Temperance cook book

Gather fruit when fully ripe, but not cracked open; place in a perforated wire basket, and dip for a moment into a deep kettle of hot and moderately strong lye, then wash in clean cold water. Make the syrup in the proportion of one pound of sugar to one of fruit, and, when the figs are well drained, put them in the syrup and boil until well cooked; remove, boil syrup down until there is just enough to cover fruit; put fruit back in syrup, let, all boil, and seal up while hot in glass jars. PRESERVED CITRON OR WATERMELON HINDS. Boil the citron in water until it is clear and soft enough to be easily pierced with a fork; take out, put in a nice syrup of sugar and water, and boil until the sugar has penetrated it. Take out and spread on dishes to dry slowly, sprinkle several times with powdered sugar, and turning until it is dried enough. Pack in jars or boxes, with sugar between the layers. Nice for cake. The first thing in pickling is to avoid that most pernicious practice of putting pickles in copper or brass vessels to make them a handsome green color, for that can be much better done by pouring the vinegar on hot instead of cold; and the action of the chemical vinegars that are made now, upon copper or brass kettles, produces the most frightful poisons. Use none but the best cider vinegar. A small lump of alum, dissolved and added when scalding pickles the first time, renders them crisp and tender, but too much is injurious. The nicest way to put up pickles is bottling, sealing while hot, and keeping in a cool, dark place. Never put up pickles in any thing that has held grease of any kind. CHOW CHOW — Very fine. Two guarts of onions, two quarts of green cucumbers, three quarts of green tomatoes, two small cabbage heads, one quart of vinegar, one pound of French mustard, one and one-half ounce of turmeric, four cups of brown sugar. Chop the onions, cabbage, cucumbers and tomatoes fine; sprinkle a teacupful of salt over them and let it stand over night. In the morning, drain in a colander and then put in a porcelain kettle; add the mustard and turmeric, dissolved in the quart of vinegar, the sugar and three more quarts of vinegar. Boil until done, then seal in glass jars. GHERKINS. This is the way to put up cucumbers to have them remain firm without using poison to accomplish it: Wash your cucumbers in clean, cold water, put them in a porcelain kettle with just enough water to cover them, adding sufficient salt to season. Let them remain on the stove until hot but not boil; then take them out and drain until perfectly diy. Put them in bottles and cover them with boiling vinegar of the best quality, to which has been added some red pepper, some mustard seed, a little horseradish, and sugar just to suit the taste. Cucumbers prepared in this way, if good vinegar is used, will keep a whole year if properly sealed up. To PICKLE NASTURTIONS. Take green nasturtions fresh from the vine; put them in salt and water for one day; then drain in a napkin. Put them in glass jars, and cover with strong vinegar; keep the bottles closely corked. Are equal to capers, with roast lamb. OIL PICKLE CABBAGE.