The century cook book

Pickled Gherkins. Let the gherkins remain in salt and water for three or four days, when take them out, wipe perfectly dry, and put them into a stone jar. Boil sufficient vinegar to cover them, with spices and pepper, etc., in the above proportion, for ten minutes; pour it, quite boiling, over the gherkins, cover the jar with vine leaves, and put over them a plate, setting them near the fire, where they must remain all night. Next day drain off the vinegar, boil it up again, and pour it hot over them. Cover up with fresh leaves, and let the whole remain till quite cold. Now tie down closely with bladder to exclude the air, and in a month or two they will be fit for use. Citron or Melon Preserves. Take thick watermelon or citron rind, and cut in strips about three inches long, and one-half inch thick, until you have five pounds, and let them stand in cold water for two or three hours. Make a syrup of five pounds of best white sugar, and two quarts of water, and squeeze in the juice of six lemons, and add the grated rind of three; let boil for fifteen minutes, then strain; heat again and stir in the beaten white of an egg, and skim off as it rises; the syrup should be of a nice lemon color, Pickles and Preserves 167 and as clear as amber; put in the citron, which should be drained and dry, and cook until tender. Skim out the fruit carefully, and add to the syrup a pound of best raisins, boil for two or three minutes, and pour over the fruit. Great care must be taken to remove every particle of stem from the raisins and to wash them thoroughly, so that there will be no dark specks in the clear syrup. Walnut Ketchup. Use one-half a sieve of walnut shells, two quarts of water, salt, one-half pound of shalots, one ounce of cloves, one ounce of mace, one ounce of whole pepper, one ounce of garlic. Put the walnut shells into a pan, with the water and a large quantity of salt; let them stand for ten days, then break the shells up in the water, and let it drain through The Walnut. a sieve, putting a heavy weight on the top to express the juice; place it on the fire, and remove all scum that may arise. Now boil the liquor with the shalots, cloves, mace, pepper and garlic, and let all simmer till the shalots sink; then put the liquor into a pan, and, when cold, bottle, and cork closely. It should stand six months before using; should it ferment during that time, it must be again boiled and skimmed. [illustration: The Walnut.] Blackberry Pickle. Seven pounds of fruit, five pounds white sugar, one pint of best cider vinegar, and cook until the berries are done. Skim out the berries, boil the juice until thick as good syrup, pour over berries, cover and keep in cool, not cold, place. These will keep a long time, and need not be sealed up, as they will keep without. Raspberry jam will keep, too, if cooked thoroughly in common earthen jars, simply covering to keep free from dust. Pineapple Preserves. Have your pineapples as ripe as they can be procured; pare and cut in thin slices and cut each slice in quarters; be very careful to remove every par- 1 68 Pickles and Preserves