Pare the pineapple, remove the eyes, and cut the fruit into thin slices, cutting down the sides until the heart is reached. Weigh the sliced fruit and put it in a bowl, with half a pound of granulated sugar to every pound of fruit. Mix the fruit and sugar well, and put it in a cold place over night. In the morning put the fruit and sugar in the preserving kettle, and place on the range. When the syrup begins to boil, skim carefully; then fill the hot jars with the preserve and seal them.
The pineapple may be shredded with a silver fork, instead of being sliced. Be careful to keep out all the woody fibres of the heart of the fruit.
Pare the pineapple and take out all the eyes. With a sharp knife, cut the fruit in thin slices, cutting down the sides until the heart is reached (this is to be discarded). Weigh the sliced pineapple and put it in an earthen dish. Add to it as many pounds of granulated sugar as there are pounds of fruit. Stir this gently; then pack the fruit and sugar in pint jars, leaving space for two tablespoonfuls of Jamaica rum in each jar. Add the liquor; then put on the covers and tighten them. Set away in a cool, dark place.
Wine or brandy may be substituted for the rum; or, the jars may be packed solidly to the top, and sealed, without using any spirit. This fruit will keep well, and is so tender that it will melt in the mouth. It is, of course, very rich.
Pick over the berries and weigh them; then put them in the preserving kettle. Add to them as many pounds of granulated sugar as there are of strawberries. Do not have the fruit and sugar more than three or four inches deep in the preserving kettle. Place on the fire and heat slowly to the boiling point. Let the preserve cook for just ten minutes from the time it begins to boil, skimming well. Take up and pour into meat platters, having the preserve not much more than an inch and a half deep. Set the platters on tables at sunny windows. They should stand in the sun for twenty-four full hours. If the sun does not shine one day, let the fruit remain until it does. Put up cold in preserve jars. This preserve is perfect.
The destruction of germs and the exclusion of air are the principles upon which canning is based. The article to be preserved is cooked for a short time, and then put in jars from which the air has been expelled by heating them to the boiling point. They are then sealed, and when cold are set in a cool, dark place. If all the conditions be right, the fruit will keep for an unlimited number of years, and when opened will be found to have nearly all the freshness and aroma of newly gathered fruit.