4 pints of apples, measured after they are peeled and cut up in bits. 4 pints of sugar. 2 lemons, juice and grated peel. 2 large pieces of preserved ginger (the kind that comes in little pots).
Mix all together and cook till thick; about an hour and a half.
2-1/2 pints of washed and chopped cranberries. 2-1/2 pints of sugar. 2 large oranges. 1 pint (or package) seeded raisins, chopped a little, after washing.
Cut the oranges in halves and take out the pulp with a spoon; then scrape the skins well till they are clean and not very much of the white lining is left; chop the rest. Mix all together and cook till thick.
"These two conserves are so very nice that we do not put them on the table and eat them up any day in the week, but save them for Sunday night supper and other times like that," said Mother Blair; "and sometimes they can go into sandwiches for afternoon tea. Now would you like just a very easy jelly? Here is a nice one."
Wash twenty red apples that are not very sweet; cut them up in small pieces without peeling them or taking out the cores. Put them in a kettle and just cover them with water; cook slowly till it is all like soft apple-sauce. Then put it in a bag--a flour sack is the best--tie up the top, and hang the bag up over night with a large bowl underneath to catch the juice. In the morning measure this. Mix
Put on the fire and boil gently twenty minutes, skimming it occasionally; lift off the saucepan and drop into the jelly one large lemon, cut up in quarters, squeezing them a little; then put a small wire strainer over each jelly-glass in turn and pour the jelly into each from a cup.
"There! When you can make that kind of jelly, you will almost have learned how to make any other kind. And this is lovely, so pink and delicate, and it always gets just firm enough and not too stiff to be nice. Now, Mildred, you may try this to-morrow if you like, and, if it's perfect, you shall have a prize."
The next day the jam was firm on top, and Norah said it ought to be covered and put away at once or it would get too hard.
"How shall I cover it, Mother?" Mildred asked anxiously. "Paste on papers or something?"
"Oh, no, indeed! nobody does that way any more. Ask Norah if she has any paraffin left over."