re the apples, without
peeling, stick in the cloves, put in an earthen or agate baking dish,
add the sugar, water, spices, cover close, and set in a hot oven. Cook
until the apples are soft through, then uncover, and crisp a little on
top. The peel will be edible, and the flavor richer than when boiled,
but the dish is not so decorative.

_Spiced Grapes_: Wash and drain sound full-ripe grapes, pick from the
stems, then pop out the grapes singly from the hulls. Save the hulls and
juice. Put the pulp and seeds over the fire, cook until soft, strain
through a colander to remove the seed, then add the pulp to the hulls
and juice, put all over the fire, with equal weight of sugar, and spices
to taste. I like cloves, alspice, mace and cinnamon, all pounded small,
but not powdered. Cook until thick, take care not to burn, put into
glasses like jelly, and serve with any sort of meat, or as a sweet.

Wild grapes washed, picked from stems, stewed and passed through a
colander, furnish a pulp that is worth sugar, spices and so on. Cook as
directed for vineyard grapes. By leaving out the most part of spices,
and putting in vinegar, a cupful to the quart of syrup, the result is a
very piquant jelly, or more properly, fruit cheese.

_Sweet-Sour Pears_: The pears must be ripe, but very firm. If large,
pare and quarter, cutting out the core, stick a clove in each quarter,
and drop as pared in cold ginger tea. If small or medium, wash instead
of paring, take out cores, stick two cloves in each cavity, pack close
in the kettle and cover when all are in with strained ginger tea. Boil
in the tea fifteen minutes, until a fork will pierce without too much
exertion. Skim out then, pack in jars, strewing spices liberally
through, then cover with vinegar boiling hot, to which you had added a
cupful of sugar for each quart. Let stand twenty-four hours, drain off,
boil, and pour over again. Do this three times, then put all in the
kettle, bring to a boil, cook five minutes, and put while hot in clean
stone jars.

_Spiced Plums_: All manner of plums, even the red wild fruit, make the
finest sort of relishes when cooked properly. Wash, pick, and weigh,
take four pounds of sugar to five of fruit, with what spices you choose,
never forgetting a tiny pod of Cayenne pepper, put all over the fire,
let boil slowly, skimming off froth. Stir with a perforated skimmer--it
will take out the most part of stones. A few stones left in give a fine
bitter alm