The complete cook book

ART OF PRESERVING ALL FRUITS AS THEY COME IN THEIR SEASON. Take one gallon crock, or one gallon stone jar, first put in one pint of the best alcohol, then one cup of sugar (granulated), then one cup of fruit, and then one cup of sugar, and continue to do this in this way until you are The Complete Cook Book 285 finished ; but you use only one pint of alcohol for the gallon crock and this you place in at first. List of fruits in their order to he preserved : Strawberries, red raspberries, blackberries, bananas and oranges, cherries, plums, apricots, pineapples, peaches and pears; always keep the jar or crock covered and when you have completed work, put a piece of brandied paper on top and cover crock securely. 286 The Complete Cook Book. PICKLES, ETC. THE MOST IMPOVED METHOD FOR MAKING PICKLES. Make a brine of four pails of water, six quarts of salt, a piece of alum size of an egg, one and one-half ounces of saltpeter, and stir until thoroughly dissolved. Test to see if brine is strong enough ; see that it will balance an egg or a small potato. Put in your small or medium-size cucumbers, and leave in from fourteen to twenty-four hours, according to how salty you desire same. Then transfer pickles into a vessel of fresh cold water for twenty -four hours, mixing grape leaves in water as follows : A layer of grape leaves and a layer of pickles, and so on until vessel is full. The last five hours of the twenty-four, put a piece of ice on top of pickles large enough to chill them; this will harden them. Boil the vinegar made as described, put pickles into stone crocks or jars, pour hot vinegar over same, put a piece of writing paper on top of vinegar, then a thick layer of cotton batting, and seal jars or crocks. Tie cotton batting over mouth of crocks. You will find by processing pickles by this formula they will not be soft, and fungus or mould cannot form on top, HINTS ON THEIR MANAGEMENT. Pickles should always have vinegar enough to cover them ; those intended for immediate use should be kept in wide top stoneware jars. Keep a cloth folded upon the pickles, and the jar covered with a plate or wooden vessel ; they should occasionally be looked over, and the softest and least likely to keep, used first. Pickles in- The Complete Cook Book. 287 tended for use the following summer should he assorted from the remainder when first made; choose those most firm and of equal size; put them into stone, or glassware, with fresh vinegar to cover them ; cover the vessel close, with several thicknesses of paper, or a tin cover, or if wide-mouthed bottles are used, cork them tightly. Cucumhera may be put down in a strong salt and water brine, to be greened and pickled as they are wanted. Keep them under the brine. When wanted, freshen them in two or three changes of water, for two or three days, until by cutting one open, you find it but little salt ; then pour scalding vinegar over them three times, and keep them covered; add spices and seasoning to the vinegar to suit the taste. The vessels in which pickles have been, whether of glass, wood, or stone, will never be fit for preserved fruit; they will surely spoil if put in them. MOTHER'S PEACH SWEET PICKLE. Three pints of sugar to one quart of vinegar. Let boil and add a few sticks of cinnamon, about six or eight cloves and two or three little pieces of mace. When it boils add peaches, and when clear put in jars, cover with syrup and seal. Before taking off the fire add a pinch of salt and a pinch of red pepper. GRANDMOTHER'S MANGO PICKLE.