Glacé Fruits

One of my mother's recipes, from 2007, found among some old files. Not a word has been changed. I wonder whether in fact it is copied from somewhere - an American book or article? The corn syrup, use of the word "vacation" and "1/2 cup" are all clues ... Perhaps I will never know.

Ingredients:

1 pound of fruit
4-1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of corn syrup

Instructions:

Prepare the fruit: Pit cherries and prick them with a pin to allow the syrup to penetrate the skin; peel core and quarter or slice apples, apricots, plums, pears, peaches; peel and core pineapple and cut it into rings or cubes; slice citrus fruits thinly (no need to peel them). Because this is such a time-consuming process, you will want to select the best fruits and treat them with care.

Place the fruit in the bottom of a saucepan, cover with water, and simmer gently until almost tender. Cook the fruit in batches, if necessary. Lift the fruit out with a slotted spoon and place in a shallow dish. Pour out all but 1 cup of the cooking water (or add enough to make a cup), add 1/2 cup of sugar and the corn syrup. Heat it to dissolve the sugar, bring to a boil, and pour over the fruit to cover. Leave it overnight.

Next day, pour the syrup into a pan, add a half-cup of sugar, heat to dissolve, bring to a boil, pour over the fruit and leave overnight. Repeat again for the next five days. On the eighth day, pour the syrup into a pan, add the half-cup of sugar, and boil, then reduce the heat, add the fruit and cook gently for three minutes. Pour the fruit and syrup into the dish and leave it to soak for two days. Repeat once more. At this point, the syrup should look like runny honey. Leave the fruit to soak for 10 days to three weeks and take a vacation!

At the end of the soaking period, remove the fruit from the syrup and arrange it on a wire rack over a tray. Dry in a warm place or in the oven at the lowest setting, until the surface no longer feels sticky. If you haven’t done enough work by this point, you can also plunge each piece of fruit into boiling water and roll it in granulated sugar to coat the surface. Store in an airtight canister, tin or jar, in a cool, dark place