottom and set the cans in. They must not touch each other. Fill the jar or boiler with boiling water up to the covers, cover the jar closely with a cloth and earthen cover to keep in the steam. Leave in the jar until next day. Remove from the jar and screw down the cover again.
Plums or any meaty fruit will require twice filling of the jars with boiling water.
Two one pound of berries use three-fourths of a pound of sugar, in layers (no water). Place in a kettle on back of the stove until the sugar is dissolved into syrup, then let come to a boil, stirring from the bottom. Spread on platters, not too thickly, and set out in the hot sun till the syrup thickens —it may take two or three days. Keep in tumblers or bowls like jelly. Strawberries done in this way retain their color and flavor.
Rich, old-fashioned fruit preserves can only be made by using a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. The fruit should be prepared carefully before it is weighed. Have a shallow porcelain preserving-kettle, and in it place the sugar, which should be of the very best quality; add water enough to dissolve, and boil until a clear syrup is formed; then add the fruit and boil slowly for three or four hours. When preparing strawberries or raspberries put the fruit on sugar over night, and place in the preserving-kettle in the morning. Enough juice will be obtained from the berries to cook them in without the addition of water. Fruit preserved in this way, placed in jars, carefully covered with paper, and fastened so that the air may be completely excluded, will keep for a very long time. The jars should not be covered until the preserves are cool.
Peel the ripe pears, divide them in half, core and remove the flower and stem and drop them in cold water. Make a thick syrup, allowing one pint of cold water to every two pounds of sugar, two ounces of sliced ginger-root and the juice of half a lemon. Beat up the white of an egg with the shell and stir in the Syrup before it is put on the stove. Put the syrup on the stove and let it come to the boiling point by degrees, stirring it often. As soon as it boils, cover it and set it back where it will continue to boil very slowly. At the end of three-quarters of an hour, remove the cover and skim off the thick white scum which covers the syrup. You will skim out the slices of ginger also. Rinse them off in clear warm water and return to the syrup. Cook the pears in the syrup until they are tender, cooking a few at a time. When they are all cooked pour the syrup over them. There will be enough to cover them if you allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar to every pound of pears.
Put the peaches in boiling water for a few minutes, when the skin will peel off easily. Make a syrup of half a pound of sugar and half a teacup of water for each pound of peaches. Skim as the scum rises in boiling, then put in the peaches and boil them gently until tender—no longer. Take them out carefully and fill your cans or jars. Remove the syrup from the fire, and add to it half a pint of best brandy to every pound of peaches. First proof alcohol can be used in place of brandy.
To one pound of fruit take one pound of sugar. Put the fruit and sugar in alternate layers in an earthen jar and let stand over night. In the morning put in preserving kettle and let it come to a boil; remove the fruit to the cans, boil the sj-rup a few minutes, turn over the fruit and seal the jars. Cousin Ann's.