1164. Brandied Peaches—an excellent way.—After having removed the skin in the usual manner, by using lye, and throwing them in cold water, weigh the peaches, and put them in a stone jar—allowing room at the top for three-quarters of a pound of sugar for each pound of peaches; then pour over enough white brandy to cover the fruit. Set the jar in a pot of cold water, and let it remain over the fire till the brandy comes to a scald. When they are cold, they may either be put in glass jars, and tied down with bladder, or left in the same jar.
1165. Tomato Catchup.—To one gallon of skinned tomatoes, add four table-spoonfuls of salt; four table-spoonfuls of black pepper, ground fine; half a table-spoonful of allspice, ground fine; three table-spoonfuls of mustard; eight pods of red pepper. Simmer it slowly in sharp vinegar, in a pewter vessel, three or four hours; then strain it through a wire-sieve, and bottle it up. When cold, seal up the corks, and it will last for years.
1166. Green Tomato Pickle.—Cut in thin slices one peck of green tomatoes; sprinkle them with salt, and let them stand a day or two. Slice ten or twelve small onions. Mix together one bottle or small tin box of mustard; half an ounce of mustard-seed; one ounce of cloves; one ounce of pimento; two ounces of turmeric. Put in the kettle a layer of tomatoes, then one of onions and spice, till all are in. Cover it with good vinegar, and let it simmer till the tomatoes are quite clear.
1167. French Mustard.—Put on a plate, one ounce of the best powdered mustard; a salt-spoonful of salt; a few leaves of tarragon; and a clove of garlic, minced fine. Pour on it, by degrees, sufficient vinegar to dilute it to the proper consistency; about a wine-glassful; mix it with a wooden spoon. Do not use it in less than twenty-four hours.
1168. India Pickle. (E. R.)—Put two hundred gherkins, three pints of small onions, one quart of nasturtiums, one quart of radish-pods, 1 quartern of string-beans, six cauliflowers, and two hard, white cabbages, sliced, into a pan, and sprinkle them with salt—the onions having been previously peeled, and laid in salt and water for a week, to take off their strength. Then, after a day or two, take them out of the pan, and dry them thoroughly in a warm place, in the shade: they must be spread out separately. To two gallons of vinegar, put one ounce and a half of allspice, the same of long pepper and of white, and two ounces of ginger, tied up in muslin bags. When cold, mix with the vinegar one pound and a half of flour of mustard, and two table-spoonfuls of Cayenne pepper. Boil it well together, and pour it on the pickle. The vegetables mentioned, not being all procurable at the same time, may be added separately, at different periods, but they must all undergo the salting and drying process.
In choosing those vegetables, some discrimination may also be used. When in season, few things add a higher flavor to the pickle than the buds and flowers of the elder.