Preserve (Ripe Melon) (A Very Old Cape Recipe.)

Instructions

1. Gather these ingredients: 8 lbs. of sugar, boiled with the same quantity of water into a syrup and clarified with an egg; 6 lbs. of ripe melon; and white ginger.
2. Take a large ripe melon (not too soft), cut it into large slices, prick them with a fork, peel the slices very thinly, and remove the seeds.
3. Lay the pieces in a basin, cover with cold water in which is a teaspoonful of salt, and put a plate on the top to keep the pieces under water. Let them remain in water four or five days.
4. Then wash the fruit carefully, put it into boiling water, and let it boil up once. Lay the slices of melon on a cloth to drain.
5. Now boil the syrup and pour it boiling hot on the slices of melon, repeating this process every morning for a week.
6. For the last two days, put the slices of melon into the preserving pot in which you heat the syrup, and let it boil gently for ten minutes or more, then let it cool. Repeat the next day, and go on till the fruit is quite clear and firm and the syrup nice and thick.
7. Put the ginger in a muslin bag, boil it with the preserve, and take it out the last thing.
8. This process diminishes the syrup greatly, and you might make a little more if necessary.