Currants.—Take when ripe, separate from the stem, put in glass jars, set them in a kettle of cold water, then put them over the fire, and boil 15-20 minutes; cork tight, and set away where the frost will not get to them.
Eggs.—(a) Most of the recipes given for preserving eggs direct that the egg should be coated with something to stop up the pores. Many seem equally efficacious if the covering is complete, with one exception—fat, which becomes rancid, and imparts its own flavour through the pores of the shell. Gum, the white of an egg, collodion, or gelatine have all been used with success, but paraffin wax has often failed. Anything that the eggs are packed in gives its own flavour to their contents; therefore bran, chaff, and straw are to be avoided as being likely to become musty. It is far better to set the eggs on end, the larger ends upwards, in a wire or wooden rack, and to allow free passage of air between. The eggs need not then be turned, for the yolks are tethered to each end by a membranous cord, and if they settle, it is always to one side, which would here be impossible, nor to either extremity. One writer has used and approved the following method: To 1 teaspoonful salicylic acid add about 1 pint boiling water. Let it cool, dip the eggs in one by one, dry them, and store them on racks in an airy cupboard. Again some people dip each egg into boiling water, and so make an impervious lining of its own white; but this requires more care to prevent cracking, and does not preserve the eggs for so long a time as the recipes given above. Eggs are also packed in boxes in lime, and turned frequently. The advantage of this plan is the small space that a number of eggs occupy; its great disadvantage is that the lime acts upon the shell and thins it down to exceeding brittleness. Much better is it to make a tub of lime water, by pouring cold water over ordinary unslaked lime, and when it has settled and is clear, pour off the water into a deep vessel. Put the eggs in this and cover it over. The air is here effectually kept away from the eggs, and the difficulty of wire racks is avoided. For cooking purposes lime packing is all that can be desired, though for the breakfast table some much prefer the salicylic acid. Whatever plan is chosen the eggs should be put by at once, not after they are a week or two old.
(b) When you collect your eggs in a morning, sort them into sizes, and put 10-12 into a net; have ready a large saucepan of water at the full boil. Take the net with the eggs and hold it in exactly 2 seconds; this kills the germ of the egg and closes the pores of the shell. It is necessary, as the eggs always differ much in size, to take one of each size, immerse them separately, and time them exactly, as the white must on no account be in the least degree set. When they are finished, pack all away in tin boxes until required for use.
(c) Get a brick of salt, pound it fine and dry it, then place the eggs freshly gathered, and not cracked, with the pointed ends downwards in the salt, and pack them firmly in a box or jar; then keep them in a dry place. Most of them will be quite fit for the table when kept not more than 3 months; after that they still poach well, and are good for culinary purposes. The same salt used for several years is better than new. One great convenience of this plan is that on opening a box, or 4 lb. biscuit tin containing about 60, you are not compelled to use them all quickly, for each egg is isolated in salt and remains fresh till wanted. The weight of testimony on all sides is much in favour of salt over all other plans.
(d) To 1 gal. water put 1 lb. quicklime; pour the water, when boiling, on the lime, and let it stand till the next day. Procure a large brown earthenware pan, well glazed inside, and large enough to hold about 100 eggs; put them in carefully, that they do not get in the least cracked, pour in the lime water, cover over the vessel with a slate, and put it in the cellar, but do not let it touch the floor. A little salt in the lime keeps the water from freezing. Eggs thus treated will keep good for many months.
Figs.—These should not be gathered from the tree until they are ripe and tender in the skin, after which they will keep in the fruit room for a few days without growing mouldy, but no longer; on ice, however, they will keep for 2-3 weeks.
Filberts.—Get some stone jars, such as are used for pickles, about 2 ft. in height and 1 ft. in diameter; fill them with filberts, and then cork them down very tightly with a bung. Bury them about 1 ft. in the earth, or place them in a damp wine-cellar.
French Beans.—(a) Cut the beans up as usual, boil for 10 minutes in water without salt, put into a colander. Fill tins with them almost to the top, leaving only a little room for enough boiling water to cover them; then solder the tins down, after which boil them for an hour; take the tins out, and keep them in a dry place.
(b) Gather the beans when young, and in dry weather. Have ready a brown earthenware pan or crock holding about ½ basket, and when the beans have been gathered string and cut them as if for immediate use; cover the bottom of the crock well with salt—the coarse kind used for pickling pork—add a layer of French beans, well cover them with salt, then add layers of beans and of salt alternately until the crock is full; tie it down with thick brown paper, keep it in a cool cellar where it is not too dry, and by Christmas the beans will be ready for use. It is not necessary to have sufficient beans at one time to fill the crock, provided care is taken to cover the last layer with plenty of salt. To prepare them for use during the winter, take out of the crock as many as are wanted for immediate use, put them in a pan, and pour enough hot (but not boiling) water over them to cover them (the salt will then fall to the bottom), lift out the beans, and put them into fresh hot water 3 or 4 times, allowing them to remain in each water ¾-1 hour, then boil them in the ordinary way. A pinch of soda carbonate in the water they are boiled in gives them the bright green colour they have when fresh gathered. Towards the end of the winter they require ¼-½ hour’s extra boiling, as the salt is apt to make them hard. Keep the crock tied down between the times of using the beans. By attention to these rules they will remain good till the following May or June.
Gooseberries and Currants.—Bushes of both these in the open quarter may be matted up when the fruit is ripe, and it will keep, under ordinarily favourable conditions, till November; but by far the best plan is to grow the trees against a north wall, where they may be kept till late in the season with little trouble.