This is a very convenient way of preserving yeast through the summer, or of conveying it to a distance.
TO DRY HERBS.—
By drying herbs with artificial heat as quickly as possible, you preserve their scent and flavour much better than when they are dried slowly by exposing them to the sun and air; a process by which a large portion of their strength evaporates. All sorts of herbs are in the greatest perfection just before they begin to flower. Gather them on a dry day, and place them in an oven, which must not be hot enough to discolour, scorch, or burn them. When they are quite dry, take them out, and replace them with others. Pick the leaves from the stems, (which may be thrown away,) and put them into bottles or jars; cork them tightly, and keep them in a dry place. Those that are used in cookery should be kept in a kitchen closet.
PEACH KERNELS.—
When peaches are in season, have in a convenient place an old basket or something of the sort, in which all the peach stones can be saved; they are too useful to be thrown away. Then have them carefully cracked, so as to extract the kernels whole if possible. Spread them out on a dish for one day. Then put them into a box or jar, and keep them to use as bitter almonds; for which they are an excellent substitute in flavouring custards, creams and cakes. Plum stones are worth saving in the same manner.
LEMON-PEEL.—
Never throw away the rind of a lemon. Keep a wide-mouthed bottle half full of brandy, and put into it (cut in pieces) all the lemon-rind that you do not immediately want. As the white part of the rind is of no use, it will be best to pare off the yellow very thin, and put that alone into the brandy, which will thus imbibe a very fine lemon flavour, and may be used for many nice purposes.
TO KEEP TOMATAS.—
Take fine ripe tomatas, and wipe them dry, taking care not to break the skin. Put them into a stone jar with cold vinegar, adding a small thin muslin bag filled with mace, whole cloves, and whole peppers. Then cork the jar tightly with a cork that has been dipped in melted rosin, and put it away in a dry place. Tomatas pickled in this manner keep perfectly well and retain their colour. For this purpose use the small round button tomatas.
Morella cherries may be pickled thus, in cold vinegar.