There should also be a large
chafing-dish with long legs, for the convenience of moving it to any
part of the room. The process is a tedious one; and if the
superintendent be not comfortably situated, the preserves cannot be
properly managed. A ladle the size of a saucer, pierced and having a
long handle, will be necessary for taking up the fruit without syrup.
When a chafing-dish cannot be procured, the best substitute is a brick
stove, with a grating, to burn charcoal. The sugar should be the best
double refined; but if the pure amber coloured sugar house syrup from
the West Indies can be got, it is greatly superior; it never ferments,
and the trouble is very much lessened by having ready made syrup, in
which it is only necessary to boil the fruit till clear. All delicate
fruit should be done gently, and not allowed to remain more than half an
hour after it begins to stew, before it is laid on dishes to cool; it
must be put into the syrup again for the same time; continue this until
it is sufficiently transparent. The advantage of this method is that the
preserves are less liable to boil to pieces, than when done all at one
time. It is injudicious to put more in the pan at once, than can lie on
the bottom without crowding. The pan must be made bright, and nothing
permitted to cool in it, lest it should canker.
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