Barberry Jam (First and Best Receipt)

Instructions

1. The barberries for this preserve should be quite ripe, though they should not be allowed to hang until they begin to decay.
2. Strip them from the stalks, and throw aside such as are spotted.
3. For each pound of the fruit allow eighteen ounces of well-refined sugar; boil this, with one pint of water to every four pounds, until it becomes white, and falls in thick masses from the spoon.
4. Then throw in the fruit, and keep it stirred over a brisk fire for six minutes only.
5. Take off the scum, and pour it into jars or glasses.
6. Proportions: Sugar, 4-1/4 lbs.; water, 1-1/4 pint: boiled to candy height. Barberries, 4 lbs.: 6 minutes.