M�lange Recipe

This French fruit preserve is truly delicious, and should be put up in
the month of June. To every pound of fruit take one pound of sugar. It
requires no cooking at all, and is therefore easily made. Get the
largest and soundest berries in the market. Pick two quarts and lay them
in a new and perfectly clean two-gallon stone jar and cover with two
pounds of the finest granulated sugar. Stone as many pounds of red,
black, and white cherries as you wish to use, and add the same quantity
of sugar. You may also use bananas, pineapples or oranges. Seed the
latter carefully. Be sure to weigh all the fruit, and allow one pound of
sugar to every additional pound of fruit. Pour over the fruit a pint of
pure alcohol. Tie up the jar with thick paper, and in season add
peaches, apricots, raspberries, blackberries, large, red currants; in
fact, all kinds of fruit. Green-gages and purple and red plums also add
both to looks and taste. Be sure to add the same amount of sugar as you
do fruit, but no more alcohol. In the fall of the year pack in glass
jars; looks very pretty. Keep it in a dry, cool place. There is always a
surplus of juice, which makes excellent pudding sauce. Add a little
water and thicken.