A Fine Preserve of the Green Orange Plum

Instructions

1. This fruit, which is very insipid when ripe, makes an excellent preserve if used when at its full growth, but while it is still quite hard and green.
2. Take off the stalks, weigh the plums, then gash them well (with a silver knife, if convenient) as they are thrown into the preserving-pan.
3. Keep them gently stirred without ceasing over a moderate fire, until they have yielded sufficient juice to prevent their burning.
4. After this, boil them quickly until the stones are entirely detached from the flesh of the fruit, taking them out as they appear on the surface.
5. When the preserve looks quite smooth and is well reduced, stir in three-quarters of a pound of sugar beaten to a powder, for each pound of the plums, and boil the whole very quickly for half an hour or more.
6. Put it, when done, into small moulds or pans, and it will be sufficiently firm when cold to turn out well; it will also be transparent, of a fine green colour, and very agreeable in flavour.
7. Proportions: Orange plums, when green, 6 lbs.: 40 to 60 minutes. Sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 30 to 50 minutes.
8. Note: The blanched kernels of part of the fruit should be added to this preserve a few minutes before it is poured out; if too long boiled in it they will become tough. They should always be wiped very dry after they are blanched.