Preserved Plums

Ingredients

• To every lb. of fruit
• 3/4 lb loaf sugar
• 1/4 lb sugar to each pint of water

Instructions

1. Select large ripe plums; slightly prick them, to prevent them from bursting, and simmer them very gently in a syrup made with the above proportion of sugar and water.
2. Put them carefully into a pan, let the syrup cool, pour it over the plums, and allow them to remain for two days.
3. Having previously weighed the other sugar, dip the lumps quickly into water, and put them into a preserving-pan with no more water than hangs about them; and boil the sugar to a syrup, carefully skimming it.
4. Drain the plums from the first syrup;
5. put them into the fresh syrup, and simmer them very gently until they are clear; lift them out singly into pots, pour the syrup over, and when cold, cover down to exclude the air.
6. This preserve will remain good some time, if kept in a dry place, and makes a very nice addition to a dessert.
7. The magnum-bonum plums answer for this preserve better than any other kind of plum.
8. Greengages are also very delicious done in this manner.