PHYSOSTIGMATIS FABA. See Calabar bean.
PI′CA. Depraved appetite.
PIC′AMAR. One of the peculiar principles discovered by Reichenbach in beech-tar, and described by him as a viscid, colourless, oily liquid, only feebly odorous, but intensely bitter; insoluble in water; freely soluble in alcohol, ether, and oils; boiling point 520° Fahr.; sp. gr. 1·095. See Kreasote.
PICCALIL′LI. See Pickles.
PICK′LE. The liquor in which substances used as food are preserved. That for flesh is commonly brine; that for vegetables, vinegar; both of which are commonly flavoured with spices, &c.
Prep. 1. (For meat.)—a. From bay salt, 3 lbs.; saltpetre, 21⁄2 oz.; moist sugar, 1 lb.; allspice and black pepper, of each (bruised) 1 oz.; water, 9 pints; simmer them together in a clean covered iron or enamelled vessel for 7 or 8 minutes; when the whole has cooled, remove the scum, and pour it over the articles to be preserved. Used for hams, tongues, beef, &c., to which it imparts a fine red colour and a superior flavour.
b. From bay salt and common salt, of each 2 lbs.; moist sugar, 1 lb.; saltpetre, 1⁄2 lb.; allspice (bruised), 1⁄2 oz.; water, 1 gall,; as before.
Used chiefly for pork and hams. Common salt may be substituted for bay salt, but it is less powerfully antiseptic, and the flavour is less grateful.
2. (For VEGETABLES.)—a. Strong distilled vinegar, to each quart of which 11⁄2 oz. of good salt has been added.
b. Good distilled vinegar, 4 pints; common salt, 21⁄2 oz.; black pepper, 1⁄2 oz.; unbleached Jamaica ginger, 21⁄2 oz. (the last two bruised, but not dusty); mace (shredded), 1⁄4 oz.; simmer in an enamelled iron or stoneware vessel, as above, and strain through flannel. Sometimes a little capsicum is added. Used either hot or cold, according to the vegetable it is intended to preserve.