1903 The still-room by C. Roundell

PRESERVES

IT is easy to make good jam at home if a few simple rules are followed. Excellent jams can, it is true, be bought, but they are gene- rally too sweet, a large proportion of sugar being used in order to make the jam keep for a considerable time. Rule i. — Use only fresh fruit which has been gathered in dry weather. 2. Allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar to one pound of all fruit, except stone fruit. Stone fruit requires an extra quarter of a pound of sugar. Break the sugar small, but do not pound it ; if the sugar is pounded the syrup will not be clear. Use the best sugar, as the inferior kinds produce much more scum. 3. Never set the preserving-pan flat on the fire. If you do, the fruit will stick to it, and burn. Raise the pan on a trivet a little above the fire, and not exactly over the hottest part. Stir the jam with a wooden spoon all the time that the sugar and fruit are boiling together. An iron spoon ruins both the flavour and the colour of jam. Stir gently

more quickly as the boiling of the jam

at

first,

Skim off all scum as it rises.

proceeds.

• 4. Put the fruit into the preserving-pan, sprinkle in some of the sugar, and as the fruit juices, add 48