Fruit Pastes and Cakes.—These are the pulp of fruits, reduced by heat to a kind of marmalade, with the addition of from half a pound to a pound, and in some cases, double the weight of sugar to each pound of pulp, which is evaporated to the required consistence. They can be formed into rings, knots, etc., and either crystallized or candied.

Almond Paste—Orgeat Paste.—One pound of sweet almonds, a quarter of a pound of bitter almonds, two pounds of sugar. Blanch the almonds, and throw them into clear cold water as they are done, to preserve their whiteness; let them soak for a day, then dry them in a cloth, and pound them quite fine in a mortar, sprinkling them with orange-flower water or lemon juice to prevent their oiling; then with a spatula rub them through a fine wire sieve; what will not pass through, pound again until they are quite fine; clarify the sugar and boil it to the ball; mix the almonds with it, and stir it well over the fire with the spatula until it comes together; then take it from the fire, and put it into an earthen pan to cool; when cool, pound it again, and make it into sticks or tablets, dusting the board or stone with powdered sugar; or put into pots, and tie bladder over it, to be used as wanted.

Apple Cheese.—Pare, quarter, and core your apples as for paste; put them into a jar, and cover the top with the parings: tie paper over the top, and bake them in a moderate oven until they are quite done; take off the parings, and pass the apples through a hair-sieve into a preserving-pan. To each pound of pulp add half a pound of loaf sugar clarified and boiled to the blow; place it over a slow fire, stirring it constantly from the bottom until reduced to a stiff paste, which will not stick to the hand; put it into small molds, hoops, or glasses. Dry in a moderately warm stove for a few days; take them out of the molds, turn them and place them again in the stove to finish drying. Keep in boxes as paste knots, or cover the glasses with brandy papers.

Apple or Pippin Paste.—Take any quantity of good dressing apples, pare, core, and put them into a preserving pan with a little water, or just sufficient to cover them. Boil until they are reduced to a marmalade, stirring them to prevent burning. To every pound of reduced pulp add half or three quarters of a pound of loaf sugar, clarified and boiled to the blow; pass the pulp through a hair-sieve before you mix the sugar with it: put it on the fire and let it boil for three or four minutes, keeping it constantly stirred from the bottom, when it will be sufficiently evaporated. If it be required colored, add liquid color sufficient to give the desired tint when you mix the sugar.

Spread the paste on small tin or pewter sheets (these should be about a foot wide, by a foot and a half long, and perfectly level) with a thin knife, about the eight of an inch in thickness; put them in the stove for a day; take them out, and cut the paste into long narrow strips, about a quarter of an inch in width; if the paste is dry enough, the strips can be easily pulled off; form them into rings or knots, or cut into diamonds to form leaves, or any other device your fancy may suggest. Put them in boxes with a sheet of paper between each layer. This paste is occasionally flavored with lemon, and is principally used for ornamenting the tops of twelfth cakes.

Apricot Paste.—Take ripe apricots, put them in a preserving pan with as much water as will cover them; let them simmer on the fire for two or three minutes, or scald until they are tender; drain the water from them, and pass the pulp through a hair sieve; to each pound of pulp take three quarters of a pound of sugar, which you clarify and boil to the blow; put the apricots on the fire, and let them simmer, stirring them constantly until reduced to a thick marmalade; then add the sugar; mix it well with the paste, and let it boil a minute or two longer: take it from the fire, and put it into molds, pots, or crimped paper cases; or it may be spread on small plates, as for apple paste, and formed into rings or knots. Place in the stove until dry. If put in paper cases, the paper must be wetted to get out the paste. Take it out of the molds, turn it and put it again into the stove to finish drying.

Black Currant Paste is made the same as the last. These currants, not being so juicy as the others, may be put into a jar, tied over, and baked in a moderate oven, or put into a kettle of boiling water for a few hours, to extract the juice from them.

Cherry Paste.—Take ripe cherries, deprive them of their stalks and stones, put them in a preserving pan, and boil them a little; then pass them through a hair sieve, reduce the pulp, and weigh it. To each pound add a pound of loaf sugar; add it to the paste, and finish as apricot.

Clear Cakes, or Jelly Cakes.—Take the filtered juice of fruits, as for jelly (see Jellies); to each pint of juice add one pound of loaf sugar, dissolve it in the juice thoroughly, place it on the fire and heat it, but it must not boil; put it into small pots, molds, or glasses, so as to form cakes about half an inch thick; place them on the stove, which must not be too hot, or they will melt instead of forming a jelly; about seventy-five or eighty degrees Fahrenheit is quite hot enough. When a crust has formed on the top, take out the cakes by carefully turning the knife round the sides of the pot, place them on small plates of tin or pewter, and dry on the other side. When dry they can be cut into diamonds, squares, or any shape you please. These are certainly some of the most delicate and beautiful of this class which were ever invented, fit even to gratify the palate of the most fastidious. The fruit from which they are made should be gathered as fresh as it possibly can, except apples, as the mucilage is injured by keeping, and if the fruit has fermented it is entirely destroyed.

Currant Paste.—Put any quantity of ripe currants, either red or white, or a part of each mixed, into a hair sieve, press out their juice into a preserving pan; put it on the fire, and keep it constantly stirred until evaporated to a thick consistence. To each pound of reduced pulp add three quarters of a pound or a pound of loaf sugar clarified and boiled to the blow. Let it boil a minute or two, and finish as others.

Damson Cheese.—Pick the stalks from the damsons, put them in a jar, tie it over, and bake in a cool oven; when done, pass them through a sieve into a preserving pan; put it on the fire to reduce. For each pound of pulp take half a pound of sugar, boiled to the blow; mix with the paste, and finish as for apple cheese. This, as well as all the pastes, may be evaporated to the required consistence by means of a water bath, which is done by placing the pan in which it is contained in another with water, which is kept boiling; this prevents the possibility of its being burnt, but it occupies more time. The kernels of the fruit may be blanched, and added to it just before it is taken from the fire. Put it into molds or hoops; dry them in the stove, first on one side and then on the other. All plums are done in the same manner.

Green Apricot Paste.—Take apricots before they are ripe, scald as the last, and green them. Pass the pulp through a sieve, and reduce it; to each pound of reduced pulp add one pound of loaf sugar clarified and boiled to the blow. Finish as ripe apricot paste.

Gomme des Dattes.—One pound of dates, two pounds of very white picked gum arabic, sugar two ounces. Make as jujubes.

Gomme des Jujubes—Jujube-Gum.—Jujubes one pound, very white and picked gum-arabic two pounds; powdered sugar two ounces. Pound the jujubes in a marble mortar with five pints of water; put the whole into a pan, and boil until reduced to three; strain the decoction through a cloth; beat up the white of an egg with a glass of water, and mix part of it with the decoction as it boils; throw in a little at a time of the remaining part, to check the ebullition. When it is all used, take off the scum; put it again on the fire to evaporate the water, adding at the same time the gum and sugar, powdered and passed through a horse-hair sieve. Stir it with the spatula until dissolved. When it is of the consistence of honey, place it in the bain-marie, and neither stir nor touch it, that it may be clear. When it has acquired body enough, so as not to stick to the back of the hand when applied to it, pour it into molds previously oiled with good olive oil, as for jujubes; place in the stove to finish drying; when dry, take it out and cut in small pieces.

Pate de jujube and white liquorice may be done in the same manner, using only half the quantity of sugar.

Lemon Paste.—Make as orange paste, using part of the juice and double the weight of sugar; or it may be made by using only the pounded peel with the same weight of sugar.

Orange Paste.—Squeeze the juice from Seville or sweet oranges, and boil the peels in three or four waters to take off part of their bitterness. In the first put a little salt. When they are quite tender remove the white pith or pulp, and pound them quite fine in a mortar, with part of the juice, using sufficient to make them into a paste, then pass it and the remaining portion of the juice through a sieve into a preserving-pan; put it on the fire, and reduce it to a marmalade, weigh it, and for each pound take three-quarters of a pound of loaf sugar; clarify and boil to the blow; mix it with the paste, evaporate over a gentle fire to a good consistence, and finish as apple. The rinds of the oranges may be pared off before they are squeezed, which, if boiled in one water, will be sufficient, as the pith of the peel is extremely bitter and indigestible, and the flavor or essential oil is contained only in the yellow porous part.

Pastes Formed with Gum—Pate de Guimauve—Marsh Mallow Paste.—Gum arabic three pounds, roots of fresh marsh-mallows eight ounces, one dozen of rennet apples, loaf sugar three pounds. Peel, core, and cut the apples in pieces. Cleanse the roots, and slice them lengthways in an oblique direction; add this to seven pints of water; soft or river water is the best when filtered; put it on the fire and boil for a quarter of an hour, or until reduced to six pints; pound and sift the gum through a hair sieve; strain the decoction into a pan with the gum; put it on a moderate fire, or into a bain-marie, stirring it until the gum is perfectly dissolved; then strain it through a coarse towel or tamis cloth, the ends being twisted by two persons; add it to the sugar, which has been previously clarified and boiled to the feather; dry it well over the fire, keeping it constantly stirred from the bottom. When it has acquired a thick consistence, take the whites of eighteen eggs, and whip them to a strong froth; add them to the paste, and dry until it does not stick to the hand when it is applied to it; add a little essence of neroli, or a large glassful of double orange-flower water, and evaporate again to the same consistence. Pour it on a marble slab well dusted with starch powder, flatten it with the hand; the next day cut it into strips, powder each strip, and put them in boxes. Powder the bottom, that they may not stick.

Pate de Blanche Reglisse—White Licorice Paste.—This is made the same as marsh-mallow paste, using licorice-root instead of mallow. It may be made without the eggs, and finished as jujubes.

Pate de Gomme Arabique—Arabic Paste.—Very white gum arabic two pounds, sugar two pounds, orange-flower water four ounces, the whites of twelve eggs. Pound and sift the gum, add it to the water, dissolve and evaporate it over a slow fire, stirring it constantly until it is reduced to the consistence of honey with the sugar in syrup. Whip the whites to a strong snow; add it to the paste with the orange-flower water, gradually; stir and finish as marsh-mallow paste, for which this is mostly substituted, and much used for coughs. It should be very white, light, and spongy.

Pate de Gomme Senegal—Senegal Paste.—Gum Senegal two pounds, sugar one pound. Dissolve the gum in orange-flower water and common water; or dissolve it in common water, and flavor with essence of neroli; add the sugar, when clarified and boiled to the blow; evaporate, and finish as pate de jujube. This is usually sold for jujube paste, or else picked gum arabic made into a paste as Senegal, and colored with prepared cochineal or saffron.

Pate de Reglisse Noir—Black Licorice Paste.—The best refined licorice one pound, gum arabic four pounds, loaf sugar two pounds, Florence orris-root one ounce. Dissolve the gum and licorice in seven pints of water, keeping it stirred over a slow fire; add the sugar in syrup with the orris-root, evaporated to a paste, and finish as jujubes.

Peach Paste.—Choose some very fine and ripe peaches, take off the skin, and cut them in small pieces into a preserving pan; put them on the fire, and reduce to a thick consistence, stirring it continually. For each pound of reduced pulp take half or three-quarters of a pound of sugar; clarify and boil it to the blow; add it to the pulp; put it again on the fire, and let it boil a few minutes. Finish as other pastes.

Plum Paste.—Plums of any kind are preserved in the same manner, whether green gages, magnum bonums, Orleans, damsons, etc. Take out their stones, and boil the fruit in a little water, as for apricot paste; pass them through a sieve, and for each pound of reduced pulp take a pound of sugar; clarify and boil it to the blow; mix it with the paste, and evaporate to the required consistence.

Quince Paste.—Proceed as for apple paste.

Raspberry Cakes.—Take ripe raspberries, press the juice from half of them, and put the pulp back with the others; reduce them on the fire. To each pound of pulp add two pounds of loaf sugar in powder; put it again on the fire, stirring it constantly until it is evaporated to a very thick paste. Have a tin ring, with a handle by the side, about the size of an old penny piece, and twice the thickness; wet the ring, and place it on your small pewter or tin plates, fill it with the paste, smoothing over the top with a knife; then remove the ring, and the cake will remain. Lay them off in rows, and make three or four marks on the top with the handle of a table-spoon; put them in the stove to dry, turn them with a thin knife, and put them again in the stove to dry perfectly. Place them in boxes, with paper between each layer.

The residue from the making of raspberry vinegar may be employed for this purpose, or they may be made by adding a pound of fine powdered sugar to a pound of jam. Any of the fruit pastes may be formed into cakes like these, or into drops, by forcing them out on paper with a small pipe and bladder attached to it.

Raspberry Paste.—As currant paste.

Violets, Gum of.—Violet flowers one pound, picked gum two pounds, sugar four ounces in syrup. Pour three pints of water at the boiling point on the flowers in an earthen jar; stop it perfectly close, and keep it in a warm place for ten or twelve hours; strain the infusion by expression into a flat pan or dish, place it on an inclination, and let it rest for an hour, that the fÆces may subside; pour off the clear gently from the bottom or settling, and add to it six grains of turnsole bruised, and six grains of carmine, as this clear infusion is not sufficiently colored to give it the beautiful tint of the violet. Mix in the powdered gum and sugar, stir it over a moderate fire until dissolved, pass it through a sieve, and finish in the bain-marie as jujubes.

Any of these gums, when dry, may be crystallized.