PICKLES
HINTS ON THEIR MANAGEMENT
Pickles should always have vinegar enough to cover them; those intended for immediate use should be kept in wide-top stone-ware jars. Keep a cloth folded upon the pickles, and the jar covered with a plate or wooden vessel; they should occasionally be looked over, and the softest and least likely to keep, used first. Pickles intended for use the following summer should be assorted from the remainder when first made; choose those most firm, and of equal size; put them into stone, or glass-ware, with fresh vinegar to cover them; cover the vessel close, with several thicknesses of paper, or a tin cover, or if wide-mouthed bottles are used, cork them tightly.
Cucumbers may be put down in a strong salt and water brine, to be greened and pickled as they are wanted. Keep them under the brine. When wanted, freshen them in two or three changes of water, for two or three days, until by cutting one open, you find it but little salt; then pour scalding vinegar over them three times, and keep them covered; add spices and seasoning to the vinegar, to suit the taste.
The vessels in which pickles have been, whether of glass, wood, or stone, will never be fit for preserved fruit; they will surely spoil if put in them. After pickles are used, throw out the vinegar, wash the vessels first in cold water, then pour hot water into them, cover and let it remain until cold, then wash, wipe, and dry them near the fire or in the sun, and set them away for future use. Wooden ware will require to be wet occasionally, or to be kept in a damp place, that it may not become leaky. Should catsups seem frothy or foamy, put them in a bright brass, or porcelain kettle, over the fire; boil slowly, and skim until no more scum rises, then turn into an earthen vessel to cool, after which put in bottles and stop them tight.
TO PICKLE CUCUMBERS PLAIN WITHOUT SPICES
Take one hundred small cucumbers, or more, if you wish, salt them freely, and let them remain eight or ten hours; then drain them, put them into boiling vinegar enough to cover them, and place vine leaves among and over them to green them; let them scald a few minutes in the vinegar, and take them from the fire, but place them near it to keep warm and become green; if the leaves turn yellow, put fresh ones among them. When green you can pack them away in jars; season them at any time you may desire, as they will keep well if scalded thoroughly with the boiling vinegar.
CUCUMBER PICKLES IN WHISKEY
Prepare your cucumbers as usual by letting them stay a few days in brine, or if time is an object scald them in brine, and then proceed to pickle them. The same brine may be used many times, pouring it boiling hot on each mess of cucumbers. If you have no vinegar convenient drop your scalded cucumbers into a mixture of one part whiskey and three parts water. Secure them carefully from the air, and by Christmas they will be fine, firm, green pickles, and the whiskey and water will be excellent vinegar. Add spices after they are pickled. If you do not wish all your pickles spiced, keep a stone-pot of well-spiced vinegar by itself, and put in a few at a time as you want them.
CUCUMBER AND ONION PICKLE
Take a dozen fine crisp cucumbers and four large onions. Cut both in thick slices, sprinkle salt and pepper on them, and let them stand. Next day drain them well and scald them in boiling vinegar; cover close after scalding. Next day scald again with a bag of mace, nutmeg and ginger, in the vinegar; then place them in jars and cork close. If the vinegar seems to have lost its strength, replace with fresh, and put the bag of spices in again to keep the flavor.
OLD-TIME SWEET PICKLED CUCUMBERS
Put your cucumbers in brine for eight days; slice them without soaking; let the slices be an inch thick. When cut, soak them until the salt is nearly out, changing the water very often. Then put them in a kettle, with vine leaves laid between the layers; cover them well with leaves, and sprinkle pulverized alum all through them, to harden and green them, then cover with vinegar, and set them on the back of the stove until they become green. Take the cucumbers out and boil them a little in ginger tea (half an hour will be enough). Make a syrup of one quart of strong vinegar, and one pint of water, three pounds of sugar to four pounds of cucumbers, with one ounce of cinnamon, cloves, mace and white ginger to every ten pounds of fruit. Make this syrup hot, and put in the cucumbers and boil them until clear. When they are clear take them out and boil the syrup until it is thick enough to keep. Pour it over the cucumbers, which should have been placed in jars ready for the syrup. They are now ready to use, or seal up, as may be desired. If not convenient to pickle after eight days salt brining, it does not hurt to let them remain a few days longer.
PICKLED EGGS
When eggs are abundant and cheap, it is well to pickle some for a time of scarcity. Boil three or four dozen eggs for half an hour, let them cool, and then take off the shells, and place them in wide-mouthed jars, and pour over them scalding vinegar. Season the vinegar with whole pepper, cloves, or allspice, ginger, and a few cloves of garlic. When cold, they must be bunged down very close. Let them be well covered with the vinegar, and in a month they will be fit for use. The above pickle is by no means expensive, and as an accompaniment to cold meat is not to be surpassed for piquancy and gout.
SWEET PICKLE OF FIGS
Put the figs in brine at night; in the morning, or after being in brine about twelve hours, take them out, wash off the salt, and put them in alum water for three hours. Then take them out and scald them in hot water until heated through. Make a syrup of a quart of vinegar, a pint of sugar with a tablespoonful of cinnamon, mace, and cloves each; boil half an hour, and pour on the figs boiling hot. Repeat the boiling next day, and bottle up and seal for future use.
SWEET PLUM PICKLE
Take eight pounds of fruit, four pounds of sugar, two quarts of vinegar, one ounce of cinnamon and one of cloves. Boil the vinegar, sugar and spices together; skim it carefully and pour it boiling on the fruit; pour it off, and skim and scald each day for three days; it will then be fit for use. If for putting away, scald it the fourth time and cork up tightly. Plums prepared in this way are superior to the old way, with sugar alone.
GREEN TOMATO SWEET PICKLE
Slice tomatoes until you have seven pounds, sprinkle them with salt, and let them stand twenty-four hours. Then soak them for the same length of time in fresh water to get the brine from them. When drained off and ready, allow four and a half pounds of sugar, one ounce of cinnamon, one ounce of cloves, and enough vinegar to cover them. Boil the compound together and pour it over the tomatoes; let them stand twenty-four hours, then bring all to a boil, and tie away in jars, and keep in a cool place away from the light.
CANTALOUPE SWEET PICKLE
Take a ripe cantaloupe, quarter it, remove the seeds and cut it into pieces an inch square. Put the cut pieces in a stone crock, and pour on scalding vinegar; when it cools heat it again, and return it to the cantaloupe. Repeat this next day. On the fourth day take out the fruit and add fresh vinegar to cover it. To every quart of this vinegar add three pounds of loaf sugar, and five pounds of cantaloupe. Put to them nutmeg, cinnamon and mace, to taste. Put all in a porcelain-lined kettle and simmer until the fruit can be pierced with a straw. Pack it in small jars and keep in a cool place.
CHOPPED CABBAGE PICKLE
Put together one pint of chopped onions, three gills (or three wineglassfuls) of white mustard seed, three tablespoonfuls of ground mustard and the same of celery seed; add a pound of brown sugar and three quarts of good vinegar. Cook this compound slowly until it begins to thicken, then pour it hot upon two gallons of chopped cabbage, which should be shaved or chopped very thin. This pickle is ready to bottle for use when it has boiled fifteen minutes.
TO PICKLE CABBAGE. A VERY NICE YELLOW PICKLE
Cut four cabbage heads into eighths, if large, or quarters, if small; they must be white and tender. Soak it in strong brine for three days and scald it in clear water until you can pierce it with a straw. Take it out and dry it on large dishes for twenty-four hours. Then put it into strong vinegar, with powdered turmeric, sufficient to color the cabbage yellow. Let it remain in this vinegar ten days; then take it out and drain on a sieve for several hours. Have the following spices prepared, then pack in a jar alternately one layer of cabbage and one of spices. For each gallon of vinegar allow five pounds of sugar, three ounces of turmeric, two of ginger, four of horseradish, two of white mustard seed, one-half ounce of celery seed, quarter of an ounce of mace, two ounces of whole pepper, white if you can get it, and four ounces of garlic. Scald the vinegar and sugar together, and pour hot on the cabbage and the spices. Cover tight, and you will have an admirable pickle.
TO PICKLE RED CABBAGE
Slice the cabbage and sprinkle with salt. Let it remain three days; drain, and pour over it boiling vinegar in which you have put mace, bruised ginger, whole pepper and cloves; let it remain in this until next day. Then give one more scald, and it is ready to put up for use. The purple red cabbage is the best.
CHOW-CHOW PICKLE
Take a quarter of a peck each, of green tomatoes, pickling-beans, and white onions (scald the onions separately), add one dozen cucumbers, green peppers, and a head of cabbage chopped. Season with ground mustard, celery seed, and salt to taste. Pour over these the best cider vinegar to cover them, and let all boil two hours, and while hot add two tablespoonfuls of sweet oil and the same of white sugar. Bottle and seal up carefully in wide-mouthed glass jars.
PICKLED CAULIFLOWER
Take large, ripe, full-blown cauliflowers; divide the pieces equally and throw them into a kettle of boiling water; boil them until a little soft, but not as much as if for the table. Take the pieces out and let them cool, then scald an ounce of mace, to each quart of good cider vinegar, and pour it hot on the cauliflower. Spices such as are usually used in pickling, improve this recipe, and should be tied in a bag and thrown in with the pickle at the last, remembering not to use dark spices, as they discolor the cauliflower. White pepper, white mustard seed and ginger are the spices suitable for this pickle.
PICKLED LEMONS
They should be small and have a thick rind. Rub them hard with a piece of flannel, then slit them through the rind in four quarters, but not through the pulp; fill the slits with salt hard pressed in, set them upright in a crock four or five days, until the salt melts. Turn them each day in their own liquid until they get tender. Make the pickle to cover them of vinegar, some of the brine of the lemons, pepper and ginger; boil this pickle and skim it well, and when cold put it over the lemons with two ounces of mustard seed and two cloves of garlic, to six lemons. This is fine for fish when the lemons are all used.
TO PICKLE ONIONS
Peel the onions, boil some strong salt and water and put it over them, cover, and let them stand twenty-four hours, then take them up with a skimmer; make some vinegar boiling hot, put to it whole pepper and mustard seed, and pour it over the onions to cover them; when cold cover close.
PREMIUM MUSTARD PICKLE
Soak three quarts of small cucumbers, gherkins, or green tomatoes, in strong salt water for three days; then put them into fresh cold water for a day or two, then scald them in plain vinegar and set them by in a place to cool. Take a gallon of vinegar, add to it one ounce of white mustard seed, two ounces of turmeric, three of sliced ginger, two of shredded horseradish, one-half pound of mustard, three pounds of brown sugar, one-half pint of sweet oil, one ounce each of celery seed, black pepper, cloves, mace, and one teaspoonful of cayenne pepper. Boil all these ingredients for fifteen minutes and pour it on the cucumbers, gherkins, or other scalded vegetable you may wish to pickle.
WALNUT PICKLE
Pick the walnuts about the Fourth of July. They should be so soft that a pin can be run through them. Lay them in salt and water ten days, change the water two or three times during the ten days. Rub off the outside with a coarse cloth and proceed to finish the pickle. For one hundred nuts, make a pickle of two quarts of vinegar, one ounce of ground pepper, same of ginger, half an ounce of mace, cloves, nutmegs and mustard seed. Put these spices in a bag, lay it in the vinegar and boil all together a few minutes; then set the pickle away for use. If the vinegar is not very strong, add fresh vinegar to the last scalding of the pickles.
PICKLED OYSTERS
Take fine large oysters, put them over a gentle fire in their own liquor, and a small lump of butter to each hundred oysters. Let them boil ten minutes, when they are plump and white; take them from their liquor with a skimmer and spread them on a thickly folded cloth. When they are firm and cold take half as much of their own liquor and half of good vinegar, make this hot, and take a stone crock, put in a layer of oysters, a spoonful of ground mace, a dozen cloves, allspice, and whole pepper alternately. If to be kept, put them in glass jars with a little sweet oil on top. Stop them and seal tight, and they will, if kept in a cool place, be good for months.
COUNTRY GREEN PICKLE
One peck of tomatoes, eight green peppers to be chopped fine. They must be the vegetable or sweet pepper. Soak the tomatoes and pepper twenty-four hours in weak brine; drain off the brine, and add to the green tomatoes a head of finely chopped cabbage; scald all in boiling vinegar twenty minutes. Skim it out from the vinegar, and place in a large jar, and add three pints of grated horseradish and such other spices as you please. Fill the jars with strong cold vinegar and tie up for use.
TOMATO SAUCE PICKLE
One gallon of tomatoes and one gallon of vinegar. Slice the tomatoes (green ones are firmest), and sprinkle salt between each layer. Let them remain thus for twelve hours, then rinse them, and put them to drain on a sieve. Put your vinegar to boil with a dozen onions cut up in it, season high with cloves, pepper and ginger, and when this boils throw in your tomatoes and let them boil five minutes. Finish by stirring in one-quarter of a pound of mustard and a pound of sugar; then add a quart of vinegar and bottle it.
PLAIN PEACH PICKLE
Take eight or ten fine, nearly ripe peaches; free-stone are preferred by some, but experience teaches that clings make the firmest pickle. Wipe off the down with a flannel rag, and put them into brine strong enough to bear up an egg. In two days drain them from this brine, and scald them in boiling vinegar, and let them stay in all night. Next day boil in a quart of vinegar, one ounce of whole pepper, one of broken-up ginger, eight blades of mace, and two ounces of mustard-seed; pour this boiling on the peaches, and when cool, put them in jars, and pack away carefully in a cool place.
PEACH PICKLES
Take ripe, sound, cling-stone peaches; remove the down with a brush like a clothes brush; make a gallon of good vinegar hot; add to it four pounds of brown sugar; boil and skim it clear. Stick five or six cloves into each of the peaches, then pour the hot vinegar over them, cover the vessel and set it in a cold place for eight or ten days, then drain off the vinegar, make it hot, skim it, and again turn it over the peaches; let them become cold, then put them into glass jars and secure as directed for preserves. Free-stone peaches may be used.
PEACHES AND APRICOT PICKLE
Take peaches fully grown, but not mellow; cover them in strong salt and water for one week. Take them from the brine and wipe them carefully, rubbing each peach to see if it is firm. Put to a gallon of vinegar half an ounce each of cloves, pepper corns, sliced ginger root, white mustard seed, and a little salt. Scald the peaches with this boiling vinegar, repeat this three times; add half as much fresh vinegar, and cork them up in jars. Keep them dark and cool. Light will spoil pickles or preserves as much as heat does. Apricots may be pickled in the same way.
GREEN PEACHES PICKLED
Brush the down from green peaches (cling-stones); put them in salt and water, with grape leaves and a bit of saleratus; set them over a moderate fire to simmer slowly until they are a fine green, then take them out, wipe them dry, and smooth the skins; take enough vinegar to cover them, put to it whole pepper, allspice, and mustard seed, making it boiling hot, and turn it over the peaches. Repeat the scalding three successive days.
PEACH MANGOES
Steep some large free-stone peaches in brine for two days, then wipe each peach carefully, and cut a hole in it just sufficient to allow the seed to come out; then throw them into cold vinegar until you make the stuffing, which is to fill up the cavity occupied by the seed. Take fresh white mustard seed which has been wet with vinegar, and allowed to swell a few hours, scraped horseradish, powdered ginger, a few pods of red pepper, a few small onions, or, better still, a clove of garlic. Mix all with vinegar, and add half as much chopped peach. Stuff the peaches hard with this mixture, replace the piece cut out, and tie it up tight with pack-thread. Boil a quart of vinegar for each dozen peaches; season it with the same spices as the stuffing. Boil the spices in a small bag, and then put in the peaches and let them scald ten or fifteen minutes, just long enough to be thoroughly hot all through. Place the peaches in jars, and pour scalding vinegar well spiced over them—the vinegar must cover them; add at the top a tablespoonful of salad oil. Cover the jar tight by tying leather over it.
MELON MANGOES
Get the late, small, smooth, green melons, they should not be larger than a teacup; cut out a piece from the stem end large enough to allow you to take the seeds from the inside; scrape out all the soft part, and when done, cover with the piece cut out and lay them in rows in a stone or wooden vessel as you do them. Make a strong brine of salt and water, pour it over the melons and let them remain in it twenty-four hours. Prepare the following stuffing: sliced horseradish, very small cucumbers, nasturtiums, small white onions, mustard seed, whole pepper, cloves and allspice; scald the pickles and cull them. Rinse the melons in cold water, then wipe each one dry and fill it. Put a cucumber, one or two small onions, with sliced horseradish and mustard seed, into each melon; put on the piece belonging to it and sew it with a coarse needle and thread; lay them in a stone pot or wooden vessel, the cut side up; when all are in, strew over them cloves and pepper, make the vinegar (enough to cover them) boiling hot, and put it over them, then cover with a folded towel; let them stand one night, then drain off the vinegar, make it hot again and pour it on, covering as before. Repeat this scalding four or five times, until the mangoes are a fine green; three times is generally enough. Be sure the melons are green and freshly gathered. The proper sort are the last on the vines, green and firm. If you wish to keep them till the next summer, choose the most firm, put in a jar and cover with cold fresh vinegar; tie thick paper over them.