There is a receipt for _Preserving Fruit in Water_, that has found its way into many receipt books, which seems to the writer to be a dangerous and useless one, and never should be tried.
It directs that fruit be put in bottles, then water poured in, and then the bottles _corked tight_, and the cork tied. Then the bottles are to be set in a kettle of water, which is to be heated _till it boils_. Of course this must burst the bottles, or throw out the corks.
It is probable that the design of some plan of this sort was to exclude all air from the fruit. This could be done by setting the bottles filled with fruit and water, _uncorked_, in a kettle of water, and making the water boil. Then cork the bottles and seal them, and the water will remain, but all air will be excluded. The writer never has seen a person who has tried this method, and perhaps it may be one in which fruit can be preserved.
_Peach Leather_ is much relished by invalids, and is prepared thus. Squeeze out the pulp of very ripe peaches, and spread it half an inch thick on plates or shingles, and let it dry till quite hard and tough. Then roll it up in layers, with clean paper between.
_Tomato Leather_ can be made in the same way. But the following is the best mode of preserving tomatoes. Pour boiling water on to the ripe tomatoes, and peel them. Boil them till reduced to half the original quantity, throwing in, at first, a tea-cup of sugar and a large spoonful of salt for every gallon. When reduced to one half the quantity, spread it on flat dishes half an inch thick, and dry it eight or ten days in the sun, and air. Then put it in layers, with paper between. In preparing it for table, stew it slowly in a good deal of water, adding bread crumbs and seasoning.
Some persons dry them in a brick oven instead of the sun. A quicker, but not so nice a way, is simply to cut them in two without peeling, and dry them in the oven.
_Tomato Figs_ are prepared thus:--Scald and peel them, and then boil them in one-third the weight of sugar, till they are penetrated by it. Then flatten and dry them in the sun, occasionally turning them and sprinkling with sugar. When dry, pack them in layers, with sugar sprinkled between.