Apples can be kept till June, by taking only those that are hard and sound, wiping them dry, then packing them in tight barrels, with a layer of bran to each layer of apples. Envelope the barrel in a linen cloth, to protect it from frost, and keep it in a cool place, but not so cold as to freeze the apples. It is said that mortar, laid over the top of a barrel of apples, is a good thing to preserve them, as it draws the air from them, which is the principal cause of their decaying. Care should be taken not to have it come in contact with the apples. To preserve oranges and lemons several months, take those that are perfectly fresh, and wrap each one in soft paper; put them in glass jars, or a very tight box, with white sand, that has been previously dried in an oven a few hours, after it has been baked in. The sand should be strewed thick over each one of the oranges, as they are laid in the jar, and the whole covered with a thick layer of it. Close the jar up tight, and keep it in a cool dry place, but not so cool as to freeze the fruit. To preserve grapes, gather them on a dry day, when they are not quite dead ripe, and pick those that are not fair off from the stems. Lay the bunches of grapes in a glass jar, and sprinkle around each of them a thick layer of dry bran, so that they will not touch each other. Have a thick layer of bran on the top, and cork and seal the jar very tight, so that the air may be entirely excluded. Whenever they are to be eaten, restore them to their freshness by cutting off a small piece from the end of the stalks, and immerse the stalks of each bunch in sweet wine for a few minutes. The stalks will imbibe the wine, and make the grapes fresh and juicy. Various kinds of fruit, taken when green, such as grapes, gooseberries, currants, and plums, can be kept through the winter, by being treated in the following manner: Fill junk bottles with them, and set them in an oven six or seven hours, after having baked in it. Let them remain till they begin to shrink, then take the fruit from one bottle to fill the others quite full. Cork and seal up the bottles. Whenever you wish to make pies of them, put the quantity you wish to use into a tin pan, turn on boiling water sufficient to cover them, and stew them in it till soft, then sweeten, and make them into pies. Ripe blackberries and whortleberries, to be kept long, should be dried perfectly in the sun, then tied up in bags that are thick enough to exclude the air. When used for pies, treat them in the same manner as the green fruit. Ripe currants, dried on the stalks, then picked off, and put in bags, will keep nice for pies during the winter. They also make a fine tea for persons that have a fever, particularly the hectic fever—it is also an excellent thing to counteract the effects of opium.
392. To keep Pickles and Sweetmeats.
Pickles should be kept in unglazed earthen jars, or wooden kegs. Sweetmeats keep best in glass jars; unglazed stone pots answer very well for common fruit. A paper wet in brandy, or proof spirit, and laid on the preserved fruit, tends to keep it from fermenting. Both pickles and sweetmeats should be watched, to see that they do not ferment, particularly when the weather is warm. Whenever they ferment, turn off the vinegar or syrup, scald and turn it back while hot. When pickles grow soft, it is owing to the vinegar being too weak. To strengthen it, heat it scalding hot, turn it back on the pickles, and when lukewarm, put in a little alum, and a brown paper, wet in molasses. If it does not grow sharp in the course of three weeks it is past recovery, and should be thrown away, and fresh vinegar turned on, scalding hot, to the pickles.
393. Cautions relative to the use of Brass and Copper Cooking Utensils.
Cleanliness has been aptly styled the cardinal virtue of cooks. Food is more healthy, as well as palatable, cooked in a cleanly manner. Many lives have been lost in consequence of carelessness in using brass, copper, and glazed earthen cooking utensils. The two first should be thoroughly cleansed with salt and hot vinegar before cooking in them, and no oily or acid substance, after being cooked, should be allowed to cool or remain in any of them.
394. Durable Ink for Marking Linen.
Dissolve a couple of drachms of lunar caustic, and half an ounce of gum arabic, in a gill of rain water. Dip whatever is to be marked in strong pearl-ash water. When perfectly dry, iron it very smooth; the pearl-ash water turns it a dark color, but washing will efface it. After marking the linen, put it near a fire, or in the sun, to dry. Red ink, for marking linen, is made by mixing and reducing to a fine powder half an ounce of vermilion, a drachm of the salt of steel, and linseed oil to render it of the consistency of black durable ink.
Melt together, moderately, ten ounces of Bayberry tallow, five ounces of bees’ wax, one ounce of mutton tallow. When melted, add lamp or ivory black to give it a good black color. Stir the whole well together, and add, when taken from the fire, half a glass of rum.