A Queens Delight | Page 8

put in your Oranges, and make them seethe as fast as you can, now and then putting in a piece of fine loaf Sugar the bigness of a Walnut, when they have boiled near an hour, put into them a pint of Apple water; then boil them apace, and add half a pint of white Wine, this should be put in before the Apple-water, when your Oranges are very clear, & your Syrup is so thick that it will gelly, (which you may know by setting some to cool in a spoon) when they are ready to be taken off from the fire; then put in the juyce of eight Lemons warm into them, then put them into an earthen pan, and so let them stand till they be cold, then put every Orange in a several glass or pot; if you do but six Oranges at a time it is the better.
To preserve green Plums.
The greatest Wheaten Plum is the best, which will be ripe in the midst of July, gather them about that time, or later, as they grow in bigness, but you must not suffer them to turn yellow, for then they never be of good colour; being gathered, lay them in water for the space of twelve hours, and when you gather them, wipe them with a clean linnen cloth, and cut off a little of the stalks of every one, then set two skillets of water on the fire, and when one is scalding hot put in your Plums, and take them from the fire, and cover them, and let them rest for the space of a quarter of an hour; then take them up, and when your other skillet of water doth boil, put them into it; let them but stay in it a very little while, and so let the other skillet of water, wherein they were first boiled, be set to the fire again, and make it to boil, and put in your Plums as before, and then you shall see them rivet over, and yet your Plums very whole; then while they be hot, you must with your knife scrape away the riveting; then take to every pound of Plums a pound and two ounces of Sugar finely beaten, then set a pan with a little fair water on the fire, and when it boils, put in your Plums, and let them settle half a quarter of an hour till you see the colour wax green, then set them off the fire a quarter of an hour, and take a handful of Sugar that is weighed, and strow it in the bottom of the pan wherein you will preserve, and so put in your Plums one by one, drawing the liquor from them, and cast the rest of your Sugar on them; then set the pan on a moderate fire, letting them boil continually but very softly, and in three quarters of an hour they will be ready, as you may perceive by the greenness of your Plums, and thickness of your syrup, which if they be boiled enough, will gelly when it is cold; then take up your Plums, and put them into a Gallipot, but boil your Syrup a little longer, then strain it into some vessel, and being blood-warm, pour it upon your plums, but stop not the pot before they be cold. Note also you must preserve them in such a pan, as they may lye one by another, and turn of themselves; and when they have been five or six days in the syrup, that the syrup grow thin, you may boil it again with a little Sugar, but put it not to your Plums till they be cold. They must have three scaldings, and one boiling.
To dry Plums.
Take three quarters of a pound of Sugar to a pound of black Pear-plums, or Damsins, slit the Plums in the crest, lay a lay of Sugar with a lay of Plums, and let them stand all night; if you stone the Plums, fill up the place with sugar, then boil them gently till they be very tender, without breaking the skins, take them into an earthen or silver dish, and boil your syrup afterwards for a gelly, then pour it on your Plums scalding hot, and let them stand two or three dayes, then let them be put to the Oven after you draw your bread, so often untill your syrup be dryed up, and when you think they are almost dry, lay them in a sieve, and pour some scalding water on them, which will run through the sieve, and set them in an Oven afterwards to dry.
_To preserve Cherries the best way, bigger than they grow naturally, &c._
Take a pound of the smallest Cherries, and