Peel yellow peaches, cut them from the stone in one piece; allow two pounds of sugar to six pounds of fruit; make a syrup of three-quarters of a pound of sugar and a little water; put in the peaches, a few at a time, and let them cook gently until quite clear.  Take them up carefully on a dish and set them in the sun to dry.  Strew powdered sugar over them on all sides, a little at a time; if any syrup is left, remove to fresh dishes.  When they are quite dry, lay them lightly in a jar with a little sugar sifted between the layers.

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COLORING FOR FRUIT, ETC.

RED OR PINK COLORING.

Take two cents’ worth of cochineal.  Lay it on a flat plate and bruise it with the blade of a knife.  Put it into half a teacupful of alcohol.  Let it stand a quarter of an hour, and then filter it through fine muslin.  Always ready for immediate use.  Cork the bottle tight.

Strawberry or cranberry juice makes a fine coloring for frosting, sweet puddings and confectionery.

DEEP RED COLORING.

Take twenty grains of cochineal and fifteen grains of cream of tartar finely powdered; add to them a piece of alum the size of a cherry stone and boil them with a gill of soft water in an earthen vessel, slowly, for half an hour.  Then strain it through muslin, and keep it tightly corked in a phial.  If a little alcohol is added it will keep any length of time.

YELLOW COLORING.

Take a little saffron, put it into an earthen vessel with a very small quantity of cold, soft water, and let it steep till the color of the infusion is a bright yellow.  Then strain it, add half alcohol to it.  To color fruit yellow, boil the fruit with fresh lemon skins in water to cover them until it is tender; then take it up, spread it on dishes to cool and finish as may be directed.

To color icing, put the grated peel of a lemon or orange in a thin muslin bag, squeezing a little juice through it, then mixing with the sugar.

GREEN COLORING.

Take fresh spinach or beet leaves and pound them in a marble mortar.  If you want it for immediate use, take off the green froth as it rises, and mix it with the article you intend to color.  If you wish to keep it a few days, take the juice when you have pressed out a teacupful, and adding to it a piece of alum the size of a pea, give it a boil in a saucepan.  Or make the juice very strong and add a quart of alcohol.  Bottle it air-tight.

SUGAR GRAINS.

These are made by pounding white lump sugar in a mortar and shaking it through sieves of different degrees of coarseness, thus accumulating grains of different sizes.  They are used in ornamenting cake.