GOOSEBERRIES PRESERVED. Gather some dry gooseberries of the hairy sort, before the seeds become large, and take care not to cut them in taking off the stalks and buds. If gathered in the damp, or the gooseberry skins are the least broken in the preparation, the fruit will mould. Fill some jars or wide-mouthed bottles, put the corks loosely in, and set the bottles up to the neck in a kettle of water. When the fruit looks scalded, take them out; and when perfectly cold, cork them down close, and rosin the top. Dig a trench sufficiently deep to receive all the bottles, and cover them with the earth a foot and a half. When a frost comes on, a little fresh litter from the stable will prevent the ground from hardening, so that the fruit may more easily be dug up.—Green gooseberries may also be preserved for winter use, without bedding them in the earth. Scald them as above, and when cold, fill the bottles up with cold water. Cork and rosin them down, and keep them in a dry place.—Another way. Having prepared the gooseberries as above, prepare a kettle of boiling water, and put into it as much roche alum as will harden the water, or give it a little roughness when dissolved: but if there be too much it will spoil the fruit. Cover the bottom of a large sieve with gooseberries, without laying one upon another; and hold the sieve in the water till the fruit begins to look scalded on the outside. Turn them gently out of the sieve on a cloth on the dresser, cover them with another cloth, putting some more to be scalded, till the whole are finished. Observe not to put one quantity upon another, or they will become too soft. The next day pick out any bad or broken ones, bottle the rest, and fill up the bottles with the alum water in which they were scalded. If the water be left in the kettle, or in a glazed pan, it will spoil; it must therefore be quickly put into the bottles. Gooseberries prepared in this way, and stopped down close, will make as fine tarts as when fresh from the trees.—Another way. In dry weather pick some full grown but unripe gooseberries, top and tail them, and put them into wide-mouthed bottles. Stop them lightly with new velvet corks, put them into the oven after the bread is drawn, and let them stand till they are shrunk one fourth. Take them out of the oven, fasten the corks in tight, cut off the tops, and rosin them down close. Set them in a dry place; and if well secured from the air, they will keep the year round. Currants and damsons may be preserved in the same way.
GOOSEGRASS OINTMENT. Melt some hog's lard, add as much clivers or goosegrass as the lard will moisten, and boil them together over a slow fire. Keep the mixture stirring till it becomes a little brown, and then strain it through a cloth. When cold, take the ointment from the water, and put it up in gallipots.
GOUT. Gouty patients are required to abstain from all fermented and spirituous liquors, and to use wine very moderately; carefully to avoid all fat, rancid, and salted provisions, and high seasoned dishes of every description. The constant use of barley bread is recommended, with large doses of powdered ginger boiled in milk for breakfast. Absorbent powders of two scruples of magnesia, and three or four grains each of rhubarb and purified kali, should be taken during the intervals of gouty fits, and repeated every other morning for several weeks. The feet should be kept warm, sinapisms frequently applied to them, and the part affected should be covered with flannel.
GOUT CORDIAL. Take four pounds of sun raisins sliced and stoned, two ounces of senna, one ounce of fennel seed, one of coriander, half an ounce of cochineal, half an ounce of saffron, half an ounce of stick liquorice, and half a pound of rhubarb: infuse them all in two gallons of brandy, and let it stand for ten days. Stir it occasionally, then strain it off, and bottle it. Take a small wine-glass full, when the gout is in the head or stomach; and if the pain be not removed, take two large spoonfuls more.—Or take six drams of opium, half an ounce of soap of tartar, half an ounce of castile soap, one dram of grated nutmeg, three drams of camphor, two scruples of saffron, and nine ounces of sweet spirit of sal-ammoniac. Put them all into a wine flask in a sand-heat for ten days, shaking it occasionally till the last day or two: then pour it off clear, and keep it stopped up close for use. Take thirty or forty drops in a glass of peppermint two hours after eating; it may also be taken two or three times in the day or night if required.
GRANARIES. These depositaries are very liable to be infested with weasels, and various kinds of insects. To prevent their depredations, the floors of granaries should be laid with poplars of Lombardy.
GRAPES. To preserve this valuable fruit, prepare a cask or barrel, by carefully closing up its crevices to prevent access of the external air. Place a layer of bran, which has been well dried in an oven; upon this place a layer of bunches of grapes, well cleaned, and gathered in the afternoon of a dry day, before they are perfectly ripe. Proceed then with alternate layers of bran and grapes till the barrel is full, taking care that the bunches of grapes do not touch each other, and to let the last layer be of bran; then close the barrel so that the air may not be able to penetrate. Grapes thus packed will keep for a twelvemonth. To restore their freshness, cut the end of each bunch, and put that of white grapes into white wine, and that of black grapes into red wine, as flowers are put into water to keep them fresh. It is customary in France to pack grapes for the London market in saw dust, but it must be carefully dried with a gentle heat, or the turpentine and other odours of the wood will not fail to injure the fruit. Oak saw dust will answer the purpose best.
GRAPE WINE. To every gallon of ripe grapes put a gallon of soft water, bruise the grapes, let them stand a week without stirring, and draw the liquor off fine. To every gallon of liquor allow three pounds of lump sugar, put the whole into a vessel, but do not stop it till it has done hissing; then stop it close, and in six months it will be fit for bottling.—A better wine, though smaller in quantity, will be made by leaving out the water, and diminishing the quantity of sugar. Water is necessary only where the juice is so scanty, or so thick, as in cowslip, balm, or black currant wine, that it could not be used without it.
GRAVEL. The gout or rheumatism has a tendency to produce this disorder; it is also promoted by the use of sour liquor, indigestible food, especially cheese, and by a sedentary life. Perspiration should be assisted by gentle means, particularly by rubbing with a warm flannel; the diet regulated by the strictest temperance, and moderate exercise is not to be neglected. For medicine, take the juice of a horseradish, made into a thin syrup by mixing it with sugar; a spoonful or two to be taken every three or four hours.
GRAVEL WALKS. To preserve garden walks from moss and weeds, water them frequently with brine, or salt and water, both in the spring and in autumn. Worms may be destroyed by an infusion of walnut-tree leaves, or by pouring into the holes a ley made of wood ashes and lime. If fruit trees are sprinkled with it, the ravages of insects will be greatly prevented.
GRAVIES. A few general observations are necessary on the subject of soups and gravies. When there is any fear of gravy meat being spoiled before it be wanted, it should be well seasoned, and lightly fried, in order to its keeping a day or two longer; but the gravy is best when the juices are fresh. When soups or gravies are to be put by, let them be changed every day into fresh scalded pans. Whatever liquor has vegetables boiled in it, is apt to turn sour much sooner than the juices of meat, and gravy should never be kept in any kind of metal. When fat remains on any soup, a tea-cupful of flour and water mixed quite smooth, and boiled in, will take it off. If richness or greater consistence be required, a good lump of butter mixed with flour, and boiled in the soup or gravy, will impart either of these qualities. Long boiling is necessary to obtain the full flavour; and gravies and soups are best made the day before they are wanted. They are also much better when the meat is laid in the bottom of the pan, and stewed with herbs, roots, and butter, than when water is put to the meat at first; and the gravy that is drawn from the meat, should almost be dried up before the water is added. The sediment of gravies that have stood to be cold, should not be used in cooking. When onions are strong, boil a turnip with them, if for sauce; and this will make them mild and pleasant. If soups or gravies are too weak, do not cover them in boiling, that the watery particles may evaporate. A clear jelly of cow heels is very useful to keep in the house, being a great improvement to soups and gravies. Truffles and morels thicken soups and sauces, and give them a fine flavour. The way is to wash half an ounce of each carefully, then simmer them a few minutes in water, and add them with the liquor to boil in the sauce till quite tender. As to the materials of which gravy is to be made, beef skirts will make as good as any other meat. Beef kidney, or milt, cut into small pieces, will answer the purpose very well; and so will the shank end of mutton that has been dressed, if much be wanted. The shank bones of mutton, if well soaked and cleaned, are a great improvement to the richness of the gravy. Taragon gives the flavour of French cookery, and in high gravies it is a great improvement; but it should be added only a short time before serving. To draw gravy that will keep for a week, cut some lean beef thin, put it into a fryingpan without any butter, cover it up, and set it on the fire, taking care that it does not burn. Keep it on the fire till all the gravy that comes out of the meat is absorbed, then add as much water as will cover the meat, and keep it stewing. Put in some herbs, onions, spice, and a piece of lean ham. Let it simmer till it is quite rich, and keep it in a cool place; but do not remove the fat till the gravy is to be used.