233 Clarified Syrup for Sweet Meats
For most kinds of fruit, one pound of sugar, to one of the fruit, is sufficient to preserve them; some kinds of fruit will do with less. Put your sugar into your preserving kettle, and turn in as much cold water as you think will cover your fruit, when put in, add the white of an egg to every three pounds of sugar, then put it over a slow fire; when the sugar has dissolved, put it where it will boil, let it boil several minutes, then take it from the fire, and skim it till clear, put it back on the fire, when the scum rises again, take the kettle off and skim it again, this operation repeat till it is perfectly clear, then put in the fruit. If you have not syrup enough to cover the fruit, take the fruit out and put in more cold water, and let it get to boiling before you put in the fruit, if you have too much syrup, it should boil away before you boil your fruit in it. White sugar is better than brown for preserving, but brown sugar answers very well for common sweet meats. Every kind of ware but iron, will do to preserve in, but earthen ware is the best on account of its not imparting an unpleasant taste, to the sweet meats.