ep twelve months if the bottles are stopped tight, so as
no air nor water can get to them. They will not keep long after the
bottles are opened; the plumbs must be hard.

_Currant Jelly_.

Having stripped the currants from the stalks, put them in a stone jar,
stop it close, set it in a kettle of boiling water, halfway the jar,
let it boil half an hour, take it out and strain the juice through a
coarse hair sieve, to a pint of juice put a pound of sugar, set it
over a fine quick fire in a preserving pan, or a bell-metal skillet,
keep stirring it all the time till the sugar be melted, then skim the
skum off as fast as it rises. When the jelly is very clear and fine,
pour it into earthern or china cups, when cold, cut white papers just
the bigness of the top of the pot, and lay on the jelly, dip those
papers in brandy, then cover the top of the pot and prick it full of
holes, set it in a dry place; you may put some into glasses for
present use.

_To dry Peaches_.

Take the fairest and ripest peaches, pare them into fair water; take
their weight in double refined sugar; of one half make a very thin
sirrup; then put in your peaches, boiling them till they look clear,
then split and stone them, boil them till they are very tender, lay
them a draining, take the other half of the sugar, and boil it almost
to a candy; then put in your peaches, and let them lie all night then
lay them on a glass, and set them in a stove, till they are dry, if
they are sugared too much, wipe them with a wet cloth a little; let
the first sirrup be very thin, a quart of water to a pound of sugar.

_To pickle or make Mangoes of Melons_.

Take green melons, as many as you please, and make a brine strong
enough to bear an egg; then pour it boiling hot on the melons, keeping
them down under the brine; let them stand five or six days; then take
them out, slit them down on one side, take out all the seeds, scrape
them well in the inside, and wash them clean with cold water; then
take a clove of a garlick, a little ginger and nutmeg sliced, and a
little whole pepper; put all these proportionably into the melons,
filling them up with mustard-seeds; then lay them in an earthern pot
with the slit upwards, and take one part of mustard and two parts of
vinegar, enough to cover them, pouring it upon them scalding hot, and
keep them close slopped.

_To pickle Barberries_.

Take of white wine vinegar and water, of each an equal quantity; to
ever