Harper's cook book encyclopædia

Fruit, Spiced ^ (in brandy). — Peaches, pears, cherries, egg-plums, greengages, and sweet, fleshy, lightcolored grapes are best for spicing. Use perfect fruit, fully ripe, but not over-ripe. Leave cherries and grapes on the stem, but cut the grapes into clusters of five or six, unless the fruit is meant for decorative uses. Do not peel either pears or peaches. Wash well, and wipe the rind with a rough towel. Stick in four cloves around the blossom end of each of the pears and the stem end of each of the peaches. Omit cloves with cherries, grapes, or plums — their flavor is not consonant. Allspice discolors, and should not be used for any sort. Put half an inch of refined sugar over the bottom of a deep earthen jar. Cover it with a layer of fruit. Over that strew thickly bruised ginger, stick cinnamon (broken fine), grated nutmeg, and the yellow of lemon or orange peel, grated fresh. Cover with sugar, shaking it down into every crevice. Repeat the layers until your jar is full. Cherries, plums, and very early peaches may be used together. In that case put no cloves in the peaches. On top of the last layer of spices put a single pod of genuine cayenne pepper. Cover with an especially thick layer of sugar ; then pour on enough good brandy or corn whiskey to come an inch above the sugar. Next day the spirit will have been a third absorbed. Fill up with it again. Tie down securely and let stand a month. This is one of the finest accompaniments for a game course, or for serving in tiny saucers after a regular dessert. Fruit Sweet Pickles. — The following will answer equally for damsons, plums, cherries, apricots, and peaches, serves every purpose of a fine-flavored handsome pickle of good keeping qualities, and has the advantage of giving but little trouble : Prepare your fruit as for preserving, stoning it, and to 7 lbs. of fruit take 3 l/z lbs. of clean, brown sugar, one pint of vinegar, and I oz. each of cinnamon in sticks, sprig mace, and cloves. Put the fruit into a jar, boil the vinegar and spices together, and pour it over the fruit, letting it stand for two days. Then pour the vinegar off again, put it on to boil, and when hot pour in the fruit and boil all together until clear and transparent. This does just as well as the repeated scaldings usually recommended. Gherkins. See Cucumbers. Grapes, Pickled. — Take ripe grapes ; remove imperfect and broken ones. Grape Pickle, Sweet PICKLES, ETC Mixed Pickles Line an earthen jar with grape leaves ; then fill with grapes. To two quarts of vinegar allow one pint of white sugar, Y2 oz. of ground cinnamon, and % oz. of cloves. Let the vinegar and spices boil for five minutes, then add the sugar. Let it come to a boil, and when cold pour over the grapes. If poured on while hot it shrivels them, even if it does not break the skin and spoil the appearance of the pickles. Grape Pickle, Sweet. — Pick io lbs. of large, ripe grapes from the stems. Put in jars. Make syrup of 6 lbs. of sugar and a quart of vinegar ; season with cinnamon, mace, and cloves ; pour over the grapes boiling hot, and seal. If preferred, the grapes may be left on the stems and pickled in bunches.