PRESERVATION OF RECENT ESCULENT ROOTS, POT-HERBS, AND OTHER CULINARY VEGETABLES.

When it is necessary to keep vegetables a few days before they are made use of, care should be taken that they receive as little injury as possible from keeping. The rules are simple and easy:—vegetables of different sorts should not be left in the same bundle, or basket; they should not be washed till they are about to be used; but if they have got flaccid, or dry-shrivelled, and wrinkly, (not otherwise,) they should be immersed in water: but to prevent them becoming so, the best method is not to expose them to the sun or air, but to keep them in a cool, dark, damp place, not scattered about, but close together, though not in great quantities, lest they heat, and a sort of fermentation begins, which destroys the quality altogether.—Strong scented vegetables should be kept apart from those that are inodorous.

Leeks or cellery will quickly spoil a whole basketful of cauliflower, sallads, or the finer vegetables.

Another general rule, as already stated, is, that they should not be kept in water when fresh, or refreshed by sprinkling them with water, (as is often practised,) till they are to be used, for the flavour is thereby greatly injured. It is only when they have become flaccid that they should be immersed in water to restore their crispness before they are cooked, otherwise they will be tough and unpalatable; this is to be done, when the size of the vegetable admits of it, as cauliflower, sallad, cellery, &c., by cutting off a piece of the stalk and setting the fresh surface, thus exposed, in water, which will be absorbed; in other cases the whole vegetable must be immersed in water.

Most vegetable substances being more or less succulent, their full proportion of fluids is necessary for their retaining that state of crispness or plumpness which they have when growing. On being cut or gathered the exhalation from their surface continues, while, from the open vessels of the cut surface, there is often great exudation or evaporation, and thus their natural moisture is diminished, and the tender leaves become flaccid, and the thicker masses or roots lose their plumpness. This is not only less pleasant to the eye, but is a real injury to the nutritious powers of the vegetable; for in this flaccid and shrivelled state its fibres are less easily divided in chewing, and the water which exists in vegetable substances, in the form of their respective natural juices, is directly nutritious. The first care in the preservation of succulent vegetables, therefore, is to prevent them from losing their natural moisture. In regard to the tender succulent vegetables this is not altogether possible; because there is a constant exhalation from their surface, while the supply of moisture is cut off. The principle of preserving them, then, is to retard and diminish the exhalation. Even growing vegetables become flaccid in a hot sun, because the exhalation is then greater than the supply; and exposure to the sun is absolutely ruinous to all the more delicate vegetables.—The operation of heat and air is slower but similar. Succulent vegetables should, therefore, be kept in a cool, shady, and damp place.

Common sense will suggest what is best, when it is known that to keep vegetables fresh for a short time, the best way is to hinder them from becoming too dry, and therefore to keep them from heat and air, and to avoid crushing or bruising them.

If they become frozen in the cold of winter, they should be immersed in cold water for an hour or two, and the water should be changed once or twice.

The earthy mould should never be washed from potatoes, or any other sort of roots, till they are to be dressed.

When potatoes, turnips, carrots, or any other roots are to be preserved for a length of time, they should be covered with earth, or straw and mats, to preserve them both from the air and the action of frost, which is peculiarly hurtful to all vegetable substances.

Sweet herbs, or savoury pot-herbs should be gathered in a dry day. Cleanse them well from dirt and dust, cut off the roots, separate the bunches into smaller ones, and hang them across a line in the kitchen, where there is a moderate heat, which will dry them in an excellent manner: when perfectly dry, put them in bags, and lay them by on a shelf in the kitchen, they will keep good for twelve months, and be ready in the moment when wanted: or rub off the stalks, put them through a coarse hair sieve, and put the powder into stopped bottles; by this means their flavour is still better preserved.—They are in the highest state of perfection just before they begin to flower; the first and last crop have neither the fine flavour nor the perfume of those which are gathered in the height of the season; that is when the greater part of the crop of each species is ripe at the same period.