Part 23

(_b_) Peel 4 lb. green mangoes, take out the stones, and cut them into quarters lengthwise; boil them slightly in 1 bottle vinegar, and put it aside in a jar till cold. Take another bottle of vinegar, to which add 2 lb. sugar, and boil it till it becomes a thin syrup; put aside till cold. Take 1 oz. salt, 2 lb. picked and dried raisins, 1 oz. yellow mustard seed, 1 oz. garlic, 2 oz. dried chillies, 1 lb. green ginger sliced. Pound the garlic, chillies, and ginger finely in a mortar; mix all the ingredients together, bottle and expose to the sun for 3-4 days, or place it in a cool oven. Apples can be used instead of mangoes; they should be finely cut up.

(_c_) Apple.--6 large sharp apples, 3 large onions, 6 oz. sultana raisins, 1 teaspoonful ground ginger, 1 saltspoonful red pepper, 1 dessertspoonful salt, 2 tablespoonfuls tomato sauce or the pulp of 2 or 3 tomatoes, 1 dessertspoonful anchovy essence, 1 dessertspoonful Indian soy, 1 tablespoonful salad oil, ½ vinegar. Chop very finely the apples and onions, and chop the raisins roughly. Now put all the ingredients, with the exception of the vinegar, into a mortar, and pound together, and by degrees add the vinegar. When all the ingredients are well blended together, put into wide-mouthed bottles, and cork tightly.

(_d_) Elder.--The berries that remain from elder ketchup, an onion finely minced, ¼ oz. ginger, and a blade of mace and 6 cloves; pound the spice together, and put all the ingredients into an enamelled stewpan, with 3 oz. sultana raisins, 2 oz. Demerara sugar, ½ pint vinegar, 1 saltspoonful cayenne pepper, and 1 teaspoonful salt, and, if convenient, a few mulberries; boil all together 5 minutes, take from the fire, and, when cold, put into wide-mouthed bottles, and cork tightly. This makes a very good chutney for cold meat; it can be made hotter if liked.

(_e_) Green Gooseberry.--4 pints green gooseberries boiled in 1½ pint brown vinegar, 2 lb. brown sugar made into a syrup, 1½ pint vinegar; 1½ lb. raisins, stoned and chopped; 6 oz. garlic, pounded and dried; 6 oz. mustard seed, gently dried and bruised; 2 oz. dried chillies, pounded. Mix all together, put in a cool oven for some hours on several different occasions; and after, if too dry, add a little vinegar, as may be required, at the end of a month or two.

(_f_) Tomato.--Take 4-5 lb. ripe tomatoes, pick out the stalks, wipe the fruit with a dry piece of flannel, place them in a jar with a lid, add a breakfastcupful of salt, the same of vinegar, close the jar by placing a stiff paste of flour and water round the edge of the lid so as to make it air-tight, place the jar in a large pan of boiling water, let the fruit simmer slowly for 6 hours, then pulp through a colander to get quit of the skins and cores. Shred 2 oz. red chillies, the same of garlic, make a syrup of 2 pints vinegar and 2 lb. loaf sugar, cut small 2 oz. ginger, mix all with the tomatoes, place on a slow fire, simmer gently; when it comes to the boil take off the chutney, bottle when cold, cork tight, keep in a warm, dry place.

Cucumbers.--Cut them small and unripe; make an incision at the side, and, taking out a piece of the fruit, save it entire, and extract the seeds thoroughly; put the cucumbers, with the pieces which have been cut from them, into a strong pickle of salt and water, and leave in it for 10 days, or until they become yellow; place in a pan, with thick layers of fresh vine leaves between them; dissolve a little powdered alum in the brine from which they have been taken, pour it on, and set the pan over a moderate fire; keep the cucumbers at a scalding heat for 4 hours at least, without on any account allowing them to boil; by that time they will be of a fine green colour; drain on a sieve, and when cold put a stick of horse-radish, some mustard seed, 4 cloves of garlic, and ¼ oz. of peppercorns into each cucumber; fit in the piece that was taken out, and stitch with a needle and green silk; boil 2 oz. each of black peppercorns, long pepper, and sliced ginger, 4 oz. mustard seed, 1 oz. each of garlic, mace, and cloves, and 1 gal. best white wine vinegar, together for 8 minutes; lay the cucumbers in a deep jar, and when the pickle is cold pour it on; tie first bladder, and then leather, closely over.

Gherkins.--Soak 250 gherkins in a pickle of 2½ lb. common salt to 1 gal. water; let lie 3 hours; drain on a sieve, wipe separately, and place in a jar; boil 1 gal. best white wine vinegar, 6 oz. common salt, 1 oz. each of allspice and mustard seed, ½ oz. each of cloves and mace, 1 sliced nutmeg, and 1 stick of horse-radish, sliced, for 12 minutes; skim well, and pour when cold over the gherkins; let stand 20 hours covered up close; put altogether into a pan over the fire, and let simmer only until they attain a nice green colour; place in jars, pour the liquor and spices over them, and tie closely with bladder and leather.

Grapes.--The grapes must be carefully cut from the stalk before they are ripe, and care must be taken not to bruise the skin, or they will become soft instead of crisp. Boil 4 pints vinegar, 2 oz. whole ginger, 1 oz. peppercorns, 2 doz. cloves, and a very small piece of mace. When cold pour it over the grapes, and let them be well covered, and remain 3 days; then boil the vinegar again, and pour it cold on the grapes. Bottle and cork securely.

Grape Leaves.--A writer in the _Country Gentleman_ recommends the use of fresh green grape-leaves to place on top of pickles in jars in place of flannel or other cloth usually employed. He claims the leaves will preserve the vinegar sharp and clear and impart a nice flavour. The leaves should be rinsed in pure water and left to drain before use, and occasionally changed. They exclude the air, and besides imparting a delightful flavour to the pickle cause less trouble to the housewife.

Ketchup.--(_a_) Elder.--Put into a jar 3 pints elderberries, picked from the stalks, 2 large blades of mace, 2 oz. ginger, 6 oz. anchovies, ½ oz. whole pepper, 1½ pint vinegar; set it in a rather cool oven, and let it remain there all night. Next morning strain the liquor from the berries, and put into an enamelled stewpan, with the ginger, mace, anchovies, pepper and salt; let it boil till the anchovies are dissolved. Strain off, and, when cold, put into small bottles, cork and seal. This is a nice ketchup for broiled fish. The berries will make a chutney.

(_b_) Mushroom.--The mushrooms should be gathered in the morning before the sun is on them. Break them in small bits, put them in a large dish, and sprinkle a good deal of salt upon them; let them lie for 4 days, turning them daily, and adding a little salt. Lay the pieces upon a sieve, or put them in a thin bag. Let them run all night until the juice is all run from them; put the juice in a stewpan, beat up the whites of 2 eggs, add them to the ketchup, with plenty of mixed spices. Let it boil for one minute, run it through a piece of muslin into a basin, and when cold bottle it up, cork, and seal it; keep it in a dry place.

(_c_) Ditto.--Break up the mushrooms, and add ¼ lb. salt to every 3½ lb. mushrooms; let them stand for 2 days, and drain all the juice you can procure from them by pressure; then boil it slowly for an hour, with 2 oz. of salt, a few cloves, and ¼ oz. peppercorns and whole ginger, to each qt.; then strain, and when cold bottle, using new corks, and sealing them down.

(_d_) Ditto.--Take for this full-grown flap mushrooms, crush them with the hands, and put a handful of salt to every peck; let them stand all night, then put into broad-mouthed jars, and set them for 12 hours in a quick oven, then strain through a hair sieve. To every qt. of liquor put ¼ oz. cloves, black pepper, and ginger; boil till half is wasted; when cold bottle for use.

(_e_) Walnut.--Take 6 half-sieves of green walnut shells, put them into a tub, mix up well with 2-3 lb. common salt; let them stand for 6 days, frequently beating and mashing them, till the shells become soft and pulpy, then, by banking it up on one side the tub, at the same time raising the tub on that side, the liquor will drain clear off to the other; then take that liquor out. The mashing may be repeated as often as liquor is found. The quantity will be about 6 qt. When done, let it be simmered in an iron boiler as long as any scum rises; then bruise ¼ lb. ginger, ¼ lb. allspice, 2 oz. long pepper, 2 oz. cloves; let it slowly boil ½ hour. When bottled, let an equal quantity of spice go into each bottle, cork them tight, seal them over, and put them into a cool, dry place for one year before they are used. (C. G. J.)

Lemon.--Grate the rind from 1½ doz. lemons, taking care only to remove the extreme outer coating, leaving the white well covered with a tinge of yellow. Cut them in quarters, but do not let the knife go quite through them, leaving just enough at the bottom to hold the quarters together; rub ¾ lb. bay salt equally over them, and spread them out on a dish. Place this in a cool oven, and let them remain there until the juice has dried into the peels. This, if preferred, may be done in front of the fire, but it must be done very gradually. When the juice is so absorbed, put the lemons in a large jar, with somewhat less than 1 oz. mace, the same of grated nutmeg, half the quantity of pounded cloves, 3 oz. peeled garlic, and ¾ breakfastcupful mustard seed bruised a little and tied in a muslin bag. Over all this pour 3 pints boiling vinegar, close the jar well, and stand it near the fire for 4-5 days, shaking it up every day. Then tie it up and let it remain for 3 months to take off the bitter taste of the peels. At the end of this time turn the whole out on to a hair sieve, moving it about to get out the liquor; let it stand a day, and then pour off the fine part and bottle it. The other part must stand for 3 days more, and it will refine itself. Pour it off and bottle it, let it stand again and bottle it, till the whole is refined. It may be put in any sauce, and will not spoil the colour. If for white sauce, 1 teaspoonful is enough, or 2 for brown sauce. Should cream be used in the sauce, the pickle must be put in before the cream or other thickening is added, or it will probably cause it to curdle.

Mixed Pickles.--1 gal. vinegar, sixpennyworth turmeric, 2 oz. black pepper ground, 2 oz. long ditto pounded, 1 oz. cloves pounded, 4 oz. flour of mustard, 3 oz. mustard seed, whole cayenne to your taste, 2 oz. ginger pounded fine, white cabbage cut in slices, quantities of horseradish scraped, ½ pint garlic, 1 pint shallots, 2 doz. large onions cut in quarters, a cucumber, a cauliflower, a few French beans, and a few radish pods, plenty of capsicums. Lay them in a red pan. You cannot put too much salt about them. Let the vegetables remain 3 days in salt, then strain them out and shake them. Lay them on a linen cloth in the sun to dry, then put them into your jar near the fire. Then boil all your spice with the vinegar, and pour it on boiling off the fire. They will be fit to use in 2 months. For an ordinary family ¼ of the above, with half the vegetables, will be found sufficient to make at a time.

Mushrooms.--Take the smallest and roundest button mushrooms, throw into cold water, and rub each separately with a piece of flannel dipped in salt to clean them thoroughly; put them again, as you proceed, into fresh cold water, and finally into a pan with a handful of table salt scattered over them on a moderate fire, covering them close that the steam may not escape, for 10 minutes, or until they are thoroughly hot and the water is drawn well out of them; pour them on a sieve, and quickly dry them well between the cloths; let remain covered up from the air till they are cold; place in clean dry glass bottles with a little mace, and fill up with distilled or white wine vinegar, adding to each bottle a teaspoonful of salad oil; cork and seal them up so as to exclude air.

Nasturtiums.--Gather within a week after the blossoms have fallen off; take a gallon of them, and throw into a pail of salt and water, cold, in which to keep them, changing the water 3 times at least, 3 days and nights; lay in a sieve to drain, and rub perfectly dry between cloths; boil for ten minutes 1 gal. white wine vinegar, 1 oz. each of mace and nutmeg, 2 oz. white peppercorns, 4 sliced shallots, and 4 oz. common salt; skim well, and when nearly cold, pour the whole over the fruit placed in jars, and tie close.

Onions.--Take the smallest clear silver onions; after peeling, immerse in cold salt and water, and let lie for 10 days, changing the pickle daily; drain on a sieve, put into a jar, pour newly-made brine of salt and water boiling hot over them, and let stand closely covered, until cold; repeat the scalding with new pickle, and, when cold and well drained, put in bottles or jars, with a slice or two of the best ginger, a blade of mace, and a bay leaf; fill up with distilled vinegar, and be sure to add salad oil to float on the top; tie close, and seal down.

Piccalilli.--Slice up a closely-grown, sound-hearted white cabbage and a sound white beetroot, with a cauliflower divided into several small branches, a few clear gherkins, some radish-pods, and kidney beans; lay in a sieve with two or three handfuls of common salt scattered over, and expose to the sun or fire for 4 days; when you think all the water is extracted from them, put them into a large stoneware pan, mixing well, and scattering plenty of good sound mustard seed amongst them as you go on; to each gallon of best vinegar, add 3 oz. peeled and sliced garlic, and 1½ oz. turmeric; boil, skim well, and pour the liquor while hot over the vegetables; let them lie 10 days, at least, with strong paper tied over, near a fire, until they have become a fine yellow colour, and have imbibed a fair quantity of the vinegar; then boil 3 qt. best white wine vinegar, 1½ oz. each of white pepper and mace, and ½ oz. each of long pepper, nutmegs, and cloves, for 10 minutes; skim well, and pour all over the pickles; tie the jar with bladder and leather.

Samphire.--By persons living near the sea it is usually preserved, when freshly gathered, in equal parts vinegar and sea water, or even sometimes in the water only; but when brought inland it should be steeped 2 days in brine, then drained, and put into a stone jar, covered with vinegar, and having a lid, over which put a thick paste of flour and water, and set it in a very cool oven all night, or in a warmer oven till it nearly but not quite boils. Then let it stand on a warm hob for ½ hour, and allow it to become quite cold before the paste is removed; then add cold vinegar if any more is required, and secure as other pickles.

Tomato.--(_a_) Gather 4 doz. tomatoes when turned, but not too ripe. Lay them in salt and water for 2 days, changing them twice; drain them, and dry them in a coarse cloth; put them in a pickling jar. To 1 gal. vinegar add 1 oz. ginger, shred, 1 oz. whole pepper, ½ oz. cloves, 1 pint mustard seeds, and 2 tablespoonfuls mustard flour, curry powder, turmeric, 2 oz. garlic, 2 oz. shallots, shred, 1 oz. bay salt, and a little common salt. Half of the spice to be strewed in the jar, and the other half to be boiled in the vinegar, and to be poured hot over the tomatoes; then let them be covered close with a flannel, and a weight at the top to keep in the steam, and let them stand in the chimney corner for 2 days, but not too near the fire. The vinegar must be boiled up twice more, and poured over the tomatoes as before. When quite cold fill up with more vinegar previously boiled, so that the tomatoes are covered and tied up with bladder.

(_b_) Cut some green tomatoes in slices, sprinkle them with salt, and let them stand 12-15 hours, drain, and put them in a saucepan over the fire with fresh water, changing it until all the salt is washed out. When thoroughly scalded and partially cooked, drain them again and put them into a boiling hot syrup, made with 1 pint vinegar, 3 lb. sugar, ½ oz. cinnamon, ¼ oz. cloves, simmer them in this until tender, then carefully lift them out and put them into jars, reduce the syrup and pour it over them. After a day or two boil up the syrup again, pour it afresh over the tomatoes, and when cold tie them down carefully.

Vinegar.--(_a_) To every gal. water put 2 lb. coarsest West India sugar; boil and skim this. Pour the mixture into a common clean washing mug, and, when sufficiently cool, take 4 pints from it into a basin, and stir well into it ½_d._ worth good fresh yeast if 3 gal. vinegar are to be made, or in that proportion, and set the basin, near a fire, covered with a cloth, to get it to work. When this end is obtained, put it back to the larger quantity from which it came, and which ought to be still lukewarm; stir well round with a wooden preserving spoon, and cover the mug with a cloth, and in a few hours, or by next morning (if made in an evening) the mixture will be found in full work. Let it stand one week from the day it was made, then carefully skim the barm off it, and put it into a barrel or mug in a warm place in winter, or in the sun in summer. It will be fit for use in 4-6 months, and then bottle off for use. As soon as you have bottled off a making of vinegar, immediately begin again, as the jelly-like “mother,” called the vinegar plant, formed on the surface by the time it is ready for bottling, helps the making of the next vinegar. Add it on pouring the mixture into the barrel or closed mug.

(_b_) Make vinegar from a vinegar plant by mixing ½ lb. coarse brown sugar and ½ lb. treacle with 5 pints water, stirring it until all the sugar is dissolved; then laying the fungus on the top, and covering it with thick brown paper tied down. In 6 weeks (or a little longer in cold weather), the liquid is turned to vinegar, and must then be strained off and bottled, and a fresh mixture made for the plant. It must be put in a white ware vessel--a washstand basin is very suitable, as the vinegar corrodes the yellow glazed ware, and is injurious. The plant does not get useless if kept “going,” but improves by growing thicker.

(_c_) Best of all, buy Beaufoy’s vinegar, and run no risk of subsequent fermentations.

Vinegar, Primrose.--To 18 qt. water add 6 lb. moist sugar; boil and stir it very well. Let it stand until it is just warm, then add 1 peck primroses with their stalks, and a little yeast. Let it stand all night, then put it into a cask, bung it up, and allow it to remain for 2 months. Then give it a little air, and let it stand 2-3 months longer. Then taste, and, if not sour, let it stand till it is. It must be placed in a warm situation: a great deal depends on where it is kept.

Vinegar, Raspberry.--Put 1 lb. very fine raspberries in a bowl, bruise them well, and pour upon them 1 qt. best cider vinegar; next day strain the liquor on 1 lb. fresh ripe raspberries, bruise them also, and on the following day do the same, but do not squeeze the fruit, or it will make it ferment, only drain the liquor as dry as you can from the fruit. The last time pass it through a canvas bag, previously wetted with vinegar to prevent waste. Put the juice into a stone jar with 1 lb. sugar to every pint of juice; the sugar must be broken into lumps, stir it, and when melted, put the jars into a saucepan of water, let it simmer a little, skim and remove from the fire. When cool, bottle off.

Vinegar, Tarragon.--Gather full-grown shoots of tarragon the day before they are wanted. Fill a ½ gal. jar with as many as it will hold without pressing them down; add 3 cloves and the thin rind of 1 lemon, and fill up the jar with white wine vinegar; leave it, tightly corked, exposed to the sun for 2-3 weeks, then strain off the vinegar, wringing the tarragon in a cloth, filter it through paper, and bottle it.

Walnuts.--Take 50 large walnuts gathered before the shell is hard; folding them separately in vine leaves, place them in a jar amidst plenty more leaves, so that they do not touch each other; fill up so as to cover them with best pale vinegar, and tie down closely that the air may be excluded; let stand 20 days; then pour off the vinegar and wrap the fruit again in fresh leaves, and fill up the jar again with fresh pale vinegar, standing 14 days longer; take off the leaves, put them in a jar, and make a pickle of white wine vinegar and salt that will float an egg, in which simmer for ¼ hour ¼ oz. mace, ½ oz. each of cloves and nutmeg, and 2 heads of garlic, peeled and sliced; pour hot over the walnuts; tie close with bladder and leather.

_Preserving with Sugar._--This embraces the whole range of jams and jellies, which closely resemble each other. In all cases the fruit must be fully ripe, gathered quite dry, and freed of stems, &c., but stone fruits should not be stoned. The chief differences consist in the proportion of sugar required and the duration of the boiling, which latter should always be done in a copper pan. The scum must be removed as it rises in boiling. For the most popular jams the quantities and times are as follow:--

Black currant 1 of fruit to 1 of sugar; 10 minutes Raspberry 1 ” ” 1 ” ½ hour Strawberry 1 ” ” 1 ” 20 minutes Gooseberry 6 ” ” 4 ” 2 hours Red currant 1 ” ” 1 ” 10 minutes Blackberry 1 ” ” ½ ” 1 hour Cherry (stoned) 2 ” ” 1 ” till stiff

Keeping Jams.--A not unfrequent cause for their becoming mouldy is that the jars in which jams are kept are sometimes not perfectly dry when the jam is put into them. The jam-pots put away from last year will necessarily be dusty, and require washing; and with thoughtless servants it but too often happens that they will wash the jars the same day the jam is made. They may imagine they have dried them with a cloth, but probably a slight dampness still remains which would be quite sufficient to cause the best-boiled preserve to turn mouldy, even if afterwards kept in a dry place. Have jars washed the day before they are used, have them washed in very hot water, and, after drying with a cloth, have them put down in trayfuls before the kitchen fire, to do away with the possibility of damp. The jars should then be set aside in the kitchen until the next day, covering them with cloths to keep out the dust. For making common jams, such as red and black currants, raspberries, gooseberries (and strawberries when not to be preserved whole), allow ¾ lb. loaf preserving-sugar to every lb. of fruit after it has been picked from the stalk. The fruit must be picked on a dry day, and should be ripe, but not bruised or injured. Set the fruit on the hot plate or fire in a large copper preserving pan, which must, of course, be as bright and clean as possible; let it cook gently, until it is hot through and the juice begins to run out, then add the sugar gradually (this must have been previously crushed, but need not be pounded); keep stirring with a long-handled wooden spoon, when it comes to the boil let it remain boiling for ¾ hour, then try if it will set by putting a few drops on a cold plate, and when this condition is arrived at, pour it off into jars prepared as described. Some jams do not take so long to boil as others, so it is as well to begin to try whether they will set after they have been boiling ½ hour. Many people carefully take off all the scum as it rises, but it is quite unnecessary; if properly boiled, and constantly stirred, it will all disappear before the jam is ready to be poured off, preventing the great waste caused when it is skimmed. Care must be taken to stir constantly during the whole process. After filling the jars, let them stand till next day, when they must be tied down and set in a dry, cool place to keep.