To Preserve Green Apricots
Lay vine or apricot leaves at the bottom of your pan, then fruit, and so alternately till full, the upper layer being thick with leaves; then fill with spring water, and cover down, that no steam may come out. Set the pan at a distance from the fire, that in four or five hours they may be only soft, but not cracked. Make a thin syrup of some of the water, and drain the fruit. When both are cold, put the fruit into the pan and the syrup to it; put the pan at a proper distance on the fire till the apricots green, but on no account boil or crack: remove them very carefully into a pan with the syrup for two or three days, then pour off as much of it as will be necessary, and boil with more sugar to make a rich syrup, and put a little sliced ginger into it. When cold, and the thin syrup has all been drained from the fruit, pour the thick over it.