Original White House Cookbook

Pick over your berries, using only sound ones ; fill your jars or widemouthed bottles to within an inch of the top, then pour in molasses enough to settle down into all the spaces ; this cannot be done in a moment, as molasses does not run very freely. Only lazy people will feel obliged to stand by and watch its progress. As it settles, pour in more until the berries are covered. Then tie over the top a piece of cotton cloth to keep the flies and other insects out and set away in the preserve closet. Cheap molasses is good enough, and your pickles will soon be “sharp.” Wild grapes may be pickled in the same manner. PICKLED BUTTERNUTS AND WALNUTS. These nuts are in the best state for pickling when the outside shell can be penetrated by the head of a pin. Scald them and rub off the outside skin, put them in a strong brine for six days, changing the water every other day, keeping them closely covered from the air. Then drain and wipe them (piercing each nut through in several places with a large needle) and prepare the pickle as follows : For a hundred large nuts, take of black pepper and ginger root each an ounce ; and of cloves, mace and nutmeg, each a half ounce. Pound all the spices to powder and mix them well together, adding two large spoonfuls of mustard seed. Put the nuts into jars (having first stuck each of them through in several places with a large needle), strewing the powdered seasoning between every layer of nuts. Boil for five minutes a gallon of the very best cider vinegar and pour it boiling hot upon the nuts. Secure the jars closely with corks. You may begin to eat the nuts in a fortnight. WATERMELON PICKLE. Ten pounds of watermelon rind boiled in pure water until tender; drain the water off, and make a syrup of two pounds of white sugar, one quart of vinegar, half an ounce of cloves, one ounce of cinnamon. The syrup to be poured over the rind boiling hot three days in succession. SWEET PICKLE EOR FRUIT. Most of the recipes for making a sweet pickle for fruit, such as clingstone peaches, damsons, plums, cherries, apricots, etc., are so similar, that we give that which is the most successfully used. To every quart of fruit, allow a cup of white sugar and a large pint of good cider vinegar, adding half an ounce of stick cinnamon, one tablespoonful of whole cloves, the same of whole allspice. Let it come to a boil, and pour it hot over the fruit; repeat this two or three days in succession; then seal hot in glass jars if you wish to keep it for a long time. The fruit, not the liquor, is to be eaten, and used the same as any pickle. Some confound this with “Spiced Fruit,’^ which is not treated the same, one being a pickle, the other a spiced preserve boiled down thick. Damsons and plums should be pricked with a needle, and peaches washed with a weak lye, and then rubbed with a coarse cloth to remove the fur. PEAR PICKLE. Select small, sound ones, remove the blossom end, stick them with a fork, allow to each quart of pears one pint of cider vinegar and one cup of sugar, put in a teaspoonful allspice, cinnamon and cloves to boil with the vinegar; then add the pears and boil, and seal in jars. SPICED CURRANTS.