Indian meal should be purchased in small quantities, say fifteen or twenty pounds at a time, and be kept in a covered tub or keg. When new and sweet, it should not be scalded, but when not perfectly fresh and good when used, it is improved by scalding. It must be kept very cool and dry, and if occasionally stirred, is preserved more surely from growing sour or musty.
Rye should be bought in small quantities, say forty or fifty pounds at a time, and be kept in a keg, or half barrel with a cover.
Buckwheat, Rice, Hominy, and Ground Rice, must be purchased in small quantities, and kept in covered kegs, or tubs. Several of these articles are infested with small black insects, and examination must occasionally be made for them.
Arrowroot, Tapioca, Sago, Pearl Barley, American Isinglass, Macaroni, Vermacelli, and Oatmeal, are all articles which help to make an agreeable variety, and it is just as cheap to buy a small quantity of each, as it is to buy a larger quantity of two or three articles. Eight or ten pounds of each of these articles of food can be stored in covered jars, or covered wood boxes, and then they are always at hand to help make a variety. All of them are very healthful food, and help to form many delightful dishes for desserts. Some of the most healthful puddings are those made of rice, tapioca, sago, and macaroni, while isinglass, or American gelatine, form elegant articles for desserts, and is also excellent for the sick.
Sugars should not be bought by the barrel, as the brown is apt to turn to molasses, and run out on to the floor. It is best to keep four qualities of sugar on hand. Refined loaf for tea, crushed sugar for the nicest preserves and to use with fruit, nice brown sugar for coffee, and common brown for cooking and more common use. The loaf can be stored in the papers, on a shelf. The others should be kept in close covered kegs, or covered wooden articles made for the purpose.
Butter must be kept in the dryest and coldest place you can find, in vessels of either stone, earthen, or wood, and never in tin.
Lard and Drippings must be kept in a dry, cold place, and should not be salted. Usually the cellar is the best place for them. Earthen, or stone jars are the best to store them in.
Salt must be kept in the dryest place that can be found. Rock salt is the best for table salt. It should be washed, dried, pounded, sifted, and stored in a glass jar, and covered close. It is common to find it growing damp in the salt stands for the table. It should then be set by the fire to dry, and afterwards be reduced to fine powder again. Nothing is more disagreeable than coarse or damp salt on a table.
Vinegar is best made of wine, or cider. Buy a keg, or half barrel of it, and set it in the cellar, and then keep a supply for the castors in a junk bottle in the kitchen. If too strong, it eats the pickles.
Pickles never must be kept in glazed ware, as the vinegar forms a poisonous compound with the glazing.