Cucumber or Gherkin Pickle. ✠
Choose small cucumbers, or gherkins, for this purpose. They are more tender, and look better on the table. Reject all over a finger in length, and every one that is misshapen or specked, however slightly. Pack in a stone jar or wooden bucket, in layers, strewing salt thickly between these. Cover the top layer out of sight with salt, and pour on cold water enough to cover all. Lay a small plate or round board upon them, with a clean stone to keep it down. You may leave them in the brine for a week or a month, stirring up from the bottom every other day. If the longer time, be sure your salt and water is strong enough to bear up an egg. If you raise your own cucumbers, pick them every day, and drop in the pickle. When you are ready to put them up, throw away the brine, with any cucumbers that may have softened under the process, and lay the rest in cold fresh water for twenty-four hours. Change the water then for fresh, and leave it for another day. Have a kettle ready, lined with green vine-leaves, and lay the pickles evenly within it, scattering powdered alum over the layers. A bit of alum as large as a pigeon-egg will be enough for a two-gallon kettleful. Fill with cold water, cover with vine-leaves, three deep; put a close lid or inverted pan over all, and steam over a slow fire five or six hours, not allowing the water to boil. When the pickles are a fine green, remove the leaves and throw the cucumbers into very cold water. Let them stand in it while you prepare the vinegar. To one gallon allow a cup of sugar, three dozen whole black peppers, the same of cloves, half as much allspice, one dozen blades of mace. Boil five minutes; put the cucumbers into a stone jar, and pour the vinegar over them scalding hot. Cover closely. Two days afterward scald the vinegar again and return to the pickles. Repeat this process three times more, at intervals of two, four, and six days. Cover with a stoneware or wooden top; tie stout cloth over this, and keep in a cool, dry place. They will be ready for eating in two months. Examine every few weeks.