The Rural cook book

Gherkins. — Wipe one quart of small unripe cucumbers. Put in a stone crock and add one-quarter cupful of salt dissolved in one pint of boiling water. Let stand three days. Drain cucumbers from brine, bring the brine to the boiling point,- pour over the cucumbers, and again let stand three days. Repeat ; drain, wipe cucumbers, and pour over one quart of boiling water in which one scant tcaspoonful of alum has been dissolved. Let stand six hours, then drain from alum water. Cook cucumbers 10 minutes, a few at a time, in one-fourth of the following mixture, heated to the boiling point and boiled 10 minutes : One quart of vinegar, one red pepper, one-half stick of cinnamon, one-half teaspoonful allspice, one-half tablespoonful of cloves. Strain the remaining liquor over the pickles, which have been put in a stone jar. Bring liquor to boiling point before turning it over the pickles. Grated Cucumber Pickles. — Take cucumbers fully grown, pare them, and if the seeds are large remove them, then grate and drain through a colander, and to the pulp left add as much vinegar as there is juice, Cucumber Mustard Pickles. — To every gallon of water add two pints of fine salt, heat scalding hot and pour over the cucumbers. Let stand 21 hours, pour off the brine. Heat sufficient vinegar to cover them. To every gallon of vinegar add one tablespoonful pulverized alum, pour over the cucumbers and cover tight to steam. PuPut on fresh cabbage leaves every other day for a week; heat the vinegar again, put back on cucumbers and let stand two or three days. Then take fresh vinegar; 10 every gallon put one teaspoonful of red pepper, one of black pepper, one ounce cinnamon sticks, two ounces white mustard seed, one small piece ginger root, a small handful of horseradish root, one teaspoonful of cloves. Boil the spices in a bag, then pour over pickles. These will keep crisp and nice indefinitely if kept under the vinegar, or may be bottled and sealed if preferred. Oiled Cucumber Pickles. — Pare and slice the cucumbers as for serving. For 50 medium-sized ones (these are best, because the seeds are not large) make a dressing of one cupful of olive oil, half a cupful of white mustard seed, half a cupful of black mustard seed, one tablespoonful of celery seed and one quart of vinegar. No cooking is required. Sprinkle the sliced cucumbers with salt, and let them stand over night In the morning drain them thoroughly and cover with the dressing in x stone jar. A pint of onions sliced thin may be added. It so, the onions should be arranged in alternate layers with the sliced cucumbers and salt Place a weight over the top, let the mixture stand over night, and drain as before. Quick Pickles. — Gather small cucumbers, wash, and rub off the prickles. Pack in a two-quart glass jar, put a tablespoonful of salt on top, shaking it down, fill with cold water, put the cover on, and set away 24 hours. Then pour off the brine, rinse the cucumbers, and fill the jar with cold vinegar. Screw the top on tight, and store in cellar. If the vinegar looks white in a few months' time pour a little off the top, and fill up with fresh. These pickles are very good, though extremely sour. Quick Mustard Pickles. — Put a gallon of vinegar and one cupful, each, of salt and mustard into a two gallon crock; pick small, quickly grown cucumbers; rub off the black specks, and put into vinegar. In a few days the pickles are ready for use. Some people add a cup of sugar and one of grated horseradish to the above recipe, but it is a matter of taste, as neither is necessary to the keeping quality of the pickles. Each time cucumbers are added to those in the crock all should be well stirred up from the bottom. It is a good plan to put a quart of vinegar with its proper proportion of salt and mustard into a twoquart glass can, and fill in cucumbers for immediate use.