Things Mother Used to Make: A Nostalgic Collection of Traditional Preserves Recipes

Preserving fruits has been a time-honored tradition in many households, a way to savor the flavors of the season year-round. This collection of traditional preserves recipes will transport you back to simpler times, where mothers and grandmothers spent hours in the kitchen, turning fresh produce into delightful jars of jelly, jam, and canned fruits. Let’s revisit these nostalgic recipes and keep the tradition alive.

Crab Apple Jelly

Ingredients:

• Crab apples
• Water
• Sugar (equal amount to juice)

Instructions:

1. Cover the crab apples with water and boil until tender.
2. Strain through a flannel bag.
3. Boil the juice for twenty minutes, then add an equal amount of sugar, pint for pint, and cook for five minutes.
4. Pour into tumblers, and when cold, cover with paraffin.

California Jam

Ingredients:

• Oranges
• Lemons (one lemon per pound of oranges)
• Sugar (equal amount to fruit)
• Cold water

Instructions:

1. Divide and seed the oranges, slicing thin the pulp and skin together.
2. Add one lemon, sliced thin, per pound of oranges and one quart of cold water.
3. Let stand for twenty-four hours.
4. Cook until tender with an equal amount of sugar.
5. Pour into jars and seal.

Canned Cherries

Ingredients:

• 1 quart of cherries
• 1 cupful of water
• 1 cupful of sugar

Instructions:

1. Pick over and wash the cherries.
2. For sauce, can them whole; for pies and puddings, remove stones and use less water.
3. Cook until tender and seal when boiling hot.

Cherry Conserve

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds of cherries
• 4 pounds of sugar
• 8 oranges
• 1 lemon

Instructions:

1. Wash and stone the cherries.
2. Wash and remove seeds from oranges and lemon, then chop fine.
3. Cook all together for twenty minutes or until thick.
4. Put into tumblers and cover with paraffin.

Preserved Citron

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds of citron
• 3 pounds of sugar
• 3 lemons
• 6 gills of water

Instructions:

1. Pare and cut the citron into one-inch squares.
2. Cover with cold water and a pinch of salt. Let sit overnight.
3. Drain, then cover with fresh water and a pinch of alum.
4. Slice lemons and boil until tender.
5. Boil sugar and water together, skim, then add citron and lemon.
6. Boil until rich and transparent.
7. Skim out fruit into jars, boil down the syrup for ten minutes, and pour over fruit. Seal while hot.

Currant Jelly

Ingredients:

• Currants
• Water
• Sugar (equal amount to juice)

Instructions:

1. Pick currants from the stems and wash.
2. Cook currants with a little water for ten minutes.
3. Strain through a flannel bag.
4. Boil juice for fifteen minutes, add an equal amount of sugar, and boil for five minutes.
5. Pour into tumblers or molds and cover with paraffin when cold.

Spiced Currants

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds of currants
• 4 pounds of sugar
• 1 pint of vinegar
• 4 teaspoonfuls of cinnamon
• 4 teaspoonfuls of cloves

Instructions:

1. Tie spices in a cloth.
2. Boil all ingredients slowly for two and a half hours.
3. Seal in jars.

Cranberry Jelly

Ingredients:

• 1 quart of cranberries
• 3 1/2 cupfuls of sugar

Instructions:

1. Boil cranberries with enough water to cover until tender.
2. Strain through a colander.
3. Add 3 1/2 cupfuls of sugar to 4 cupfuls of juice.
4. Boil for twenty minutes.
5. Pour into a mold wet with cold water.

Grape Conserve

Ingredients:

• 5 pints of grapes
• 8 cupfuls of sugar
• 1 cupful of nut meats
• 1/2 pound of raisins
• 2 oranges

Instructions:

1. Pick and wash grapes, separating pulps from skins.
2. Stew pulps and press through a colander.
3. Chop raisins and oranges finely.
4. Cook all ingredients together, adding nuts ten minutes before removing from heat.
5. Put into glasses and cover with paraffin.

Grape Marmalade

Ingredients:

• Leftover grapes from grape-juice making
• Sugar (equal amount to grape mixture)

Instructions:

1. Press leftover grapes through a colander.
2. Measure and add an equal amount of sugar.
3. Cook until thickened.
4. Put into tumblers and cover with paraffin.

Grape Preserve

Ingredients:

• Grapes
• Sugar (3/4 pound for every pound of fruit)

Instructions:

1. Pick, wash, and separate pulps from skins.
2. Boil pulps with a little water until seeds loosen, then press through a colander.
3. Combine with skins and weigh, using 3/4 pound of sugar per pound of fruit.
4. Cook until skins are tender, about an hour.
5. Seal in glass jars.

Orange Marmalade

Ingredients:

• 1 grapefruit
• 1 whole lemon
• 1 whole orange
• Juice of two lemons
• Juice of two oranges

Instructions:

1. Chop fruit finely or put through a grinder.
2. Measure and add three times the amount of water. Let stand overnight.
3. Boil for ten minutes the next day and let stand overnight again.
4. Measure and add an equal amount of sugar.
5. Boil until it jells.
6. Pour into glasses while warm and cover with paraffin when cold.

Peach Marmalade

Ingredients:

• Skins from preserving peaches or quinces
• Sugar (equal amount to fruit mixture)

Instructions:

1. Boil skins in water until tender, then press through a colander.
2. Measure and add an equal amount of sugar.
3. Boil for half an hour until thickened.
4. Put into tumblers and cover with paraffin.

To Can Peaches

Ingredients:

• 1 quart of peaches
• 2 cupfuls of water
• 1 cupful of sugar

Instructions:

1. Clean and warm jars thoroughly.
2. Make a syrup with sugar and water, boiling hard for five minutes and skimming thoroughly.
3. Pare, halve, and pit peaches.
4. Boil peaches in syrup until tender.
5. Fill jars with peaches and syrup, tilting jars to prevent cracking.
6. Seal while hot.

Pickled Peaches

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds of sugar
• 1 pint of vinegar
• 1 tablespoonful of allspice
• 1 tablespoonful of cloves
• Stick of cinnamon

Instructions:

1. Boil ingredients for ten minutes before adding peaches.
2. Cook peaches until tender and fill jars with peaches and juice.
3. Tie spices in cheesecloth.
4. Seal jars.

Ginger Pears

Ingredients:

• 10 pounds of pears
• 7 pounds of sugar
• 4 lemons
• 6 oranges
• 1 box of crystallized ginger

Instructions:

1. Clean and cut pears finely with sugar, simmering for an hour.
2. Add seeded and finely cut lemons and oranges, and crystallized ginger.
3. Boil all together for two to three hours.

Preserved Pears

Ingredients:

• 1 quart of pears
• 2 cupfuls of water
• 1 cupful of sugar

Instructions:

1. Use pears ready to eat, pare and drop into cold water.
2. Make syrup with sugar and water, boiling pears until tender.
3. Fill jars with pears and syrup.
4. Seal while hot.

Way to Pickle Pears

Ingredients:

• 1 pint of vinegar
• 3 pounds of sugar
• 6 pounds of pears
• 1/2 tablespoonful of cinnamon
• 1/2 tablespoonful of allspice
• 1 tablespoonful of cloves

Instructions:

1. Boil pears until tender.
2. Boil vinegar, sugar, and spices for fifteen minutes, then add pears and cook for half an hour.
3. Seal in jars.

To Preserve Pineapple

Instructions:

1. Peel, remove eyes, and cut pineapple into small cubes.
2. Weigh and use 3/4 pound of sugar per pound of fruit, with one cupful of water per jar.
3. Cook until tender and fill jars.
4. Seal while hot.

Quince Jelly

Instructions:

1. Pare, core, and quarter quinces, boiling in enough water to cover.
2. Strain syrup through a flannel bag, boiling until clear.
3. Measure syrup and add an equal amount of sugar.
4. Boil for twenty minutes and remove scum.
5. Pour into molds and cover with paraffin.

Quince Marmalade

Instructions:

1. Use boiled quinces with cores and skins, cover with water and boil for fifteen minutes.
2. Press through a colander and measure, adding an equal amount of sugar.
3. Boil for fifteen minutes, then put into tumblers and cover with paraffin.

Quince Sauce

Instructions:

1. Peel, core, and quarter quinces, boiling until tender.
2. Use 3/4 pound of sugar per pound of quince, boiling water from boiling until five minutes before adding sugar.
3. Cook until dark amber.
4. Optionally, add 1/4 as much sweet apple or pear.

Raspberry Jam, No. 1

Instructions:

1. Mash berries, adding equal parts of sugar, and let stand for half an hour.
2. Boil in a kettle with half a cupful of water until thickened.
3. Put into tumblers and cover with paraffin.

Raspberry Jam, No. 2

Instructions:

1. Mash berries and use 2/3 as much currant juice as berries.
2. Measure and add equal amounts of sugar.
3. Cook until jelled.
4. Put into tumblers and cover with paraffin.

To Keep Rhubarb Through the Winter

Instructions:

1. Fill preserve jars with cold water, cutting rhubarb into small pieces and adding to jars.
2. Seal jars tightly, and store.
3. Drain and cook as usual when needed.

Rhubarb Marmalade

Instructions:

1. Use 5 pounds each of rhubarb and sugar, 5 lemons (juice and rind), 1 pound of chopped walnuts, and 2 teaspoons of Jamaica ginger extract.
2. Cook all ingredients except nuts and ginger for three to four hours.
3. Add nuts and ginger ten minutes before removing from heat.
4. Seal in jars or put into tumblers with paraffin covering.

Rhubarb Jam

Instructions:

1. Use 6 stalks of rhubarb, 3 oranges, and 1 lemon.
2. Cook with 4 cupfuls of sugar for twenty-five minutes.
3. Put into tumblers and cover with paraffin.

Spiced Fruit

Instructions:

1. Use 6 pounds of fruit, 4 pounds of sugar, and 1 pint of vinegar.
2. Add 1 tablespoon each of cinnamon, allspice, and cloves.
3. Cook until tender and seal in jars.

Discover More

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• Things Mother Used to Make: A Nostalgic Collection of Traditional Pickle Recipes
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