MUSHROOMS IN BRINE.
For Winter Use. (Very Good.)
We have had small mushroom-buttons excellently preserved through the winter prepared as follows, and we therefore give the exact proportions which we had used for them, though the same quantity of brine would possibly allow of rather more mushrooms in it. Prepare them exactly as for the preceding pickle, and measure them after the stems are taken off. For each quart, boil together for five minutes two quarts of water, with half a pound of common white salt, a small dessertspoonful of white peppercorns, a couple of blades of mace, and a race of ginger; take off the scum thoroughly, and throw in the mushrooms; boil them gently for about five minutes, then put them into well-warmed, wide-necked bottles, and let them become perfectly cold; pour a little good salad-oil on the top, cork them with new corks, and tie bladder over, or cover them with two separate bladders. When wanted for use, soak the mushrooms in warm water until the brine is sufficiently extracted.
Mushrooms, 1 quart; water, 1/2 gallon; salt, 1/2 lb.; peppercorns, 1 small dessertspoonful; mace, 2 blades; ginger, 1 race: 5 minutes. Mushrooms, in brine: 5 minutes.
TO PICKLE WALNUTS.
The walnuts for this pickle must be gathered while a pin can pierce them easily, for when once the shell can be felt, they have ceased to be in a proper state for it. Make sufficient brine to cover them well, with six ounces of salt to the quart of water; take off the scum, which will rise to the surface as the salt dissolves, throw in the walnuts, and stir them night and morning; change the brine every three days, and if they are wanted for immediate eating, leave them in it for twelve days; otherwise, drain them from it in nine, spread them on dishes, and let them remain exposed to the air until they become black: this will be in twelve hours, or less. Make a pickle for them with something more than half a gallon of vinegar to the hundred, a teaspoonful of salt, two ounces of black pepper, three of bruised ginger, a drachm of mace, and from a quarter to half an ounce of cloves (of which some may be stuck into three or four small onions), and four ounces of mustard-seed. Boil the whole of these together for about five minutes; have the walnuts ready in a stone jar or jars, and pour it on them as it is taken from the fire. When the pickle is quite cold, cover the jar securely, and store it in a dry place. Keep the walnuts always well covered with vinegar, and boil that which is added to them.
Walnuts, 100; in brine made with 12 oz. salt to 2 quarts water, and changed twice or more, 9 or 12 days. Vinegar, full 1/2 gallon; salt, 1 teaspoonful; whole black pepper, 2 oz.; ginger, 3 oz.; mace, 1 drachm; cloves, 1/4 to 1/2 oz.; small onions, 4 to 6; mustard-seed, 4 oz.: 5 minutes.
TO PICKLE BEET-ROOT.
Boil the beet-root tender by the directions of page [329], and when it is quite cold, pare and slice it; put it into a jar, and cover it with vinegar previously boiled and allowed to become again perfectly cold: it will soon be ready for use. It is excellent when merely covered with chili vinegar. A few small shalots may be boiled in the pickle for it when their flavour is liked. Carrots boiled tolerably tender in salt and water may be prepared by this receipt with or without the addition of the shalots, or with a few very small silver onions, which should be boiled for a minute or two in the pickle: this should be poured hot on the carrots.
To each quart of vinegar, salt, 1 teaspoonful; cayenne tied in muslin, 1/2 saltspoonful, or white peppercorns, 1/2 to whole oz.