Pickled gherkins
Put the “prickly cucumbers” by the layer in a stone crock, strewing each layer thickly with salt; then pour in enough cold water to cover them. Lay a heavy plate on the top of all to keep them from floating. Leave the pickles in brine for a fortnight, frequently stirring them up from the bottom. Pick all over, rejecting such as are soft, and lay the firm ones in a kettle lined with grape leaves, sprinkling a generous pinch of alum over each layer of gherkins. Cover with cold water and three thicknesses of grape leaves over the surface of the water; put on a closely-fitting top and steam over a low fire for half a day. Drain the pickles and throw into cold water. Have ready a gallon of vinegar to which have been added eighteen allspice, three dozen cloves, three dozen black peppercorns, a dozen blades of mace, and a cup of sugar. Boil this vinegar for five minutes, then pack the cold gherkins in jars and fill the jars with the scalding vinegar.
Ripe cucumber pickle
Select rather small ripe cucumbers of uniform size. Steam them for three hours in a closely-covered preserving kettle, lining this and covering the cucumbers with vine leaves if you can procure these. To a kettleful of material allow two teaspoonfuls of powdered alum, scattering it over each layer of the cucumbers. Of water there should be only just enough to cover the vegetables. When the period of steaming is at an end drain off the water and throw the cucumbers into very cold water. Change this four times in four hours.
Weigh the cucumbers and allow for every pound of these a pound of sugar and a half-cupful of cold water. Heat these two together gradually, and when they are hot lay in the cucumbers. Let them simmer very slowly until tender; take them out and spread upon dishes while you add to the syrup on the stove a pint of vinegar for every pound of the rind, and to every eight pounds of it a tablespoonful, each, of ground cloves, cinnamon and mace.
Chow-chow
Prepare a mixture of string beans, tiny cucumbers, small onions (peeled), a cauliflower (cut into clusters) and green tomatoes (sliced). Add to these four small, long, red peppers, and arrange the vegetables in a wide-mouthed jar, alternating each layer of these with one of salt. When all are in cover with cold water, laying a board with a weight upon it on top of the contents of the jar to keep them from floating. Leave them thus for three days, drain the pickles, wash them with fresh water and let them lie in unsalted water for a day. Make a pickle vinegar by cooking together a gallon of vinegar, a teaspoonful, each, of celery seed, white mustard seed, whole cloves, whole mace and whole black peppers, and one of ground horseradish, two teaspoonfuls of turmeric, three tablespoonfuls of ground mustard, and a cupful and a half of brown sugar. Put over the fire in a preserving kettle, and, when it reaches a boil, drop in the pickles. Be careful that there are no decayed ones among them. After they have simmered five minutes take them out with a skimmer and put into a stone jar. Pour the vinegar over them, and let them stand for two days. Drain the vinegar off; put it back on the fire, add to it a tablespoonful of curry powder, and, when the vinegar is boiling, pour it over the pickles in the crock. When cold, put the pickles into small jars and seal. Ready for use in two or three weeks.
Red cabbage pickle
Quarter the cabbage and lay in a jar. Cover with salt and let it stand for twenty-four hours. Drain off the brine; wipe dry and cover with cold water for twelve hours. Bring two quarts of vinegar to the boil, spicing it, as you do so, with equal quantities of whole cloves, white peppers and blades of mace broken into tiny bits, a half cupful of sugar and two tablespoonfuls of celery seed. Pack the cabbage into a crock, and, after the vinegar and spices have boiled together for ten minutes, cover the cabbage with the scalding vinegar. Cover, and keep in a cool place. It must not be used under six weeks or two months.