It will follow, that in a plentiful year, sugar will not be necessary in order to provide against a scanty season; and that, with a slight expence, the same enjoyment will be derived from the preserved produce of two, three, and four years, as from a year of plenty.
§ LVI.
Chesnuts, Truffles, Mushrooms.
On taking the chesnuts out of the vessel in which they have been preserved, I plunge them in cold water, sprinkle them with a little fine salt, and roast them in a pan over a quick fire. In this manner they are excellent. The moistening them and the putting salt upon them may be dispensed with, but they must always be roasted over a quick fire.
I make the same use of preserved truffles and mushrooms, as of those recently gathered.
§ LVII.
Grape Juice, or Must.
When I made my first experiments of preserving grape juice in its fresh state, I was unacquainted with Mr. Parmentier’s “Information concerning the means of furnishing a substitute for sugar, in the principal uses made of it in medicine and domestic economy.”[Q] It is this valuable information which supplied me with the means of availing myself of fresh experiments, and making use of two hundred bottles of grape-juice preserved by me six months before.