Part 3
_To make Nasturtium Pickle._—Place some green nasturtium seeds in a weak solution of salt for three days. Then soak them in cold water for twelve hours. Strain and place them in small jars, and pour boiling vinegar over them.
_Some other Pickles._—Young pea pods, young French bean pods, cauliflower, unripe gooseberries, and umbels of elderberry flowers gathered before they expand, barberries (Mrs. Glasse recommends that a little sprig of boiled fennel be placed at the top of each jar before sealing), and sliced boiled beetroot, are pickled as directed for red cabbage.
Unripe, but fully grown radish pods, are pickled as directed for gherkins.
Onions and young mushrooms (which should be rubbed with salt but not peeled) are pickled as directed for shallots.
Small apples, pears, peaches, apricots, and damsons may be used to make sweet pickles as directed for plums. But apples, pears, peaches, and apricots require to be peeled before being pickled.
_To make Sauerkraut._—Take a dozen fine, hard-hearted, white cabbages, remove the outer leaves, and shred the hearts into small shreds. Place these shreds into a large tub, and over each layer sprinkle a little salt (about six pounds in all). Press the layers of cabbage firmly down, and, when the tub is full, sprinkle salt over the top of the heap of cabbage. On this place a piece of linen, and a wooden cover on the linen. Weigh down the cover by means of a large stone or other weight. The cover must accurately fit the tub, and slide down within the staves. The tub should then be placed in a warm room till fermentation has begun. Wash and replace the linen cover every fortnight. In three weeks the sauerkraut will be fit for use, though it will keep good for more than a year.
CONDIMENTS AND SAUCES
_MUSTARD._—The simplicity of its manufacture probably accounts for our persistence in serving in our mustard-pots the never-varying paste of mustard and water. Yet the infinite variety of flavours which may be introduced into our table mustards should sufficiently reward us for the little trouble entailed in mixing them. As all these made mustards contain spices or herbs which lose much of their aroma by exposure to the air, they should be put into jars and securely corked directly they are made. Ordinary mustard also soon loses its piquancy if left exposed to the air. It should therefore be kept in a properly closed bottle or jar. It is best to make small quantities of ordinary mustard frequently, almost daily, as required.
_To make Ordinary Mustard._—Take a bare table-spoonful of mustard, white and brown in equal parts, and mix therewith one tea-spoonful of salt, adding to the mixture, little by little, two table-spoonfuls of cold water, stirring the while. Continue stirring for a few minutes.
_Mustard with Horseradish._—Boil a table-spoonful of grated horseradish in half a tea-cupful of water for ten minutes, and allow to get cold. Then mix the mustard as in the last recipe, adding the horseradish and two table-spoonfuls of the water in which it has been boiled instead of the plain water.
_To make a simple French Mustard._—Proceed as in the last recipe, except that a minced shallot should be substituted for the horseradish, and that only the water, having been cleared by straining, is added to the mustard-flour. A tea-spoonful of good vinegar is to be added to the mixture and thoroughly incorporated.
_To make a Spiced Mustard (Recipe 1)._—Take a quarter of a pound of mustard-flour, pour over it three small tea-cupfuls of boiling vinegar, keep the mixture just below boiling-heat for about forty-five minutes, add a salt-spoonful of ground ginger, half a salt-spoonful of powdered cloves, and a salt-spoonful of grated nutmeg, and heat for five minutes longer.
_To make a Spiced Mustard (Recipe 2)._—Take a tumblerful of vinegar, and place therein two salt-spoonfuls of salt, a salt-spoonful of scraped horseradish, and half a salt-spoonful of powdered cloves. At the end of three days strain off the liquid and add a sufficiency of mustard-flour—about three ounces—to make a thick paste.
_To make a Spiced Mustard (Recipe 3)._—Mix together a tea-spoonful each of powdered mace, ground black pepper, powdered dill seeds, and powdered cinnamon, a slightly smaller quantity of powdered cloves, a table-spoonful of powdered tarragon leaves, and three pints of vinegar. Heat for an hour, strain, and then mix with about a pound of mustard-flour and a quarter of a pound of castor sugar to make a thick paste.
_To make Frankfort Mustard._—Mix together a quarter of a pound of castor sugar, an ounce of allspice, half an ounce of powdered-cloves, and a pound of ground mustard—white and brown, in equal parts. Mix into a thick paste with wine vinegar.
_To make Jesuits’ Mustard._—Thoroughly mix ten sardines, a quarter of a pound of ground brown mustard, three-quarters of a pound of ground white mustard, and two hundred capers. Make into a paste with about a quart of boiling vinegar.
_To make Mustard as at Düsseldorf._—Take two earthenware pans, and place in each a quart of vinegar. In one place a quarter of an ounce of thyme leaves, and in the other place three minced onions. Let them stand for forty-eight hours. Bruise half a pound of white mustard seed and half a pound of black mustard seed, and put them in a pan with a tea-spoonful of powdered cloves, a tea-spoonful of powdered coriander, half a pound of salt, and the strained vinegar. Thoroughly mix. Add a little more vinegar if the mixture is too thick, or a little more mustard if it is too thin. Parsley, celery, or other herbs may be used instead of onions to flavour the vinegar.
_To make an Aromatic Mustard Powder._—In making a mixed powder of this kind, it is absolutely essential to success that each of the articles be thoroughly dry previous to being mixed. A good result is obtained by mixing a quarter of a pound of salt, a pound of mustard, half an ounce each of dried garlic, dried thyme, dried tarragon, and mixed spices—all finely powdered. The mixture should be stored in air-tight boxes or bottles.
_To make a Spiced Table Vinegar._—Mix in an earthenware pan two ounces of cloves, a quarter of an ounce of mace, and the same quantity each of orange blossoms and cassia bark. Pour a quart of heated strong vinegar over the spices, and let the mixture digest in a warm place for a week. Strain, filter through filter-paper, and bottle.
_To make an Aromatic Table Vinegar (Recipe 1)._—Chop up one ounce each of bay leaves, leaves of rosemary, and leaves of sage, and place them in a fireproof earthenware pan; add thereto a quarter of an ounce each of cloves, zedoary root, and chillis. Pour on the mixture a quart of heated strong vinegar, and let it digest in a warm place for a week. Strain, filter, and bottle.
_To make an Aromatic Table Vinegar (Recipe 2)._—Chop up one ounce each of thyme leaves, basil leaves, leaves of marjoram, leaves of tarragon, and bean leaves. Add thereto half an ounce each of chopped shallots and celery. Pour on the mixture a quart of heated strong vinegar, and treat as in the last recipe.
_To make an Aromatic Table Vinegar (Recipe 3)._—Chop up and mix half a pound of tarragon leaves, and a quarter of a pound each of rocambole, shallots, anchovies, capers, and bay leaves. Pour over them three quarts of heated strong vinegar, and treat as in the first recipe.
_To make Aromatic Table Vinegar (Recipe 4)._—The leaves of any sweet herb, having been dried, may be lightly placed—not pressed—in a bottle till it is full, and vinegar poured over them and allowed to stand for six weeks. It may then be strained off and bottled.
_To make Aromatic Wines._—The leaves of any sweet herb are to be treated as above, but sherry is to take the place of the vinegar.
_To make Curry Powder._—Pound to a fine powder and mix thoroughly together a quarter of a pound each of coriander seed and turmeric, an ounce each of mustard, ginger, and black pepper, and half an ounce each of cardamom, cumin, and pimento.
_To make Mushroom Catsup._—Wipe, but do not wash or skin, some freshly gathered, fully ripe mushrooms, and place them in a jar with layers of salt between the several layers of mushrooms and over the whole, allowing six ounces of salt to a gallon of mushrooms. Cover the jar loosely with a cloth, and place it in a warm room until the next day. Crush the mushrooms, place the whole in a cool oven for half an hour, and strain through coarse muslin. Boil the liquid with peppercorns, half an ounce to the quart; mace, a dram to the quart; cloves, a dozen to the quart; and bruised ginger, half an ounce to the quart. When the liquid has boiled down to a half, take it off the fire, allow it to cool, strain through very coarse straining cloth, and bottle in small, well-corked bottles. If these bottles are treated as the bottles of fruit in fruit-bottling are treated, the catsup will keep the better.
_To make Tomato Catsup._—Boil a quart of perfectly ripe tomatoes with a table-spoonful of black pepper, a salt-spoonful of salt, a tea-spoonful each of ground cloves and allspice, and half a tea-spoonful of mustard in a pint of vinegar for three hours. Strain, and, when the mixture is cold, bottle and seal.
_To make Walnut Catsup._—Boil a gross of soft, young walnuts, crushed, two ounces each of ground nutmeg and black pepper, half an ounce each of ground mace and ginger, and fifty cloves, ground, in two quarts of vinegar for forty minutes. Strain, and, when the mixture is cold, bottle and seal.
_To make a Piquant Sauce (Recipe 1)._—Boil half an ounce of cayenne, half an ounce of cochineal, half an ounce of mixed garlic, and half a dozen cloves in a quart of vinegar for twenty minutes. Strain, and, when the liquor is cool, add two ounces of essence of anchovies, half a pint of an equal mixture of walnut and mushroom catsup, and half a pint of good port. Thoroughly mix and bottle.
_To make a Piquant Sauce (Recipe 2)._—Boil a quarter of a pound of bruised cloves, a quarter of a pound of minced shallots, and half an ounce of cayenne pepper in half a gallon of vinegar for twenty minutes. Strain, and, when the liquor is cool, add half a pint of an equal mixture of walnut catsup and soy. Thoroughly mix and bottle.
_To make a Piquant Sauce (Recipe 3)._—Boil a quarter of a pound each of allspice, minced shallots, and minced garlic, and two ounces of salt in a quart of vinegar for twenty minutes. Strain, and, when the mixture is cool, add a gallon each of walnut catsup and mushroom catsup. Thoroughly mix and bottle.
_To make Anchovy Sauce._—Heat, until it thickens, a mixture of a pint of vinegar, a pint and a quarter of water, two pounds and a half of butter, three-quarters of a pound of flour, and thirty minced anchovies. Rub the mixture through a coarse hair sieve and bottle.
_To make a Salad Dressing to be stored._—Salad dressings should be mixed freshly as required; but it is sometimes thought desirable to keep a stock dressing bottled and ready for all emergencies. Thoroughly beat the yolks of three eggs, and gradually stir in half a tea-cupful of olive oil, together with a table-spoonful of mustard, a little pepper, two table-spoonfuls of salt, and half a tea-cupful of vinegar; adding, last of all, the well-beaten whites of the three eggs. Bottle in well-stoppered bottles.
PRESERVES
IT is easy to make good jam at home if a few simple rules are followed. Excellent jams can, it is true, be bought, but they are generally too sweet, a large proportion of sugar being used in order to make the jam keep for a considerable time.
RULE 1.—Use only fresh fruit which has been gathered in dry weather.
2. Allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar to one pound of all fruit, except stone fruit. Stone fruit requires an extra quarter of a pound of sugar. Break the sugar small, but do not pound it; if the sugar is pounded the syrup will not be clear. Use the best sugar, as the inferior kinds produce much more scum.
3. Never set the preserving-pan flat on the fire. If you do, the fruit will stick to it, and burn. Raise the pan on a trivet a little above the fire, and not exactly over the hottest part. Stir the jam with a wooden spoon all the time that the sugar and fruit are boiling together. An iron spoon ruins both the flavour and the colour of jam. Stir gently at first, more quickly as the boiling of the jam proceeds. Skim off all scum as it rises.
4. Put the fruit into the preserving-pan, sprinkle in some of the sugar, and as the fruit juices, add the rest of the sugar by degrees. When the sugar is all dissolved bring the jam to the boil.
5. Never boil jam longer than twenty minutes. If it is boiled too long the jam will be sticky, but if not boiled enough it will not keep. When the scum ceases to rise, put a few drops of the jam on a cold plate, watch it for a minute, and if it sets, and does not flow freely, the jam is done.
6. Warm the jam-pots before you pour the hot jam into them; if you do not they may crack. Fill the pots to within half an inch of the top, and wipe off any drops spilt with a cloth wrung out in hot water. If this is not attended to, there will be great difficulty in scraping off the drops when the jam has cooled.
7. The day after the jam is made, and when it has become quite cold, lay a round of thin paper on the top of each pot. Then take a sufficient number of the vegetable parchment covers which are sold for tying over jam-pots, soak them for a minute or two in cold water, wipe them dry, stretch one over each pot, and tie it round with string. The parchment tightens as it dries, and excludes the air from the jam. When the covers are dry, write in ink on each the name of the jam and the date.
8. Always keep jam in a cool, dry place. Damp makes it mouldy, heat makes it ferment.
9. Never put one pot of jam exactly on the top of another, but set one row of pots on the edges of the row beneath, leaving a clear space in the centre of each pot.
Different fruits require different treatment when made into jam. Thus, strawberries must be carefully stirred, raspberries must be mashed with a wooden spoon; and both these fruits, being soft and juicy, require less boiling than the drier kinds. Dry fruits, such as apples, should always be put first into a covered jar set in a pan of boiling water, and kept there until they are thoroughly softened. Fruit, with the exception of the very juicy kinds, takes longer to boil than sugar, so that it is well to cook the fruit partially before adding the sugar. Over-boiled sugar spoils the texture of jam.
Rhubarb jam requires the addition of a little root-ginger and a few strips of lemon-peel.
_Orange Marmalade._—Allow for every pound of oranges one pint of water and three-quarters of a pound of sugar.
Pare Seville oranges very thin, and boil the rind till tender. Boil it in plenty of water for about three-quarters of an hour. At the end of this time the orange rind should be so tender that a straw will pierce it. Then cut it into very thin strips about half an inch long. Take off the tough white coat of each orange, and throw it away. Then scrape out the pulp and juice very carefully, and throw the pips into cold water. When they have remained in the water for a short time, squeeze them through a cloth, and add a pint of the water in which the pips have been soaked to every three-quarters of a pound of the sugar. The reason for steeping the pips is that they yield a glutinous substance, which adds richness to the marmalade. Boil the syrup for twenty minutes, allowing three-quarters of a pound of sugar and one pint of water to every pound of orange pulp. Put the pulp and juice into the syrup, and boil for half an hour, carefully skimming off the scum as it rises. During the last five minutes add the shreds of orange-peel. Put the marmalade into pots, and tie them down next day.
_Clear Orange Marmalade._—In this marmalade there are no shreds of orange-peel. Cut the oranges in half after they are peeled and freed from the white skin. Boil them for three-quarters of an hour, allowing one pint of water to twelve oranges. Strain off the juice, and boil it up sharp for ten minutes. Allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar to every pint of juice. Boil for twenty or five-and-twenty minutes till it jellies. Four oranges make a pound pot of marmalade. It is an improvement if half the peel taken from the oranges is grated finely, and boiled with the oranges.
_Quince Marmalade._—Scald the quinces, pare, core, and quarter them. To four pounds of fruit add three pounds and a half of sugar. Take three pints of the water the quinces were scalded in, and boil in it both the parings and the cores. Strain the water, and add it to the quinces and the sugar. Let it stand all night. Next day set the quinces over a slow fire, and bring them very gradually to the boil, skimming and stirring them all the time they are cooking.
Crab-apples, Siberian crab-apples, and the fruit of the Pyrus Japonica, or Japanese quince, all make excellent preserve.
_Crab-apple Marmalade._—Parboil the crab-apples, and pulp them through a sieve or colander. Pare six large common apples, boil them till quite soft, and pass them through the sieve, when they will yield all the liquid they contain. To every quart of crab-apple pulp add one gill of the liquid from the common apples; and allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar to every pound of pulp. Boil all together for fifteen minutes, stirring the whole time.
_Fruit Jellies._—In making fruit jellies only the clear juice extracted from the fruit is used. The fruit must be softened by being placed in a jar set in boiling water, after which the juice must be allowed to drip through a hair sieve or a piece of canvas. The fruit must on no account be squeezed or rubbed with the hand or spoon, but it may be pressed down by a plate with a weight set upon it. Boil the juice for ten minutes, weigh it, and when it boils up again, add half a pound of sugar to every pint of juice. Then boil the whole sharp for five or ten minutes more, skimming off all scum.
_Clear Apple Jelly._—Pare and core half a peck of green apples, cut them up, and drop them as you cut them into two quarts of water. Pare two small lemons, cut them up, removing the pips, and add them to the apples, reserving the lemon-peel. Put the apple-parings and the cores with the apples, and boil all together very slowly till the fruit is quite a pulp. Then strain it through a jelly-bag, and to every pint of liquid add half a pound of lump sugar. Boil the whole very fast with the peel of the two lemons, skimming thoroughly all the time. It ought to jelly in three-quarters of an hour; try it by dropping a few drops on a cold plate. When sufficiently done take out all the lemon-peel, and pour the jelly into moulds or small pots.
_Cranberry Jelly_ can be made in this way from the Russian and Swedish cranberries now sold, but cranberries will require a pound of sugar to the pint of juice. Cranberries should not be boiled longer than twenty minutes.
_Medlar Jelly._—Gather the medlars when quite sound, wipe them well, and let them stew in the preserving-pan with just enough boiling water to cover them till they are in a pulp. Drain the fruit through a piece of canvas, but do not press the pulp. Weigh the juice, and allow half a pound of sugar to every pint. Boil it till quite clear, stirring and skimming well. When it jellies, pour it into small moulds, and let it set.
_Currant Jelly (No. 1)._—Strip red currants from their stalks, and put them into the oven. When quite juicy, pass them through a hair sieve or a coarse cloth. To every pint of juice allow a pound of loaf sugar well beaten and sifted. Heat the sugar on a dish in the oven, putting it between two sheets of foolscap paper, and when the currant juice has boiled for a couple of minutes, strew the sugar into it by degrees whilst the juice is boiling hot. It will jelly immediately, and gain flavour by keeping. Put it at once into pots.
_Currant Jelly (No. 2)._—To six pounds of red, white, or black currants add four pounds of sugar and half a pint of currant juice extracted from additional currants. Stir the fruit well together in a preserving-pan, set it on a brisk fire, and when it boils up, pass it through a cloth into a basin with a lip. Pour the jelly from the basin at once into pots. Let the pots remain uncovered for nine days, and then tie them up.
_Blackberry Jelly._—Take six pounds of blackberries before they are quite ripe, pick them from the stalks, and put them into a jar. Tie the jar up closely, set it in a pan of water on the fire till the blackberries become pulp. Then strain the fruit through a cloth, and to one pint of juice add one pound of sifted sugar. Boil it to a jelly, and pour it into pots for use. Blackberry jelly is much improved if half the quantity of blackberries is used and the other half made up of bullaces or wild plums. But bullaces are now rare.
_Scotch “Jam Jelly.”_—This preserve is made from the berries of the mountain ash, gathered when they have become nearly (but not quite) ripe. Take off the stalks, and stew the berries in a jar set in boiling water. They take many hours’ stewing before they become tender, but in the end they make excellent jelly. For the mountain-ash berries allow a pound of sugar to a pound of pulp.
_Damson Cheese._—Stew the damsons till tender in a jar set in boiling water. Rub them through a coarse sieve to take off the skins. Take out the stones, crack them, and blanch the kernels. Boil the cheese for one hour. Then weigh it, and add one pound of sugar to two quarts of the damson pulp. Boil it, stirring it well till it is thick. Keep the fire low, and boil the pulp very slowly. After the cheese has thickened well, leave off stirring; but it must boil quite to a candy, and may take seven hours. Put in the kernels a few minutes before the damson cheese is taken off the fire. The cheese will be done when it leaves the sides of the pan. A peck and a half of damsons will make ten pints of cheese. Cover the moulds when cold with paper dipped in brandy.
_Brandy Cherries._—To every pound of Morello cherries, stalked but not stoned, add three-quarters of a pound of best loaf sugar. Take a few cherries, bruise them, and take as much juice from them as will make the sugar into a very thick syrup. Fill wide-mouthed bottles with the cherries, and prick each cherry all over with a fine needle. Let the syrup get quite cold, then pour it on the cherries, and fill up the bottles with good brandy.
_Brandy Peaches._—Peel the peaches carefully with a silver dessert-knife, and as you do so put each peach into cold water. Choose a deep stone jar, put into it one pound of peaches covered with three-quarters of a pound of sifted sugar. Fill up the jar with good brandy. Set the jar in a pan of cold water on the fire, and let it gradually heat till the brandy is nearly boiling. Then let it get cold and tie up the jar closely.
THE STORING OF FRUIT AND HERBS
A STORE-ROOM for apples and pears should be cool, though frost-proof, slightly moist, and well ventilated, though free from draughts. Adjacent apples should not be in contact with each other. If very choice, it is wise to wrap each apple in tissue paper. The fruit should be hand-picked, and placed in the store-room when quite dry, and any specimens that show signs of rottenness should be removed directly they are recognized.
Messrs. Bunyard, of Maidstone, have built some fruit-houses which admirably fulfil the desired conditions. The following instructions for erecting a similar storehouse are given by Mr. George Bunyard.