Home   »  Collection of Old British Jams, Preserves, Conserves, Marmalades, Relishes, Pickles, Vinegars, & Chutney Recipes

Collection of Old British Jams, Preserves, Conserves, Marmalades, Relishes, Pickles, Vinegars, & Chutney Recipes

Table of Contents

Allied Cookery Arranged by Grace Clergue Harrison and Gertrude Clergue [1916]

RHUBARB JELLY (English)

Rhubarb, sugar, and 1 teaspoonful powdered alum.

Wash and cut the rhubarb in small pieces; wash again, and boil it over a slow fire with a breakfastcupful of water till well cooked and all the juice extracted; let it drip all night through a jelly bag; to each good ½ pint of juice add 1 lb. of sugar, and add the alum to the whole; stir till it comes to the boil, and let it boil for 10 minutes; pour into pots.

The Healthy Life Cook Book by Florence Daniel [Second Edition, 1915]

JAM, MARMALADE, &c., INFO

Jam simply consists of fresh fruit boiled with a half to two-thirds its weight of white cane sugar until the mixture jellies.

Nearly every housekeeper has her own recipe for jam. One that I know of uses a whole pound of sugar to a pound of fruit and boils it for nearly two hours. The result is a very stiff, sweet jam, much more like shop jam than home-made jam. Its only recommendation is that it will keep for an unlimited time.

Some recipes include water. But unless distilled water can be procured, it is better not to dilute the fruit. The only advantage gained is an increase of bulk. The jam may be made just as liquid by using rather less sugar in proportion to the fruit.

A delicious jam is made by allowing 1/2 lb. sugar to every pound of fruit and cooking for half an hour from the time it first begins to boil. But unless this is poured immediately into clean, hot, dry jars, and tied down very tightly with parchment covers, it will not keep. Nevertheless, too much sugar spoils the flavour of the fruit, and too long boiling spoils the quality of the sugar. A copper or thick enamelled iron pan is needed.

The best recipe for ordinary use allows 3/4 lb. sugar to each pound fruit. Put the fruit in the pan with a little of the sugar, and when this boils, add the rest. Boil rather quickly for an hour. Keep well skimmed. Pour into hot, dry jars, and cover.

JAM WITHOUT SUGAR.

To every pound of fresh fruit allow 1/2 lb. dates. Wash the fruit, put it in the preserving pan, and heat slowly, stirring well to draw out the juice. Wash and stone the dates. Add to the fruit, and simmer very gently for 45 minutes. Put immediately into clean, hot, dry jars, and tie on parchment covers at once.

LEMON CURD.

1 lb. lump sugar, 3 lemons (the rinds of 2 grated), yolks of 6 eggs, 1/4 lb. butter.

Put the butter into a clean saucepan; melt, but do not let it boil. Add the sugar, and stir until it is dissolved. Then add the beaten yolks, and, lastly, the grated lemon rind and juice. Stir over a slow fire until the mixture looks like honey and becomes thick. Put into jars, cover, and tie down as for jam.

MARMALADE.

To 1 large Seville orange (if small, count 3 as 2) allow 3/4 lb. cane sugar and 3/4 pint water. Wash and brush oranges, remove pips, cut peel into fine shreds (better still, put through a mincer). Put all to soak in the water for 24 hours. Boil until rinds are soft. Stand another 24 hours. Add the sugar, and boil until marmalade jellies. If preferred, half sweet and half Seville oranges may be used.

VEGETABLE MARROW JAM.

Peel the marrow, remove seeds, and cut into dice. To each pound of marrow allow 1 lb. cane sugar; to every 3 lbs. of marrow allow the juice and grated yellow part of rind of 1 lemon and 1/2 a level teaspoon ground ginger. Put the marrow into the preserving pan, sprinkle well with some of the sugar, and stand for 12 hours. Add the rest of the sugar, and boil slowly for 2 hours. Add the lemon juice, rind, and ginger at the end of 1-1/2 hours.

MODERN COOKERY FOR PRIVATE FAMILIES (New Edition) by ELIZA ACTON [1882]

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE USE AND VALUE OF PRESERVED FRUIT.

Simple well-made preserves—especially those of our early summer fruits—are most valuable domestic stores, as they will retain through the entire year or longer,[164] their peculiarly grateful and agreeable flavour, and supply many wholesome and refreshing varieties of diet through the winter months and spring.

They are, indeed, as conducive to health—when not cloyingly sweet or taken in excess—as good vegetables are; and they are inexpensive luxuries (if as luxuries they must be regarded), now sugar is so very reasonable in price.

By many families they are considered too much as mere superfluities of the table, and when served only—as they so often are—combined with rich pastry-crust or cream, or converted into ices and other costly preparations, may justly be viewed solely in that light.

To be eaten in perfection they should be sufficiently boiled down to remain free from mould or fermentation, and yet not so much reduced as to be dry or hard; they should not afterwards be subjected to the heat of the oven,[165] but served with some plain pudding, or light dish of bread, rice, ribbon-macaroni, soujee, semoulina, &c.

When intended for tartlets or creams, or fruit-sauces, they should be somewhat less boiled, and be made with a larger proportion of sugar.

164.  We have had them excellent at the end of three or four years, but they were made from the produce of a home garden, as freshly gathered, and carefully selected as it could be. Some clear apricot-marmalade, some strawberry-jelly, and some raspberry-jelly, were amongst those which retained their full flavour and transparency to the last. They were merely covered with two layers of thin writing paper pressed closely on them, after being saturated with spirits of wine.

165.  For the manner of serving them in pastry without this, see – small vol-au-vents and tartlets.

Fruit steamed in bottles is now vended and consumed in very large quantities in this country, but it is not wholesome, as it produces often—probably from the amount of fixed air which it contains—violent derangement of the system. When the bottles are filled with water it is less apt to disagree with the eaters, but it is never so really wholesome as preserves which are made with sugar. That which is baked keeps remarkably well, and appears to be somewhat less objectionable than that which is steamed.

The rich confectionary preparations called wet preserves (fruits preserved in syrup), which are principally adapted to formal desserts, scarcely repay the cost and trouble of making them in private families, unless they be often required for table. They are in general lusciously sweet, as they will only remain good with a large proportion of sugar; and if there be no favourable place of storage for them they soon spoil. When drained and well dried, they may much more easily be kept uninjured.

The general directions for them, which we append, and the receipts for dried gooseberries, cherries, and apricots which we have inserted here will be sufficient for the guidance of the reader who may wish to attempt them.

Fourneau Economique, or Portable French Furnace, with Stewpan and Trivet.
No. 1. Portable French Furnace.—2. Depth at which the grating is placed.—3. Stewpan.—4.
Trivet.

The small portable French stove, or furnace, shown in the preceding page, with the trivet and stewpan adapted to it, is exceedingly convenient for all preparations which require either more than usual attention, or a fire entirely free from smoke; as it can be placed on a table in a clear light, and the heat can be regulated at pleasure. It has been used for many of the preserves of which the receipts are given in this chapter, as well as for various dishes contained in the body of the work. There should always be a free current of air in the room in which it stands when lighted, as charcoal or braise (that is to say, the live embers of large well-burned wood, drawn from an oven and shut immediately into a closely-stopped iron or copper vessel to extinguish them) is the only fuel suited to it.

To kindle either of these, two or three bits must be lighted in a common fire, and laid on the top of that in the furnace, which should be evenly placed between the grating and the brim, and then blown gently with the bellows until the whole is alight: the door of the furnace must in the mean while be open, and remain so, unless the heat should at any time be too fierce for the preserves, when it must be closed for a few minutes, to moderate it. To extinguish the fire altogether, the cover must be pressed closely on, and the door be quite shut: the embers which remain will serve to rekindle it easily, but before it is again lighted the grating must be lifted out and all the ashes cleared away. It should be set by in a place which is not damp. In a common grate a clear fire for preserving may be made with coke, which is a degree less unwholesome than charcoal.

The enamelled stewpans which have now come into general use, are, from the peculiar nicety of the composition with which they are lined, better adapted than any others to pickling and preserving, as they may be used without danger for acids; and red fruits when boiled in them retain the brightness of their colour as well as if copper or bell-metal were used for them.

The form of the old-fashioned preserving-pan, made usually of one or the other of these, is shown here; but it has not, we should say, even the advantage of being of convenient shape; for the handles quickly become heated, and the pan, in consequence, cannot always be instantaneously raised from the fire when the contents threaten to over-boil or to burn.

Copper preserving-pan.

It is desirable to have three or four wooden spoons or spatulas, one fine hair-sieve, at the least, one or two large squares of common muslin, and one strainer or more of closer texture, kept exclusively for preparations of fruit; for if used for other purposes, there is the hazard, without great care, of their retaining some strong or coarse flavour, which they would impart to the preserves.

Closed Furnace and Cover.

Grating.

Trevet.

A sieve, for example, used habitually for soup or gravy, should never, on any account, be brought into use for any kind of confectionary, nor in making sweet dishes, nor for straining eggs or milk for puddings, cakes, or bread. Damp is the great enemy, not only of preserves and pickles, but of numberless other household stores; yet, in many situations, it is extremely difficult to exclude it. To keep them in a “dry cool place” (words which occur so frequently both in this book, and in most others on the same subject), is more easily directed than done.

They remain, we find, more entirely free from any danger of moulding, when covered with a brandied paper only, and placed on the shelves of a tolerably dry store-room, or in a chiffoneer (in which we have had them keep unchanged for years). When the slightest fermentation is perceptible in syrup, it should immediately be boiled for some minutes, and well skimmed; the fruit taken from it should then be thrown in, and well scalded also, and the whole, when done, should be turned into a very clean dry jar; this kind of preserve should always be covered with one or two skins or with parchment and thick paper when it is not secured from the air with corks.

A FEW GENERAL RULES AND DIRECTIONS FOR PRESERVING.

1. Let everything used for the purpose be delicately clean and dry; bottles especially so.

2. Never place a preserving-pan flat upon the fire, as this will render the preserve liable to burn to, as it is called; that is to say, to adhere closely to the metal, and then to burn; it should rest always on a trivet (that shown with the French furnace is very convenient even for a common grate), or on the lowered bar of a kitchen range when there is no regular preserving stove in a house.

3. After the sugar is added to them, stir the preserves gently at first, and more quickly towards the end, without quitting them until they are done: this precaution will always prevent the chance of their being spoiled.

4. All preserves should be perfectly cleared from the scum as it rises.

5. Fruit which is to be preserved in syrup must first be blanched or boiled gently, until it is sufficiently softened to absorb the sugar; and a thin syrup must be poured on it at first, or it will shrivel instead of remaining plump, and becoming clear. Thus, if its weight of sugar is to be allowed, and boiled to a syrup with a pint of water to the pound, only half the weight must be taken at first, and this must not be boiled with the water more than fifteen or twenty minutes at the commencement of the process; a part of the remaining sugar must be added every time the syrup is reboiled, unless it should be otherwise directed in the receipt.

6. To preserve both the true flavour and the colour of fruit in jams and jellies, boil them rapidly until they are well reduced, before the sugar is added, and quickly afterwards, but do not allow them to become so much thickened that the sugar will not dissolve in them easily, and throw up its scum. In some seasons, the juice is so much richer than in others, that this effect takes place almost before one is aware of it; but the drop which adheres to the skimmer when it is held up, will show the state it has reached.

7. Never use tin, iron, or pewter spoons, or skimmers, for preserves, as they will convert the colour of red fruit into a dingy purple, and impart, besides, a very unpleasant flavour.

8. When cheap jams or jellies are required, make them at once with Lisbon sugar, but use that which is well refined always, for preserves in general; it is a false economy, as we have elsewhere observed, to purchase an inferior kind, as there is great waste from it in the quantity of scum which it throws up. The best has been used for all the receipts given here.

9. Let fruit for preserving be gathered always in perfectly dry weather, and be free both from the morning and evening dew, and as much so as possible from dust. When bottled, it must be steamed or baked during the day on which it is gathered, or there will be a great loss from the bursting of the bottles; and for jams and jellies it cannot be too soon boiled down after it is taken from the trees.

TO EXTRACT THE JUICE OF PLUMS FOR JELLY.

Take the stalks from the fruit, and throw aside all that is not perfectly sound: put it into very clean, large stone jars, and give part of the harder kinds, such as bullaces and damson, a gash with a knife as they are thrown in; do this especially in filling the upper part of the jars.

Tie one or two folds of thick paper over them, and set them for the night into an oven from which the bread has been drawn four or five hours; or cover them with bladder, instead of paper, place them in pans, or in a copper[166] with water which will reach to quite two-thirds of their height, and boil them gently from two to three hours, or until the fruit is quite soft, and has yielded all the juice it will afford: this last is the safer and better mode for jellies of delicate colour.

166.  The fruit steams perfectly in this, if the cover be placed over.

TO WEIGH THE JUICE OF FRUIT.

Put a basin into one scale, and its weight into the other; add to this last the weight which is required of the juice, and pour into the basin as much as will balance the scales. It is always better to weigh than to measure the juice for preserving, as it can generally be done with more exactness.

RHUBARB JAM.

The stalks of the rhubarb (or spring-fruit, as it is called) should be taken for this preserve, which is a very good and useful one, while they are fresh and young. Wipe them very clean, pare them quickly, weigh, and cut them into half-inch lengths; to every pound add an equal weight of good sugar in fine powder; mix them well together, let them remain for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour to draw out the juice a little, then turn them into a preserving-pan, let them heat rather slowly, but as soon as the stalks are tender boil the preserve rapidly, stirring it well for about half an hour. It will be of excellent flavour, and will serve admirably for tarts.

A somewhat cheaper mode of making the jam is to stew it until tender in its own juices, and then to boil it rapidly until it is tolerably dry, to add to it only half its weight of sugar, and to give it from twenty to thirty minutes boiling.

Spring fruit (rhubarb), 4 lbs.; sugar, 4 lbs.: heated slowly, and when tender, boiled quickly, 30 minutes.

GREEN GOOSEBERRY JAM.

(Firm and of good colour.)

Cut the stalks and tops from the fruit, weigh and bruise it slightly, boil it for six or seven minutes, keeping it well turned during the time, then to every three pounds of gooseberries add two and a half of sugar beaten to powder, and boil the preserve quickly for three-quarters of an hour. It must be constantly stirred, and carefully cleared from scum. This makes a fine, firm, and refreshing preserve if the fruit be rubbed through a sieve before the sugar is added. If well reduced afterwards, it may be converted into a gâteau, or gooseberry-solid, with three pounds of sugar, or even a smaller proportion.

The preceding jam will often turn in perfect form from the moulds or jars which contain it; and if freed from the seeds, would be very excellent: it is extremely good even made as above. For all preserves, the reduction, or boiling down to a certain consistence, should take place principally before the sugar is mingled with them; and this has the best effect when added to the fruit and dissolved in it by degrees.

Green gooseberries, 6 lbs.: 6 to 7 minutes. Sugar, 5 lbs.; 3/4 hour.

TO DRY GREEN GOOSEBERRIES.

Take the finest green gooseberries, fully grown, and freshly gathered; cut off the buds, split them across the tops half way down, and with the small end of a tea or of an egg spoon, scoop out the seeds. Boil together for fifteen minutes a pound and a half of the finest sugar, and a pint of water; skim this syrup thoroughly and throw into it a pound of the seeded gooseberries; simmer them from five to seven minutes, when they ought to be clear and tender; when they are so, lift them out, and throw as many more into the syrup; drain them a little when done, spread them singly on dishes, and dry them very gradually in a quite cool stove or oven, or in a sunny window. They will keep well in the syrup, and may be potted in it, and dried when wanted for use.

Green gooseberries without seeds, 2 lbs.; water, 1 pint; sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: boiled, 15 minutes. Gooseberries simmered, 5 to 7 minutes.

GREEN GOOSEBERRY JELLY.

Wash some freshly gathered gooseberries very clean; after having taken off the tops and stalks, then to each pound pour three-quarters of a pint of spring water, and simmer them until they are well broken; turn the whole into a jelly-bag or cloth, and let all the juice drain through; weigh and boil it rapidly for fifteen minutes.

Draw it from the fire, and stir in it until entirely dissolved, an equal weight of good sugar reduced to powder; boil the jelly from fifteen to twenty minutes longer, or until it jellies strongly on the spoon or skimmer; clear it perfectly from scum, and pour it into small jars, moulds, or glasses. It ought to be very pale and transparent. The sugar may be added to the juice at first, and the preserve boiled from twenty-five to thirty-five minutes, but the colour will not then be so good. When the fruit abounds, the juice may be drawn from it with very little water, as directed for apples, [see apple recipes below], when it will require much less boiling.

Gooseberries, 6 lbs.; water, 4 pints: 20 to 30 minutes. Juice boiled quickly, 15 minutes; to each pound, 1 pound sugar: 15 to 20 minutes.

APPLE JELLY.

Various kind of apples may be used successfully to make this jelly, but the nonsuch is by many persons preferred to all others for the purpose. The Ripstone pippin, however, may be used for it with very good effect, either solely, or with a mixture of pearmains. It is necessary only that the fruit should be finely flavoured, and that it should boil easily to a marmalade. Pare, core, quarter, and weigh it quickly that it may not lose its colour, and to each pound pour a pint of cold water and boil it until it is well broken, without being reduced to a quite thick pulp, as it would then be difficult to render the juice perfectly clear, which it ought to be.

Drain this well from the apples, either through a fine sieve or a folded muslin strainer, pass it afterwards through a jelly-bag, or turn the fruit at once into the last of these, and pour the liquid through a second time if needful. When it appears quite transparent, weigh, and reduce it by quick boiling for twenty minutes; draw it from the fire, add two pounds of sugar broken very small, for three of the decoction; stir it till it is entirely dissolved, then place the preserving-pan again over a clear fire and boil the preserve quickly for ten minutes, or until it jellies firmly upon the skimmer when poured from it; throw in the strained juice of a small lemon for every two pounds of jelly, two minutes before it is taken from the fire.

Apples, 7 lbs.; water, 7 pints: 1/2 to full hour. Juice, 6 lbs.: 20 minutes quick boiling. Sugar, 4 lbs.: 10 to 25 minutes. Juice three lemons.

EXCEEDINGLY FINE APPLE JELLY.

Pare quickly some highly flavoured juicy apples of any kind, or of various kinds together, for this is immaterial; slice, without dividing them; but first free them from the stalks and eyes; shake out some of the pips, and put the apples evenly into very clean large stone jars, just dipping an occasional layer into cold water as this is done, the better to preserve the colour of the whole. Set the jars into pans of water, and boil the fruit slowly until it is quite soft, then turn it into a jelly-bag or cloth and let the juice all drop from it. The quantity which it will have yielded will be small, but it will be clear and rich.

Weigh, and boil it for ten minutes, then draw it from the fire, and stir into it, until it is entirely dissolved, twelve ounces of good sugar to the pound and quarter (or pint) of juice. Place the preserve again over the fire and stir it without intermission, except to clear off the scum, until it has boiled from eight to ten minutes longer, for otherwise it will jelly on the surface with the scum upon it, which it will then be difficult to remove, as when touched it will break and fall into the preserve.

The strained juice of one small fresh lemon to the pint of jelly should be thrown into it two or three minutes before it is poured out, and the rind of one or two cut very thin may be simmered in the juice before the sugar is added; but the pale, delicate colour of the jelly will be injured by too much of it, and many persons would altogether prefer the pure flavour of the fruit.

Juice of apples, 1 quart, or 2-1/2 lbs.: 10 minutes. Sugar, 1-1/2 lb.: 8 to 10 minutes. Juice, 2 small lemons; rind of 1 or more at pleasure.

Obs.—The quantity of apples required for it renders this a rather expensive preserve, where they are not abundant; but it is a remarkably fine jelly, and turns out from the moulds in perfect shape and very firm.[168] It may be served in the second course, or for rice-crust. It is sometimes made without paring the apples, or dipping them into the water, and the colour is then a deep red: we have occasionally had a pint of water added to about a gallon and a half of apples, but the jelly was not then quite so fine in flavour. The best time for making it is from the end of November to Christmas. Quince jelly would, without doubt, be very fine made by this receipt; but as the juice of that fruit is richer than that of the apple, a little water might be added. Alternate layers of apples and quinces would also answer well, we think.

168.  It is, we should say, quite equal to gelée de pommes, for which Rouen is somewhat celebrated.

RED GOOSEBERRY JAM.

The small rough red gooseberry, when fully ripe, is the best for this preserve, which may, however, be made of the larger kinds. When the tops and stalks have been taken carefully from the fruit, weigh, and boil it quickly for three-quarters of an hour, keeping it well stirred; then for six pounds of the gooseberries, add two and a half of good roughly-powdered sugar; boil these together briskly, from twenty to twenty-five minutes and stir the jam well from the bottom of the pan, as it is liable to burn if this be neglected.

Small red gooseberries, 6 lbs.: 3/4 hour. Pounded sugar, 2-1/2 lbs.: 20 to 25 minutes.

VERY FINE GOOSEBERRY JAM.

Seed the fruit, which for this jam may be of the larger kind of rough red gooseberry: those which are smooth skinned are generally of far inferior flavour. Add the pulp which has been scooped from the prepared fruit to some whole gooseberries, and stir them over a moderate fire for some minutes to extract the juice; strain and weigh this; pour two pounds of it to four of the seeded gooseberries, boil them rather gently for twenty-five minutes, add fourteen ounces of good pounded sugar to each pound of fruit and juice, and when it is dissolved boil the preserve from twelve to fifteen minutes longer, and skim it well during the time.

Seeded gooseberries, 4 lbs.; juice of gooseberries, 2 lbs.: 25 minutes. Sugar, 5-1/4 lbs. (or 14 oz. to each pound of fruit and juice): 12 to 15 minutes.

JELLY OF RIPE GOOSEBERRIES.

(Excellent.)

Take the tops and stalks from a gallon or more of any kind of well-flavoured ripe red gooseberries, and keep them stirred gently over a clear fire until they have yielded all their juice, which should then be poured off without pressing the fruit, and passed first through a fine sieve, and afterwards through a double muslin-strainer, or a jelly-bag. Next weigh it, and to every three pounds add one of white currant juice, which has previously been prepared in the same way; boil these quickly for a quarter of an hour, then draw them from the fire and stir to them half their weight of good sugar; when this is dissolved, boil the jelly for six minutes longer, skim it thoroughly, and pour it into jars or moulds. If a very large quantity be made, a few minutes of additional boiling must be given to it before the sugar is added.

Juice of red gooseberries, 3 lbs.; juice of white currants, 1 lb.: 15 minutes. Sugar, 2 lbs.: 6 minutes.

Obs.—The same proportion of red currant juice, mixed with that of the gooseberries, makes an exceedingly nice jelly.

UNMIXED GOOSEBERRY JELLY.

Boil rapidly for ten minutes four pounds of the juice of red gooseberries, prepared as in the preceding receipt; take it from the fire, and stir in it until dissolved three pounds of sugar beaten to powder; boil it again for five minutes, keeping it constantly stirred and thoroughly skimmed.

Juice of red gooseberries, 4 lbs.: 10 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 5 minutes.

JAM OF KENTISH OR FLEMISH CHERRIES.

This is a very agreeable preserve when it is made as we shall direct; but if long boiled with a large proportion of sugar, as it frequently is, both the bright colour and the pleasant flavour of the cherries will be destroyed.

Stone, and then weigh the fruit; heat it rather slowly that the juice may be well drawn out before it begins to boil, and stew the cherries until they are tolerably tender, then boil them quickly, keeping them well turned and stirred from the bottom of the pan, for three-quarters of an hour or somewhat longer should there still remain a large quantity of juice. Draw the pan from the fire, and stir in gradually half a pound of sugar for each pound of cherries. An ounce or two more may occasionally be required when the fruit is more than usually acid, and also when a quite sweet preserve is liked. When the sugar is dissolved continue the boiling rapidly for about twenty minutes longer; clear off all the scum as it appears, and keep the jam stirred well and constantly, but not quickly, to prevent its adhering to the bottom of the preserving-pan.

Stoned Kentish or Flemish cherries, 6 lbs.: without sugar, 1 hour or rather more. Sugar roughly powdered, 3 lbs.: (or 3-1/2 lbs.) About 20 minutes quick boiling.

Obs.—Heat the fruit and boil it gently until it is quite tender, turning it often, and pressing it down into the juice; then quicken the boiling to evaporate the juice before the sugar is added. Cherries which are bruised will not make good preserve: they always remain tough.

DRIED CHERRIES.

(Superior Receipt.)

To each pound of cherries weighed after they are stoned, add eight ounces of good sugar, and boil them very softly for ten minutes: pour them into a large bowl or pan, and leave them for two days in the syrup; then simmer them again for ten minutes, and set them by in it for two or three days; drain them slightly, and dry them very slowly, as directed in the previous receipts. Keep them in jars or tin canisters, when done. These cherries are generally preferred to such as are dried with a larger proportion of sugar; but when the taste is in favour of the latter, from twelve to sixteen ounces can be allowed to the pound of fruit, which may then be potted in the syrup and dried at any time; though we think the flavour of the cherries is better preserved when this is done within a fortnight of their being boiled.

Cherries, stoned, 8 lbs.; sugar, 4 lbs.: 10 minutes. Left two or three days. Boiled again, 10 minutes; left two days; drained and dried.

TO DRY MORELLA CHERRIES.

Take off the stalks but do not stone the fruit; weigh and add to it an equal quantity of the best sugar reduced quite to powder, strew it over the cherries and let them stand for half an hour; then turn them gently into a preserving-pan, and simmer them softly from five to seven minutes. Drain them from the syrup, and dry them like the Kentish cherries. They make a very fine confection.

STRAWBERRY JAM.

Strip the stalks from some fine scarlet strawberries, weigh, and boil them for thirty-five minutes, keeping them very constantly stirred; throw in eight ounces of good sugar, beaten small, to the pound of fruit; mix them well off the fire, then boil the preserve again quickly for twenty-five minutes.

Strawberries, 6 lbs.: 35 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 25 minutes.

Obs.—We do not think it needful to give directions with each separate receipt for skimming the preserve with care, and keeping it constantly stirred, but neither should in any case be neglected.

STRAWBERRY-JELLY. A very Superior Preserve. (New Receipt.)

The original directions for this delicious jelly, published in the earlier editions of this work, were the result of perfectly successful trials made in the summer of their insertion; but, after much additional experience, we find that the receipt may be better adapted to our varying seasons, which so much affect the quality of our fruit, and rendered more certain in its results by some alterations; we therefore give it anew, recommending it strongly for trial, especially to such of our readers as can command from their own gardens ample supplies of strawberries in their best and freshest state. Like all fruit intended for preserving, they should be gathered in dry weather, after the morning dew has quite passed off them, and be used the same day.

Strip away the stalks, and put the strawberries into an enamelled stewpan if at hand, and place it very high over a clear fire, that the juice may be drawn from them gently; turn them over with a silver or wooden spoon from time to time, and when the juice has flowed from them abundantly, let them simmer until they shrink, but be sure to take them from the fire before the juice becomes thick or pulpy from over-boiling. Thirty minutes, or sometimes even longer, over a very slow fire, will not be too much to extract it from them. Turn them into a new, well-scalded, but dry sieve over a clean pan, and let them remain until the juice ceases to drop from them; strain it then through a muslin strainer, weigh it in a basin, of which the weight must first be taken, and boil it quickly in a clean preserving-pan from fifteen to twenty minutes, and stir it often during the time: then take it from the fire, and throw in by degrees, for every pound of juice, fourteen ounces of the best sugar coarsely pounded, stirring each portion until it is dissolved. Place the pan again over the fire, and boil the jelly—still quickly—for about a quarter of an hour.

Occasionally it may need a rather longer time than this, and sometimes less: the exact degree can only be ascertained by a little experience, in consequence of the juice of some varieties of the fruit being so much thinner than that of others. The preserve should jelly strongly on the skimmer, and fall in a mass from it before it is poured out; but if boiled beyond this point it will be spoiled. If made with richly-flavoured strawberries, and carefully managed, it will be very brilliant in colour, and in flavour really equal if not superior to guava jelly; while it will retain all the delicious odour of the fruit. No skimmer or other utensil of tin should be used in making it; and an enamelled preserving-pan is preferable to any other for all red fruit. It becomes very firm often after it is stored, when it appears scarcely set in the first instance; it is, however, desirable that it should jelly at once.

Fruit kept hot to draw out the juice, 1/2 hour or longer. Boiled quickly without sugar, 15 to 20 minutes. To each pound 14 oz. of sugar: 12 to 15 minutes.

TO PRESERVE STRAWBERRIES OR RASPBERRIES, FOR CREAMS OR ICES, WITHOUT BOILING.

Let the fruit be gathered in the middle of a warm day, in very dry weather; strip it from the stalks directly, weigh it, bruise it slightly, turn it into a bowl or deep pan, and mix with it an equal weight of fine dry sifted sugar, and put immediately into small, wide-necked bottles; cork these firmly without delay, and tie bladder over the tops. Keep them in a cool place, or the fruit will ferment. The mixture should be stirred softly, and only just sufficiently to blend the sugar and the fruit. The bottles must be perfectly dry, and the bladders, after having been cleaned in the usual way, and allowed to become nearly so, should be moistened with a little spirit on the side which is to be next to the cork. Unless these precautions be observed, there will be some danger of the whole being spoiled.

Equal weight of fruit and sugar.

RASPBERRY JAM.

This is a very favourite English preserve, and one of the most easily made that can be. The fruit for it should be ripe and perfectly sound; and as it soon decays or becomes mouldy after it is gathered, it should be fresh from the bushes when it is used. That which grows in the shade has less flavour than the fruit which receives the full warmth of the sun.

Excellent jam for common family use may be made as follows:— Bruise gently with the back of a wooden spoon, six pounds of ripe and freshly-gathered raspberries, and boil them over a brisk fire for twenty-five minutes; stir to them half their weight of good sugar, roughly powdered, and when it is dissolved, boil the preserve quickly for ten minutes, keeping it well stirred and skimmed.

Raspberries, 6 lbs.: 25 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 10 minutes.

VERY RICH RASPBERRY JAM OR MARMALADE.

No. 1.—Weigh the finest fruit that can be procured, and bruise it with the back of a wooden spoon after it is put into the preserving-pan. Boil it gently, keeping it well turned, for about five minutes, then stir to it gradually nearly or quite its weight of dry pounded sugar, and continue the boiling rather rapidly for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, and be careful to remove all the scum as it rises. The preserve will be clear, smooth, and very thick when it is sufficiently boiled, and should then be taken from the pan without delay, as it will very quickly set.

No. 2.—Draw gently from the smallest of the raspberries from half to a whole pound of juice, and boil down in this three pounds of the fruit, after it has been crushed with a spoon as usual. In ten minutes, if the fruit be quite ripe, the sugar may be added. Three pounds to four of the raspberries and their juice, will make a quite sweet preserve. It should be gradually stirred in until dissolved, and not be allowed to boil during the time. Ten or fifteen minutes will then suffice generally to bring it to the proper degree for jellying firmly.

No. 1.—Fine raspberries: 5 minutes. Sugar, nearly or quite equal weight: 15 to 20 minutes.

No. 2.—Raspberry-juice, 1 lb.; ripe raspberries, 3 lbs. (or 4): 10 minutes. To each pound of fruit and juice, sugar 3/4 lb.: 10 to 15 minutes.

Obs.—All fruit jams are much improved by the addition of a certain portion of juice to the fruit which is boiled down; they then partake more of the nature of jelly.

GOOD RED OR WHITE RASPBERRY JAM.

Boil quickly, for twenty minutes, four pounds of either red or white sound ripe raspberries in a pound and a half of currant-juice of the same colour; take the pan from the fire, stir in three pounds of sugar, and when it is dissolved, place the pan again over the fire, and continue the boiling for ten minutes longer: keep the preserve well skimmed and stirred from the beginning.

Raspberries, 4 lbs.; currant-juice, 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 10 minutes.

RASPBERRY JELLY FOR FLAVOURING CREAMS.

Take the stalks from some quite ripe and freshly-gathered raspberries, stir them over the fire until they render their juice freely, then strain and weigh it; or press it from them through a cloth, and then strain it clear; in either case boil it for five minutes after it is weighed, and for each pound stir in a pound and a quarter of good sugar reduced quite to powder, sifted, and made very hot; boil the preserve quickly for five minutes longer, and skim it clean. The jelly thus made will sufficiently sweeten the creams without any additional sugar.

Juice of raspberries, 4 lbs.: 5 minutes. Sugar, made hot, 5 lbs.: 5 minutes.

ANOTHER RASPBERRY JELLY.

(Very Good.)

Bruise the fruit a little, and place it high above a clear fire, that the juice may be gently drawn from it: it may remain thus for twenty minutes or longer without boiling, and be simmered for four or five; strain and weigh it; boil it quickly for twenty minutes, draw it from the fire, add three-quarters of a pound of good sugar for each pound of juice, and when this is dissolved place the pan again on the fire, and boil the preserve fast from twelve to fifteen minutes longer; skim it thoroughly, and keep it well stirred: the preserve will then require rather less boiling. When it jellies in falling from the spoon or skimmer, it is done. Nothing of tin or iron should be used in making it, as these metals will convert its fine red colour into a dull purple.

Fruit, simmered 5 to 6 minutes. Juice of raspberries, 4 lbs.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 12 to 15 minutes. Or: juice of raspberries, 4 lbs.; juice of white currants, 2 lbs.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 10 minutes, or less.

RED CURRANT JELLY.

With three parts of fine ripe red currants freshly gathered, and stripped from the stalks, mix one of white currants; put them into a clean preserving-pan, and stir them gently over a clear fire until the juice flows from them freely; then turn them into a fine hair-sieve, and let them drain well, but without pressure. Pass the juice through a folded muslin or a jelly-bag; weigh it, and then boil it fast for a quarter of an hour; add for each pound, eight ounces of sugar coarsely powdered, stir this to it off the fire until it is dissolved, give the jelly eight minutes more of quick boiling, and pour it out. It will be firm, and of excellent colour and flavour. Be sure to clear off the scum as it rises, both before and after the sugar is put in, or the preserve will not be clear.

Juice of red currants, 3 lbs.; juice of white currants, 1 lb.: 15 minutes. Sugar, 2 lbs.: 8 minutes.

Obs.—An excellent jelly may be made with equal parts of the juice of red and of white currants, and of raspberries, with the same proportion of sugar and degree of boiling as in the foregoing receipt.

SUPERLATIVE RED CURRANT JELLY. (Norman Receipt.)

Strip carefully from the stems some quite ripe currants of the finest quality, and mix with them an equal weight of good sugar reduced to powder; boil these together quickly for exactly eight minutes, keep them stirred all the time, and clear off the scum—which will be very abundant—as it rises; then turn the preserve into a very clean sieve, and put into small jars the jelly which runs through it, and which will be delicious in flavour, and of the brightest colour. It should be carried immediately, when this is practicable, to an extremely cool but not a damp place, and left there until perfectly cold. The currants which remain in the sieve make an excellent jam, particularly if only part of the jelly be taken from them. In Normandy where the fruit is of richer quality than in England, this preserve is boiled only two minutes, and is both firm and beautifully transparent.

Currants, 3 lbs.; sugar, 3 lbs.: 8 minutes.

Obs.—This receipt we are told by some of our correspondents is not generally quite successful in this country, as the jelly, though it keeps well and is of the finest possible flavour, is scarcely firm enough for table. We have ourselves found this to be the case in cold damp seasons; but the preserve even then was valuable for many purposes, and always agreeable eating.

VERY FINE WHITE CURRANT JELLY.

The fruit for this jelly should be very white, perfectly free from dust, and picked carefully from the stalks. To every pound add eighteen ounces of double refined sifted sugar, and boil them together quickly for eight minutes; pour it into a delicately clean sieve, and finish it by the directions given for the Norman red currant jelly.

White currants, 6 lbs.; highly refined sugar, 6-3/4 lbs.: 6 minutes.

DELICIOUS RED CURRANT JAM.

This, which is but an indifferent preserve when made in the usual way, will be found a very fine one if the following directions for it be observed; it will be extremely transparent and bright in colour, and will retain perfectly the flavour of the fruit. Take the currants at the height of their season, the finest that can be had, free from dust, but gathered on a dry day; strip them with great care from the stalks, weigh and put them into a preserving-pan with three pounds of the best sugar reduced to powder, to four pounds of the fruit: stir them gently over a brisk clear fire, and boil them quickly for exactly eight minutes from the first full boil.

As the jam is apt to rise over the top of the pan, it is better not to fill it more than two-thirds, and if this precaution should not be sufficient to prevent it, it must be lifted from the fire and held away for an instant. To many tastes, a still finer jam than this (which we find sufficiently sweet) may be made with an equal weight of fruit and sugar boiled together for seven minutes. There should be great exactness with respect to the time, as both the flavour and the brilliant colour of the preserve will be injured by longer boiling.

Red currants (without stalks), 4 lbs.; fine sugar, 3 lbs.: boiled quickly, 8 minutes. Or, equal weight fruit and sugar: 7 minutes.

WHITE CURRANT JAM, A BEAUTIFUL PRESERVE.

Boil together quickly for seven minutes an equal weight of fine white currants, stalked with the greatest nicety, and of the best sugar pounded and passed through a sieve. Stir the preserve gently the whole time, and be careful to skim it thoroughly.

White currants, 4 lbs.; best sugar, 4 lbs.: 7 minutes.

FINE BLACK CURRANT JELLY.

Stir some black currants over the fire until they have yielded their juice; strain, weigh, and boil it for twenty minutes; add to it three pounds and a half of sifted sugar of good quality, made quite hot, and when it is dissolved boil the jelly for five minutes only, clearing off the scum with care. This, though an excellent preserve, is too sweet for our own taste, and we think one made with less sugar likely to be more acceptable in cases of indisposition generally.

Juice of black currants, 4 lbs.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 3-1/2 lbs.: 5 minutes.

COMMON BLACK CURRANT JELLY.

Boil from three to six pounds of the juice rapidly for twenty minutes, stirring it well; then mix with it off the fire, half a pound of sugar for each pound of juice, and continue the boiling for ten minutes.

Juice of black currants, 3 to 6 lbs.: 20 minutes. To each pound juice 1/2 lb. good sugar: 10 minutes.

Obs.—This jelly may be made with Lisbon sugar, but will then require rather more boiling.

BLACK CURRANT JAM AND MARMALADE.

No fruit jellies so easily as black currants when they are ripe; and their juice is so rich and thick that it will bear the addition of a very small quantity of water sometimes, without causing the preserve to mould. When the currants have been very dusty, we have occasionally had them washed and drained before they were used, without any injurious effects. Jam boiled down in the usual manner with this fruit is often very dry. It may be greatly improved by taking out nearly half the currants when it is ready to be potted, pressing them well against the side of the preserving-pan to extract the juice: this leaves the remainder far more liquid and refreshing than when the skins are all retained. Another mode of making fine black currant jam—as well as that of any other fruit—is to add one pound at least of juice, extracted as for jelly, to two pounds of the berries, and to allow sugar for it in the same proportion as directed for each pound of them.

For marmalade or paste, which is most useful in affections of the throat and chest, the currants must be stewed tender in their own juice, and then rubbed through a sieve. After ten minutes’ boiling, sugar in fine powder must be stirred gradually to the pulp, off the fire, until it is dissolved: a few minutes more of boiling will then suffice to render the preserve thick, and it will become quite firm when cold. More or less sugar can be added to the taste, but it is not generally liked very sweet.

Best black currant jam.—Currants, 4 lbs.; juice of currants, 2 lbs.: 15 to 20 minutes’ gentle boiling. Sugar, 3 to 4 lbs.: 10 minutes. Marmalade, or paste of black currants.—Fruit, 4 lbs.: stewed in its own juice 15 minutes, or until quite soft. Pulp boiled 10 minutes. Sugar, from 7 to 9 oz. to the lb.: 10 to 14 minutes.

Obs.—The following are the receipts originally inserted in this work, and which we leave unaltered.

To six pounds of the fruit, stripped carefully from the stalks, add four pounds and a half of sugar. Let them heat gently, but as soon as the sugar is dissolved boil the preserve rapidly for fifteen minutes. A more common kind of jam may be made by boiling the fruit by itself from ten to fifteen minutes, and for ten minutes after half its weight of sugar has been added to it.

Black currants, 6 lbs.; sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 15 minutes. Or: fruit, 6 lbs.: 10 to 15 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 10 minutes.

Obs.—There are few preparations of fruit so refreshing and so useful in illness as those of black currants, and it is therefore advisable always to have a store of them, and to have them well and carefully made.

NURSERY PRESERVE.

Take the stones from a couple of pounds of Kentish cherries, and boil them twenty minutes; then add to them a pound and a half of raspberries, and an equal quantity of red and of white currants, all weighed after they have been cleared from their stems. Boil these together quickly for twenty minutes; mix with them three pounds and a quarter of common sugar, and give the preserve fifteen minutes more of quick boiling. A pound and a half of gooseberries may be substituted for the cherries; but they will not require any stewing before they are added to the other fruits. The jam must be well stirred from the beginning, or it will burn to the pan.

Kentish cherries, 2 lbs.: 20 minutes. Raspberries, red currants, and white currants, of each 1-1/2 lb.: 20 minutes. Sugar, 3-1/4 lbs.: 15 minutes.

ANOTHER GOOD COMMON PRESERVE.

Boil together, in equal or unequal portions (for this is immaterial), any kinds of early fruit, until they can be pressed through a sieve; weigh, and then boil the pulp over a brisk fire for half an hour; add half a pound of sugar for each pound of fruit, and again boil the preserve quickly, keeping it well stirred and skimmed, from fifteen to twenty minutes. Cherries, unless they be morellas, must first be stewed tender apart, as they will require a much longer time to make them so than any other of the first summer fruits.

SUPERIOR PINE-APPLE MARMALADE. (A New Receipt.)

The market-price of our English pines is generally too high to permit their being very commonly used for preserve; and though some of those imported from the West Indies are sufficiently well-flavoured to make excellent jam, they must be selected with judgment for the purpose, or they will possibly not answer for it. They should be fully ripe, but perfectly sound: should the stalk end appear mouldy or discoloured, the fruit should be rejected. The degree of flavour which it possesses may be ascertained with tolerable accuracy by its odour; for if of good quality, and fit for use, it will be very fragrant.

After the rinds have been pared off, and every dark speck taken from the flesh, the pines may be rasped on a fine and delicately clean grater, or sliced thin, cut up quickly into dice, and pounded in a stone or marble mortar; or a portion may be grated, and the remainder reduced to pulp in the mortar. Weigh, and then heat and boil it gently for ten minutes; draw it from the fire, and stir to it by degrees fourteen ounces of sugar to the pound of fruit; boil it until it thickens and becomes very transparent, which it will be in about fifteen minutes, should the quantity be small: it will require a rather longer time if it be large.

The sugar ought to be of the best quality and beaten quite to powder; and for this, as well as for every other kind of preserve, it should be dry. A remarkably fine marmalade may be compounded of English pines only, or even with one English pine of superior growth, and two or three of the West Indian mixed with it; but all when used should be fully ripe, without at all verging on decay; for in no other state will their delicious flavour be in its perfection.

In making the jam always avoid placing the preserving-pan flat upon the fire, as this of itself will often convert what would otherwise be excellent preserve, into a strange sort of compound, for which it is difficult to find a name, and which results from the sugar being subjected—when in combination with the acid of the fruit—to a degree of heat which converts it into caramel or highly-boiled barley-sugar.

When there is no regular preserving-stove, a flat trivet should be securely placed across the fire of the kitchen-range to raise the pan from immediate contact with the burning coals, or charcoal. It is better to grate down, than to pound the fruit for the present receipt should any parts of it be ever so slightly tough; and it should then be slowly stewed until quite tender before any sugar is added to it; or with only a very small quantity stirred in should it become too dry. A superior marmalade even to this, might probably be made by adding to the rasped pines a little juice drawn by a gentle heat, or expressed cold, from inferior portions of the fruit; but this is only supposition.

A FINE PRESERVE OF THE GREEN ORANGE PLUM. (Sometimes called the Stonewood plum.)

This fruit, which is very insipid when ripe, makes an excellent preserve if used when at its full growth, but while it is still quite hard and green. Take off the stalks, weigh the plums, then gash them well (with a silver knife, if convenient) as they are thrown into the preserving-pan, and keep them gently stirred without ceasing over a moderate fire, until they have yielded sufficient juice to prevent their burning; after this, boil them quickly until the stones are entirely detached from the flesh of the fruit.

Take them out as they appear on the surface, and when the preserve looks quite smooth and is well reduced, stir in three-quarters of a pound of sugar beaten to a powder, for each pound of the plums, and boil the whole very quickly for half an hour or more. Put it, when done, into small moulds or pans, and it will be sufficiently firm when cold to turn out well: it will also be transparent, of a fine green colour, and very agreeable in flavour.

Orange plums, when green, 6 lbs.: 40 to 60 minutes. Sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 30 to 50 minutes.

Obs.—The blanched kernels of part of the fruit should be added to this preserve a few minutes before it is poured out: if too long boiled in it they will become tough. They should always be wiped very dry after they are blanched.

GREENGAGE JAM, OR MARMALADE.

When the plums are thoroughly ripe, take off the skins, stone, weigh, and boil them quickly without sugar for fifty minutes, keeping them well stirred; then to every four pounds add three of good sugar reduced quite to powder, boil the preserve from five to eight minutes longer, and clear off the scum perfectly before it is poured into the jars. When the flesh of the fruit will not separate easily from the stones, weigh and throw the plums whole into the preserving-pan, boil them to a pulp, pass them through a sieve, and deduct the weight of the stones from them when apportioning the sugar to the jam. The Orleans plum may be substituted for greengages in this receipt.

Greengages, stoned and skinned, 6 lbs.: 50 minutes. Sugar, 4-1/2 lbs.: 5 to 8 minutes.

APRICOT MARMALADE.

This may be made either by the receipt for greengage, or Mogul plum marmalade; or the fruit may first be boiled quite tender, then rubbed through a sieve, and mixed with three-quarters of a pound of sugar to the pound of apricots: from twenty to thirty minutes will boil it in this case. A richer preserve still is produced by taking off the skins, and dividing the plums in halves or quarters, and leaving them for some hours with their weight of fine sugar strewed over them before they are placed on the fire; they are then heated slowly and gently simmered for about half an hour.

TO DRY APRICOTS.

(A quick and easy method.)

Wipe gently, split, and stone some fine apricots which are not over-ripe; weigh, and arrange them evenly in a deep dish or bowl, and strew in fourteen ounces of sugar in fine powder, to each pound of fruit; on the following day turn the whole carefully into a preserving-pan, let the apricots heat slowly, and simmer them very softly for six minutes, or for an instant longer, should they not in that time be quite tender. Let them remain in the syrup for a day or two, then drain and spread them singly on dishes to dry.

To each pound of apricots, 14 oz. of sugar; to stand 1 night, to be simmered from 6 to 8 minutes, and left in syrup 2 or 3 days.

PEACH JAM, OR MARMALADE.

The fruit for this preserve, which is a very delicious one, should be finely flavoured, and quite ripe, though perfectly sound. Pare, stone, weigh, and boil it quickly for three-quarters of an hour, and do not fail to stir it often during the time; draw it from the fire, and mix with it ten ounces of well-refined sugar, rolled or beaten to powder, for each pound of the peaches; clear it carefully from scum, and boil it briskly for five minutes; throw in the strained juice of one or two good lemons; continue the boiling for three minutes only, and pour out the marmalade. Two minutes after the sugar is stirred to the fruit, add the blanched kernels of part of the peaches.

Peaches, stoned and pared, 4 lbs.; 3/4 hour. Sugar, 2-1/2 lbs.: 2 minutes. Blanched peach-kernels: 3 minutes. Juice of 2 small lemons: 3 minutes.

Obs.—This jam, like most others, is improved by pressing the fruit through a sieve after it has been partially boiled. Nothing can be finer than its flavour, which would be injured by adding the sugar at first; and a larger proportion renders it cloyingly sweet. Nectarines and peaches mixed, make an admirable preserve.

DAMSON JAM. (VERY GOOD.)

The fruit for this jam should be freshly gathered and quite ripe. Split, stone, weigh, and boil it quickly for forty minutes; then stir in half its weight of good sugar roughly powdered, and when it is dissolved, give the preserve fifteen minutes additional boiling, keeping it stirred, and thoroughly skimmed.

Damsons, stoned, 6 lbs.: 40 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 15 minutes.

Obs.—A more refined preserve is made by pressing the fruit through a sieve after it is boiled tender; but the jam is excellent without.

DAMSON JELLY.

Bake separately in a very slow oven, or boil in a pan or copper of water, any number of fine ripe damsons, and one-third the quantity of bullaces, or of any other pale plums, as a portion of their juice will, to most tastes, improve, by softening the flavour of the preserve, and will render the colour brighter. Pour off the juice clear from the fruit, strain and weigh it; boil it quickly without sugar for twenty-five minutes, draw it from the fire, stir into it ten ounces of good sugar for each pound of juice, and boil it quickly from six to ten minutes longer, carefully clearing off all the scum. The jelly must be often stirred before the sugar is added, and constantly afterwards.

DAMSON, OR RED PLUM SOLID. (GOOD.)

Pour the juice from some damsons which have stood for a night in a very cool oven, or been stewed in a jar placed in a pan of water; weigh and put it into a preserving-pan with a pound and four ounces of pearmains (or of any other fine boiling apples), pared, cored, and quartered, to each pound of the juice; boil these together, keeping them well stirred, from twenty-five to thirty minutes, then add the sugar, and when it is nearly dissolved, continue the boiling for ten minutes. This, if done with exactness, will give a perfectly smooth and firm preserve, which may be moulded in small shapes, and turned out for table. The juice of any good red plum may be used for it instead of that of damsons.

To each pound clear damson-juice, 1-1/4 lb. pearmains (or other good apples), pared and cored: 25 to 30 minutes. Sugar, 14 oz.: 10 minutes.

EXCELLENT DAMSON CHEESE.

When the fruit has been baked or stewed tender, as directed above, drain off the juice, skin and stone the damsons, pour back to them from a third to half of their juice, weigh and then boil them over a clear brisk fire, until they form quite a dry paste; add six ounces of pounded sugar for each pound of the plums; stir them off the fire until this is dissolved, and boil the preserve again without quitting or ceasing to stir it, until it leaves the pan quite dry, and adheres in a mass to the spoon. If it should not stick to the fingers when lightly touched, it will be sufficiently done to keep very long; press it quickly into pans or moulds; lay on it a paper dipped in spirit when it is perfectly cold; tie another fold over it, and store it in a dry place.

Bullace cheese is made in the same manner, and almost any kind of plum will make an agreeable preserve of the sort.

To each pound of fruit, pared, stoned, and mixed with the juice and boiled quite dry, 6 oz. of pounded sugar, boiled again to a dry paste.

RED GRAPE JELLY.

Strip from their stalks some fine ripe black-cluster grapes, and stir them with a wooden spoon over a gentle fire until all have burst, and the juice flows freely from them; strain it off without pressure, and pass it through a jelly-bag, or through a twice-folded muslin; weigh and then boil it rapidly for twenty minutes; draw it from the fire, stir in it until dissolved, fourteen ounces of good sugar, roughly powdered, to each pound of juice, and boil the jelly quickly for fifteen minutes longer, keeping it constantly stirred, and perfectly well skimmed. It will be very clear, and of a beautiful pale rose-colour.

Juice of black-cluster grapes: 20 minutes. To each pound of juice, 14 oz. good sugar: 15 minutes.

Obs.—We have proved this jelly only with the kind of grape which we have named, but there is little doubt that fine purple grapes of any sort would answer for it well.

ENGLISH GUAVA. (A firm, clear, bright Jelly.)

Strip the stalks from a gallon or two of the large kind of bullaces called the shepherd’s bullace; give part of them a cut, put them into stone jars, and throw into one of them a pound or two of imperatrice plums, if they can be obtained; put the jars into pans of water, and boil them; then drain off the juice, pass it through a thick strainer or jelly-bag, and weigh it; boil it quickly from fifteen to twenty minutes; take it from the fire, and stir in it till dissolved three-quarters of a pound of sugar to the pound of juice; remove the scum with care, and boil the preserve again quickly from eight to twelve minutes, or longer should it not then jelly firmly on the skimmer. When the fruit is very acid, an equal weight of juice and sugar may be mixed together in the first instance, and boiled briskly for about twenty minutes.

It is impossible to indicate the precise time which the jelly will require, so much depends on the quality of the plums, and on the degree of boiling previously given to them in the water-bath. When properly made it is remarkably transparent and very firm. It should be poured into shallow pans or small moulds, and turned from them before it is served. When the imperatrice plum cannot be procured, any other that will give a pale red colour to the juice will answer. The bullaces alone make an admirable preserve; and even the commoner kinds afford an excellent one.

Juice of the shepherd’s bullace and imperatrice, or other red plum, 4 lbs.: 15 to 20 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 8 to 12 minutes. Or juice of bullaces and sugar, equal weight: 20 minutes.

Obs.—After the juice has been poured from the plums they may be stoned, pared, weighed, and boiled to a paste; then six ounces of sugar added to the pound, and the boiling continued until the preserve is again very dry; a small portion of the juice should be left with the fruit for this.

VERY FINE IMPERATRICE PLUM MARMALADE.

Weigh six pounds of the fruit when it is quite ripe, but before the frost has touched it; give each plum a cut as it is thrown into the preserving-pan, and when all are done boil them from thirty-five to forty minutes, taking out the stones as they rise to the surface, when they are quite detached from the flesh of the fruit. Draw back the pan from the fire, stir in two pounds of good sugar beaten to powder, and boil the preserve quickly for fifteen minutes. The imperatrice plum is of itself so sweet that this proportion of sugar makes with it a very rich preserve.

Imperatrice plums (without the stalks) 6 lbs.: boiled 35 to 40 minutes. Sugar 2 lbs. (added after the stones are out): 15 minutes.

Obs.—Some slight trouble would be avoided by pressing the fruit through a sieve after the first boiling; but we do not think the marmalade would be improved by being freed from the skins of the plums.

TO BOTTLE FRUIT FOR WINTER USE.

Gather the fruit in the middle of the day in very dry weather; strip off the stalks, and have in readiness some perfectly clean and dry wide-necked bottles; turn each of these the instant before it is filled, with the neck downwards, and hold in it two or three lighted matches: drop in the fruit before the vapour escapes, shake it gently down, press in some new corks, dip the necks of the bottles into melted resin, set them at night into an oven from which the bread has been drawn six or seven hours at least, and let them remain until the morning: if the heat be too great the bottles will burst. Currants, cherries, damsons, greengages, and various other kinds of plums will remain good for quite twelve months when bottled thus, if stored in a dry place.

To steam the fruit, put the bottles into a copper or other vessel up to their necks in cold water, with a little hay between and under them; light the fire, let the water heat slowly, and keep it at the point of gentle simmering until the fruit is sufficiently scalded. Some kinds will of course require a much longer time than others. From half to three quarters of an hour will be sufficient for gooseberries, currants, and raspberries; but the appearance of all will best denote their being done. When they have sunk almost half the depth of the bottles, and the skins are shrivelled, extinguish the fire, but leave them in the water until it is quite cold; then wipe and store the bottles in a dry place. A bit of moistened bladder tied over corks is better than the resin when the fruit is steamed.

QUINCE JELLY.

Pare, quarter, core, and weigh some ripe but quite sound quinces, as quickly as possible, and throw them as they are done into part of the water in which they are to be boiled; allow one pint of this to each pound of the fruit, and simmer it gently until it is a little broken, but not so long as to redden the juice, which ought to be very pale.

Turn the whole into a jelly-bag, or strain the liquid through a fine cloth, and let it drain very closely from it but without the slightest pressure. Weigh the juice, put it into a delicately clean preserving-pan, and boil it quickly for twenty minutes; take it from the fire and stir in it, until it is entirely dissolved, twelve ounces of sugar for each pound of juice, or fourteen ounces if the fruit should be very acid, which it will be in the earlier part of the season; keep it constantly stirred and thoroughly cleared from scum, from ten to twenty minutes longer, or until it jellies strongly in falling from the skimmer; then pour it directly into glasses or moulds.

If properly made, it will be sufficiently firm to turn out of the latter, and it will be beautifully transparent, and rich in flavour. It may be made with an equal weight of juice and sugar mixed together in the first instance, and boiled from twenty to thirty minutes. It is difficult to state the time precisely, because from different causes it will vary much. It should be reduced rapidly to the proper point, as long boiling injures the colour: this is always more perfectly preserved by boiling the juice without the sugar first.

To each pound pared and cored quinces, 1 pint water: 3/4 to 1-1/2 hour. Juice, boiled 20 minutes. To each pound, 12 oz. sugar: 10 to 20 minutes. Or, juice and sugar equal weight: 20 to 30 minutes.

QUINCE MARMALADE.

When to economise the fruit is not an object, pare, core, and quarter some of the inferior quinces, and boil them in as much water as will nearly cover them, until they begin to break; strain the juice from them, and for the marmalade put half a pint of it to each pound of fresh quinces: in preparing these, be careful to cut out the hard stony parts round the cores. Simmer them gently until they are perfectly tender, then press them, with the juice, through a coarse sieve; put them into a perfectly clean pan, and boil them until they form almost a dry paste; add for each round of quinces and the half pint of juice, three-quarters of a pound of sugar in fine powder, and boil the marmalade for half an hour, stirring it gently without ceasing: it will be very firm and bright in colour. If made shortly after the fruit is gathered, a little additional sugar will be required; and when a richer and less dry marmalade is better liked, it must be boiled for a shorter time, and an equal weight of fruit and sugar may be used.

Quinces, pared and cored, 4 lbs.; prepared juice, 1 quart: 2 to 3 hours. Boiled fast to dry, 20 to 40 minutes. Sugar, 3 lbs.: 30 minutes.

Richer marmalade: quinces, 4 lbs.; juice, 1 quart; sugar, 4 lbs.

JELLY OF SIBERIAN CRABS.

This fruit makes a jelly of beautiful colour, and of pleasant flavour also: it may be stored in small moulds of ornamental shape, and turned out for rice-crust. Take off the stalks, weigh, and wash the crabs; then, to each pound and a half, add a pint of water and boil them gently until they are broken, but do not allow them to fall to a pulp. Pour the whole into a jelly-bag, and when the juice is quite transparent, weigh it, put it into a clean preserving-pan, boil it quickly for fifteen minutes, take it from the fire, and stir in it until dissolved three-quarters of a pound of fine sugar roughly powdered to each pound of the juice; boil the jelly from fifteen to twenty minutes, skim it very clean, and pour it into the moulds. Should the quantity be large, a few additional minutes’ boiling must be given to the juice before the sugar is added.

To each 1-1/2 lb. of crabs; water, 1 pint: 12 to 18 minutes. Juice to be fast boiled, 15 minutes; sugar, to each pound, 3/4 lb.; 15 to 20 minutes.

TO PRESERVE BARBERRIES IN BUNCHES.

Take the finest barberries without stones that can be procured, tie them together in bunches of four or five sprigs, and for each half pound of the fruit (which is extremely light), boil one pound of very good sugar in a pint of water for twenty minutes, and clear it well from scum; throw in the fruit, let it heat gently, and then boil from five to seven minutes, when it will be perfectly transparent.

So long as any snapping noise is heard the fruit is not all done; it should be pressed equally down into the syrup until the whole of the berries have burst; and should then be turned into jars, which must be covered with skin or two or three folds of thick paper, as soon as the preserve is perfectly cold. The barberries thus prepared make a beautiful garnish for sweet dishes, or for puddings.

Barberries, tied in bunches, 1-1/2 lb.; sugar 3 lbs.; water 1-1/2 pint: 20 minutes. Barberries boiled in syrup: 5 to 7 minutes.

BARBERRY JAM. (First and best Receipt.)

The barberries for this preserve should be quite ripe, though they should not be allowed to hang until they begin to decay. Strip them from the stalks, throw aside such as are spotted, and for each pound 527of the fruit allow eighteen ounces of well-refined sugar; boil this, with one pint of water to every four pounds, until it becomes white, and falls in thick masses from the spoon; then throw in the fruit, and keep it stirred over a brisk fire for six minutes only; take off the scum, and pour it into jars or glasses.

Sugar, 4-1/4 lbs.; water, 1-1/4 pint: boiled to candy height. Barberries, 4 lbs.: 6 minutes.

Barberry Jam. Second Receipt.—The preceding is an excellent receipt, but the preserve will be very good if eighteen ounces of pounded sugar be mixed and boiled with the fruit for ten minutes and this is done at a small expense of time and trouble.

Sugar pounded, 2-1/4 lbs.; fruit, 2 lbs.: boiled 10 minutes.

SUPERIOR BARBERRY JELLY, AND MARMALADE.

Strip the fruit from the stems, wash it in spring-water, drain, bruise it slightly, and put it into a clean stone jar, with no more liquid than the drops which hang about it. Place the jar in a pan of water, and steam the fruit until it is quite tender: this will be in from thirty minutes to an hour. Pour off the clear juice, strain, weigh, and boil it quickly from five to seven minutes, with eighteen ounces of sugar to every pound. For the marmalade, rub the barberries through a sieve with a wooden spoon, and boil them quickly for the same time, and with the same proportion of sugar as the jelly.

Barberries boiled in water-bath until tender; to each pound of juice, 1 lb. 2 oz. sugar: 5 minutes. Pulp of fruit to each pound, 18 oz. sugar: 5 minutes.

Obs.—We have always had these preserves made with very ripe fruit, and have found them extremely good; but more sugar may be needed to sweeten them sufficiently when the barberries have hung less time upon the trees.

GENUINE SCOTCH MARMALADE.

“Take some bitter oranges, and double their weight of sugar; cut the rind of the fruit into quarters and peel it off, and if the marmalade be not wanted very thick, take off some of the spongy white skin inside the rind. Cut the chips as thin as possible, and about half an inch long, and divide the pulp into small bits, removing carefully the seeds, which may be steeped in part of the water that is to make the marmalade, and which must be in the proportion of a quart to a pound of fruit. Put the chips and pulp into a deep earthen dish, and pour the water boiling over them; let them remain for twelve or fourteen hours, and then turn the whole into the preserving-pan, and boil it until the chips are perfectly tender.

When they are so, add by degrees the sugar (which should be previously pounded), and boil it until it jellies. The water in which the seeds have been steeped, and which must be taken from the quantity apportioned to the whole of the preserve, should be poured into a hair-sieve, and the seeds well worked in it with the back of a spoon; a strong clear jelly will be obtained by this means, which must be washed off them by pouring their own liquor through the sieve in small portions over them. This must be added to the fruit when it is first set on the fire.”

Oranges, 3 lbs.; water, 3 quarts; sugar, 6 lbs.

Obs.—This receipt, which we have not tried ourselves, is guaranteed as an excellent one by the Scottish lady from whom it was procured.

CLEAR ORANGE MARMALADE. (Author’s Receipt.)

This, especially for persons in delicate health, is far more wholesome than the marmalade which contains chips of the orange-rinds. The fruit must be prepared in the same manner, and the pulp very carefully cleared from the pips and skin. The rinds taken off in quarters (after having been washed and wiped quite clean from the black soil which is sometimes found on them), must be boiled extremely tender in a large quantity of water, into which they may be thrown when it boils. They should be well drained upon a large hair sieve reversed, so soon as the head of a pin will pierce them easily; and the white skin and fibres should be scraped entirely from them while they are still warm.

They should then be pounded to a paste, and well blended with the pulp and juice, these being added to them by degrees, that they may not remain in lumps. A quarter of a pint of water, in which the seeds have been immersed for an hour or two, well worked up with them, and then passed through a net strainer[169] or coarse sieve, will soften the flavour of the marmalade, and assist its jellying at the same time. Boil it rather quickly without sugar for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, then finish it by the directions for “Orange Marmalade, Portuguese Receipt,” of the preceding page, but regulate the proportion of sugar and the time of boiling as follows:—

169.  Strainers of coarse bobbin-net, which is very cheap, are preferable to muslin for preparations which are jellied, as the water becomes thick when the orange-seeds are steeped in it.

Pulp and juice of Seville oranges, 1-1/2 lb.; water strained from pips, 1/2 pint; pounded orange-rinds 3/4 lb.: 15 to 20 minutes. Sugar, 2-3/4 lb. (3 lb. if the fruit should be very acid), half added first, 10 to 15 minutes; with remaining half, 15 to 20 minutes, or until the marmalade becomes quite thick and clear.

Obs.—We have occasionally had more water than the proportion given above used in making this preserve, which is very nice in flavour, but which may be made to suit various tastes by adding a larger or smaller quantity of the rinds; and a larger weight of sugar when it is liked very sweet. When the bitterness of the fruit is objected to, the rinds may be steeped for a night in a plentiful quantity of spring water.

FINE JELLY OF SEVILLE ORANGES. (Author’s Original Receipt.)

Although we have appropriated this receipt to another work, we cannot refrain from inserting it here as well, so delicious to our taste is the jelly which we have had made by it. For eighteen full-sized oranges allow a pint and a half of water. Take off the rinds in quarters from ten of them, and then free them entirely from their tough white skin, and with a sharp knife cut them into rather thick slices, and put them with all the pips into the water. Halve the remainder of the fruit without paring it, and squeeze the juice and pips, but not the pulp, to the sliced oranges; and place them by the fire in an enamelled stewpan which they will not more than two-thirds fill. Heat and boil them gently between twenty and thirty minutes, then strain the juice closely from them without pressure, through a large square of muslin folded in four, or, if more convenient, pass it first through a very thin and delicately clean cloth, and afterwards through the folded muslin. Weigh and boil it quickly for five minutes; then for each pound stir gradually to it fourteen ounces of highly refined sugar, broken small or roughly powdered; and when it is quite dissolved, continue the boiling for a few minutes longer, when the preserve will jelly easily and firmly, and be pale and beautifully transparent, and most agreeable in flavour.

Seville oranges, 18; of which 10 pared and sliced. Water, 1-1/2 pint, and juice of 8 oranges: gently heated and boiled 20 to 30 minutes. Juice boiled quickly 5 minutes. To each lb. 14 oz. sugar: 5 to 8 minutes.

Obs.—On our second trial we had the very thin rind of three of the oranges stewed with the fruit, which we thought an improvement. The jelly in both instances was made, we believe, in April, when the fruit was fully ripe: earlier in the season it would probably require longer boiling. On one occasion it became quite firm very quickly after the sugar was added to the juice; that is to say, in three or four minutes.

Pickles.

Mango.

OBSERVATIONS ON PICKLES.

With the exception of walnuts,[170] which, when softened by keeping, or by the mode of preparing them, are the least objectionable of any pickle, with Indian mangoes, and one or two other varieties, these are not very wholesome articles of diet,[171] consisting, as so many of them do, of crude hard vegetables, or of unripe fruit.

In numerous instances, too, those which are commonly sold to the public have been found of so deadly a nature as to be eminently dangerous to persons who partake of them often and largely. It is most desirable, therefore, to have them prepared at home, and with good genuine vinegar, whether French or English. That which is home-made can at least be relied on; and it may be made of excellent quality and of sufficient strength for all ordinary purposes.

The superiority of French vinegar results from its being made of wine; no substitute producing any equal to that derived from the unmixed juice of the grape. In our next page will be found the address of the importers, from whom, or whose agents, we have for several years been supplied with it.

170.  The bitter of the green walnut renders it a fine stomachic. In France a liqueur called “Ratifia de Brou de Noix,” is made by infusing the bruised fruit in brandy.

171.  Flavoured vinegars or mustard are more so, and are equally appetising and pungent.

Pickles should always be kept quite covered with their liquor, and well secured from the air and from the influence of damp; the last of which is especially detrimental to them. We can quite recommend to the reader the rather limited number of receipts which follow, and which might easily be multiplied did the size of our volume permit.

Pickling is so easy a process, however, that when in any degree properly acquired, it may be extended to almost every kind of fruit and vegetable successfully. A few of the choicer kinds will nevertheless be found generally more acceptable than a greater variety of inferior preparations. Mushrooms, gherkins, walnuts, lemons, eschalots, and peaches, for all of which we have given minute directions, will furnish as much choice as is commonly required.

Very excellent Indian mangoes too may be purchased at the Italian warehouses, and to many tastes will be more acceptable than any English pickle. We have had them very good from Mr. Cobbett, 18, Pall Mall, whose house we have already had occasion to name more than once.

TO PICKLE CHERRIES.

Leave about an inch of their stalks on some fine, sound Kentish or Flemish cherries, which are not over ripe; put them into a jar, cover them with cold vinegar, and let them stand for three weeks; pour off two-thirds of the liquor and replace it with fresh vinegar; then, after having drained it from the fruit, boil the whole with an ounce of coriander seed, a small blade of mace, a few grains of cayenne, or a teaspoonful of white peppercorns, and four bruised cochineals to every quart, all tied loosely in a fold of muslin.

Let the pickle become quite cold before it is added to the cherries: in a month they will be fit for use. The vinegar which is poured from the fruit makes a good syrup of itself, when boiled with a pound of sugar to the pint, but it is improved by having some fresh raspberries, cherries, or currants previously infused in it for three or four days.

TO PICKLE GHERKINS.

Let the gherkins be gathered on a dry day, before the frost has touched them; take off the blossoms, put them into a stone jar, and pour over them sufficient boiling brine to cover them well. The following day take them out, wipe them singly, lay them into a clean stone jar, with a dozen bay leaves over them, and pour upon them the following pickle, when it is boiling fast: as much vinegar as will more than cover the gherkins by an inch or two, with an ounce and a quarter of salt, a quarter-ounce of black peppercorns, an ounce and a half of ginger sliced, or slightly bruised, and two small blades of mace to every quart; put a plate over the jar, and leave it for two days, then drain off the vinegar, and heat it afresh; when it boils, throw in the gherkins, and keep them just on the point of simmering for two or three minutes; pour the whole back into the jar, put the plate again upon it, and let it remain until the pickle is quite cold, when a skin, or two separate folds of thick brown paper, must be tied closely over it.

The gherkins thus pickled are very crisp, and excellent in flavour, and the colour is sufficiently good to satisfy the prudent housekeeper, to whom the brilliant and poisonous green produced by boiling the vinegar in a brass skillet (a process constantly recommended in books of cookery) is anything but attractive. To satisfy ourselves of the effect produced by the action of the acid on the metal, we had a few gherkins thrown into some vinegar which was boiling in a brass pan, and nothing could be more beautiful than the colour which they almost immediately exhibited. We fear this dangerous method is too often resorted to in preparing pickles for sale.

Brine to pour on gherkins:—6 oz. salt to each quart water: 24 hours. Pickle:—to each quart vinegar, salt, 1-1/4 oz.; black peppercorns, 1/4 oz.; ginger, sliced or bruised, 1-1/2 oz.; mace, 2 small blades; bay leaves; 24 to 100 gherkins, more when the flavour is liked: 2 days. Gherkins simmered in vinegar, 2 to 3 minutes.

Obs.—The quantity of vinegar required to cover the gherkins will be shown by that of the brine: so much depends upon their size, that it is impossible to direct the measure exactly. A larger proportion of spice can be added at pleasure.

TO PICKLE PEACHES, AND PEACH MANGOES.

Take, at their full growth, just before they begin to ripen, six large or eight moderate-sized peaches; wipe the down from them, and put them into brine that will float an egg. In three days let them be taken out, and drained on a sieve reversed for several hours. Boil in a quart of vinegar for ten minutes two ounces of whole white pepper, two of ginger slightly bruised, a teaspoonful of salt, two blades of mace, half a pound of mustard-seed, and a half-teaspoonful of cayenne tied in a bit of muslin. Lay the peaches into a jar, and pour the boiling pickle on them: in two months they will be fit for use.

Peaches, 6 or 8: in brine three days. Vinegar, 1 quart; whole white pepper, 2 oz.; bruised ginger, 2 oz.; salt, 1 teaspoonful; mace, 2 blades; mustard-seed, 1/2 lb.: 10 minutes.

Obs.—The peaches may be converted into excellent mangoes by cutting out from the stalk-end of each, a round of sufficient size to allow the stone to be extracted: this should be done after they are taken from the brine. They may be filled with very fresh mustard-seed, previously washed in a little vinegar; to this a small portion of garlic, or bruised eschalots, cayenne, horseradish, chilies (the most appropriate of any), or spice of any kind may be added, to the taste. The part cut out must be replaced, and secured with a packthread crossed over the fruit.

TO PICKLE MUSHROOMS.

Select for this purpose the smallest buttons of the wild meadow mushrooms, in preference to those which are artificially raised, and let them be as freshly gathered as possible. Cut the stems off quite close, and clean them with a bit of new flannel slightly moistened, and dipped into fine salt; throw them as they are done into plenty of spring-water, mixed with a large spoonful of salt, but drain them from it quickly afterwards, and lay them into a soft cloth to dry, or the moisture which hangs about them will too much weaken the pickle.

For each quart of the mushrooms thus prepared, take nearly a quart of the palest white wine vinegar (this is far superior to the distilled vinegar generally used for the purpose, and the variation in the colour of the mushrooms will be very slight), and add to it a heaped teaspoonful of salt, half an ounce of whole white pepper, an ounce of ginger, sliced or slightly bruised, about the fourth of a saltspoonful of cayenne tied in a small bit of muslin, and two large blades of mace: to these may be added half a small nutmeg, sliced, but too much spice will entirely overpower the fine natural flavour of the mushrooms. When the pickle boils throw them in, and boil them in it over a clear fire moderately fast from six to nine minutes, or somewhat longer, should they not be very small.

When they are much disproportioned in size, the larger ones should have two minutes boil before the others are thrown into the vinegar. As soon as they are tolerably tender, put them at once into small stone jars, or into warm wide-necked bottles, and divide the spice equally amongst them. The following day, or as soon as they are perfectly cold, secure them from the air with large corks, or tie skins and paper over them. They should be stored in a dry place, and guarded from severe frost. When the colour of the mushrooms is more considered than the excellence of the pickle, the distilled vinegar can be used for it. The reader may rely upon this receipt as a really good536one; we have had it many times proved, and it is altogether our own.

Mushroom buttons (without the stems), 2 quarts; palest white wine vinegar, short 1/2 gallon; salt, large dessertspoonful, or 1-1/2 oz.; white peppercorns, 1 oz.; whole ginger, 2 oz.; cayenne, small 1/2 saltspoonful; 1 small nutmeg.

MUSHROOMS IN BRINE. For Winter Use. (Very Good.)

We have had small mushroom-buttons excellently preserved through the winter prepared as follows, and we therefore give the exact proportions which we had used for them, though the same quantity of brine would possibly allow of rather more mushrooms in it. Prepare them exactly as for the preceding pickle, and measure them after the stems are taken off.

For each quart, boil together for five minutes two quarts of water, with half a pound of common white salt, a small dessertspoonful of white peppercorns, a couple of blades of mace, and a race of ginger; take off the scum thoroughly, and throw in the mushrooms; boil them gently for about five minutes, then put them into well-warmed, wide-necked bottles, and let them become perfectly cold; pour a little good salad-oil on the top, cork them with new corks, and tie bladder over, or cover them with two separate bladders. When wanted for use, soak the mushrooms in warm water until the brine is sufficiently extracted.

Mushrooms, 1 quart; water, 1/2 gallon; salt, 1/2 lb.; peppercorns, 1 small dessertspoonful; mace, 2 blades; ginger, 1 race: 5 minutes. Mushrooms, in brine: 5 minutes.

TO PICKLE WALNUTS.

The walnuts for this pickle must be gathered while a pin can pierce them easily, for when once the shell can be felt, they have ceased to be in a proper state for it. Make sufficient brine to cover them well, with six ounces of salt to the quart of water; take off the scum, which will rise to the surface as the salt dissolves, throw in the walnuts, and stir them night and morning; change the brine every three days, and if they are wanted for immediate eating, leave them in it for twelve days; otherwise, drain them from it in nine, spread them on dishes, and let them remain exposed to the air until they become black: this will be in twelve hours, or less.

Make a pickle for them with something more than half a gallon of vinegar to the hundred, a teaspoonful of salt, two ounces of black pepper, three of bruised ginger, a drachm of mace, and from a quarter to half an ounce of cloves (of which some may be stuck into three or four small onions), and four ounces of mustard-seed. Boil the whole of these together for about five minutes; have the walnuts ready in a stone jar or jars, and pour it on them as it is taken from the fire. When the pickle is quite cold, cover the jar securely, and store it in a dry place. Keep the walnuts always well covered with vinegar, and boil that which is added to them.

Walnuts, 100; in brine made with 12 oz. salt to 2 quarts water, and changed twice or more, 9 or 12 days. Vinegar, full 1/2 gallon; salt, 1 teaspoonful; whole black pepper, 2 oz.; ginger, 3 oz.; mace, 1 drachm; cloves, 1/4 to 1/2 oz.; small onions, 4 to 6; mustard-seed, 4 oz.: 5 minutes.

TO PICKLE BEET-ROOT.

Boil the beet-root tender, and when it is quite cold, pare and slice it; put it into a jar, and cover it with vinegar previously boiled and allowed to become again perfectly cold: it will soon be ready for use. It is excellent when merely covered with chili vinegar. A few small shalots may be boiled in the pickle for it when their flavour is liked. Carrots boiled tolerably tender in salt and water may be prepared by this receipt with or without the addition of the shalots, or with a few very small silver onions, which should be boiled for a minute or two in the pickle: this should be poured hot on the carrots.

To each quart of vinegar, salt, 1 teaspoonful; cayenne tied in muslin, 1/2 saltspoonful, or white peppercorns, 1/2 to whole oz.

PICKLED ESCHALOTS. (Author’s Receipt.)

For a quart of ready-peeled eschalots, add to the same quantity of the best pale white wine vinegar, a dessertspoonful of salt, and an ounce of whole white pepper; bring these quickly to a boil, take off the scum, throw in the eschalots, simmer them for two minutes only, turn them into a clean stone jar, and when they are quite cold, tie a skin, or two folds of thick paper over it.

Eschalots, 1 quart; vinegar, 1 quart; salt, 1 dessertspoonful; whole white pepper, 1 oz.

Obs.—The sooner the eschalots are pickled after they are ripe and dry, the better they will be.

PICKLED ONIONS.

Take the smallest onions that can be procured,[173] just after they are harvested, for they are never in so good a state for the purpose as then; proceed, after having peeled them, exactly as for the eschalots, and when they begin to look clear, which will be in three or four minutes, put them into jars, and pour the pickle on them. The vinegar should be very pale, and their colour will then be exceedingly well preserved. Any favourite spices can be added to it.

173.  The Reading onion is the proper kind for pickling.

TO PICKLE LEMONS, AND LIMES.

(Excellent.)

Wipe eight fine sound lemons very clean, and make, at equal distances, four deep incisions in each, from the stalk to the blossom end, but without dividing the fruit; stuff them with as much salt as they will contain, lay them into a deep dish, and place them in a sunny window, or in some warm place for a week or ten days, keeping them often turned and basted with their own liquor; then rub them with some good pale turmeric, and put them with their juice, into a stone jar with a small head of garlic, divided into cloves and peeled, and a dozen small onions stuck with twice as many cloves. Boil in two quarts of white wine vinegar, half a pound of ginger slightly bruised, two ounces of whole black pepper, and half a pound of mustard-seed; take them from the fire and pour them directly on the lemons; cover the jar with a plate, and let them remain until the following day, then add to the pickle half a dozen capsicums (or a few chilies, if more convenient), and tie a skin and a fold of thick paper over the jar.

Large lemons stuffed with salt, 8: 8 to 10 days. Turmeric, 1 to 2 oz.; ginger, 1/2 lb.; mustard-seed, 1/2 lb.; capsicums, 6 oz.

Obs.—The turmeric and garlic may, we think, be omitted from this pickle with advantage. It will remain good for seven years if the lemons be kept well covered with vinegar: that which is added to them should be boiled and then left till cold before it is poured into the jar. They will not be fit for table in less than twelve months; but if wanted for more immediate use, set them for one night into a very cool oven: they may then be eaten almost directly.

Limes must have but slight incisions made in the rinds; and they will be sufficiently softened in four or five days. Two ounces of salt only will be required for half a dozen; and all which remains unmelted must, with their juice, be put into the jar with them before the vinegar is poured on: this should be mixed with spice and mustard-seed, and be boiling when it is added to the limes.

LEMON MANGOES. (Author’s Original Receipt.)

All pickles of vegetables or fruit which have been emptied and filled with various ingredients, are called in England mangoes, having probably first been prepared in imitation of that fruit, but none that we have ever tasted, bearing the slightest resemblance to it. Young melons, large cucumbers, vegetable-marrow, and peaches are all thus designated when prepared as we have described. Lemons may be converted into an excellent pickle of the same description in the following manner.

After having removed from the blossom end of each a circular bit of the rind about the size of a shilling, proceed to scoop out all the pulp and skin with the handle of a teaspoon; rinse the insides of the rinds until the water from them is clear; throw them into plenty of brine made with half a pound of salt to two quarts of water, and stir them down in it often during the time. In three days change the brine, and leave them for three days longer; then drain them from it on a sieve, fill them with bruised or whole mustard-seed, very small chilies, young scraped horseradish, very small eschalots, a little ginger sliced thin, or aught else that may be liked.

Sew in the parts that have been cut out, lay the lemons into a stone jar, and pour boiling on them a pickle made of their own juice, which when they are first emptied should be squeezed from the pulp through a cloth, and boiled with sufficient vinegar to keep it,—a large saltspoonful of salt, half an ounce each of ginger and of white peppercorns, and a blade or two of mace to every quart; or prepare them like the whole lemons, omitting the turmeric; and soften them if wanted for immediate eating as directed for them. They may be filled simply with mustard-seed, horseradish, and spice, if preferred so.

This receipt has been in print before, but without the author’s name.

TO PICKLE NASTURTIUMS.

These should be gathered quite young, and a portion of the buds, when very small, should be mixed with them. Prepare a pickle by dissolving an ounce and a half of salt in a quart of pale vinegar, and throw in the berries as they become fit, from day to day. They are used instead of capers for sauce, and by some persons are preferred to them. When purchased for pickling, put them at once into a jar, and cover them well with the vinegar.

TO PICKLE RED CABBAGE.

Strip off the outer leaves, wipe, and slice a fine sound cabbage or two extremely thin, sprinkle plenty of salt over them, and let them drain in a sieve, or on a strainer for twelve hours or more; shake or press the moisture from them; put them into clean stone jars, and cover them well with cold vinegar, in which an ounce of black pepper to the quart has been boiled. Some persons merely cover the vegetable with strong, unboiled vinegar, but this is not so well.

Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management [1861]

INDIAN MUSTARD, an excellent Relish to Bread and Butter, or any cold
Meat.

450. INGREDIENTS.—1/4 lb. of the best mustard, 1/4 lb. of flour, 1/2 oz. of salt, 4 shalots, 4 tablespoonfuls of vinegar, 4 tablespoonfuls of ketchup, 1/4 bottle of anchovy sauce.

Mode.—Put the mustard, flour, and salt into a basin, and make them into a stiff paste with boiling water. Boil the shalots with the vinegar, ketchup, and anchovy sauce, for 10 minutes, and pour the whole, boiling, over the mixture in the basin; stir well, and reduce it to a proper thickness; put it into a bottle, with a bruised shalot at the bottom, and store away for use. This makes an excellent relish, and if properly prepared will keep for years.

MUSTARD.—Before the year 1729, mustard was not known at English tables. About that time an old woman, of the name of Clements, residing in Durham, began to grind the seed in a mill, and to pass the flour through several processes necessary to free the seed from its husks. She kept her secret for many years to herself, during which she sold large quantities of mustard throughout the country, but especially in London. Here it was introduced to the royal table, when it received the approval of George I. From the circumstance of Mrs. Clements being a resident at Durham, it obtained the name of Durham mustard. In the county of that name it is still principally cultivated, and the plant is remarkable for the rapidity of its growth. It is the best stimulant employed to impart strength to the digestive organs, and even in its previously coarsely-pounded state, had a high reputation with our ancestors.

INDIAN PICKLE (very Superior).

451. INGREDIENTS.—To each gallon of vinegar allow 6 cloves of garlic, 12 shalots, 2 sticks of sliced horseradish, 1/4 lb. of bruised ginger, 2 oz. of whole black pepper, 1 oz. of long pepper, 1 oz. of allspice, 12 cloves, 1/4 oz. of cayenne, 2 oz. of mustard-seed, 1/4 lb. of mustard, 1 oz. of turmeric; a white cabbage, cauliflowers, radish-pods, French beans, gherkins, small round pickling-onions, nasturtiums, capsicums, chilies, &c.

Mode.—Cut the cabbage, which must be hard and white, into slices, and the cauliflowers into small branches; sprinkle salt over them in a large dish, and let them remain two days; then dry them, and put them into a very large jar, with garlic, shalots, horseradish, ginger, pepper, allspice, and cloves, in the above proportions. Boil sufficient vinegar to cover them, which pour over, and, when cold, cover up to keep them free from dust. As the other things for the pickle ripen at different times, they may be added as they are ready: these will be radish-pods, French beans, gherkins, small onions, nasturtiums, capsicums, chilies, &c. &c. As these are procured, they must, first of all, be washed in a little cold vinegar, wiped, and then simply added to the other ingredients in the large jar, only taking care that they are covered by the vinegar. If more vinegar should be wanted to add to the pickle, do not omit first to boil it before adding it to the rest. When you have collected all the things you require, turn all out in a large pan, and thoroughly mix them. Now put the mixed vegetables into smaller jars, without any of the vinegar; then boil the vinegar again, adding as much more as will be required to fill the different jars, and also cayenne, mustard-seed, turmeric, and mustard, which must be well mixed with a little cold vinegar, allowing the quantities named above to each gallon of vinegar. Pour the vinegar, boiling hot, over the pickle, and when cold, tie down with a bladder. If the pickle is wanted for immediate use, the vinegar should be boiled twice more, but the better way is to make it during one season for use during the next. It will keep for years, if care is taken that the vegetables are quite covered by the vinegar.

This recipe was taken from the directions of a lady whose pickle was always pronounced excellent by all who tasted it, and who has, for many years, exactly followed the recipe given above.

__Note_.—For small families, perhaps the above quantity of pickle will be considered too large; but this may be decreased at pleasure, taking care to properly proportion the various ingredients.

KEEPING PICKLES.

—Nothing shows more, perhaps, the difference between a tidy thrifty housewife and a lady to whom these desirable epithets may not honestly be applied, than the appearance of their respective store-closets. The former is able, the moment anything; is wanted, to put her hand on it at once; no time is lost, no vexation incurred, no dish spoilt for the want of “just little something,”—the latter, on the contrary, hunts all over her cupboard for the ketchup the cook requires, or the pickle the husband thinks he should like a little of with his cold roast beef or mutton-chop, and vainly seeks for the Embden groats, or arrowroot, to make one of her little boys some gruel. One plan, then, we strenuously advise all who do not follow, to begin at once, and that is, to label all their various pickles and store sauces, in the same way as the cut here shows. It will occupy a little time at first, but there will be economy of it in the long run.

VINEGAR.—This term is derived from the two French words vin aigre, ‘sour wine,’ and should, therefore, be strictly applied to that which is made only from wine. As the acid is the same, however it is procured, that made from ale also takes the same name. Nearly all ancient nations were acquainted with the use of vinegar. We learn in Ruth, that the reapers in the East soaked their bread in it to freshen it. The Romans kept large quantities of it in their cellars, using it, to a great extent, in their seasonings and sauces. This people attributed very beneficial qualities to it, as it was supposed to be digestive, antibilious, and antiscorbutic, as well as refreshing. Spartianus, a Latin historian, tells us that, mixed with water, it was the drink of the soldiers, and that, thanks to this beverage, the veterans of the Roman army braved, by its use, the inclemency and variety of all the different seasons and climates of Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is said, the Spanish peasantry, and other inhabitants of the southern parts of Europe, still follow this practice, and add to a gallon of water about a gill of wine vinegar, with a little salt; and that this drink, with a little bread, enables them, under the heat of their burning sun, to sustain the labours of the field.

INDIAN CHETNEY SAUCE.

452. INGREDIENTS.—8 oz. of sharp, sour apples, pared and cored; 8 oz. of tomatoes, 8 oz. of salt, 8 oz. of brown, sugar, 8 oz. of stoned raisins, 4 oz. of cayenne, 4 oz. of powdered ginger, 2 oz. of garlic, 2 oz. of shalots, 3 quarts of vinegar, 1 quart of lemon-juice.

Mode.—Chop the apples in small square pieces, and add to them the other ingredients. Mix the whole well together, and put in a well-covered jar. Keep this in a warm place, and stir every day for a month, taking care to put on the lid after this operation; strain, but do not squeeze it dry; store it away in clean jars or bottles for use, and the liquor will serve as an excellent sauce for meat or fish.

Seasonable.—Make this sauce when tomatoes are in full season, that is, from the beginning of September to the end of October.

PICKLES.—The ancient Greeks and Romans held their pickles in high estimation. They consisted of flowers, herbs, roots, and vegetables, preserved in vinegar, and which were kept, for a long time, in cylindrical vases with wide mouths. Their cooks prepared pickles with the greatest care, and the various ingredients were macerated in oil, brine, and vinegar, with which they were often impregnated drop by drop. Meat, also, after having been cut into very small pieces, was treated in the same manner.

TO PICKLE LEMONS WITH THE PEEL ON.

455. INGREDIENTS.—6 lemons, 2 quarts of boiling water; to each quart of vinegar allow 1/2 oz. of cloves, 1/2 oz. of white pepper, 1 oz. of bruised ginger, 1/4 oz. of mace and chilies, 1 oz. of mustard-seed, 1/2 stick of sliced horseradish, a few cloves of garlic.

Mode.—Put the lemons into a brine that will bear an egg; let them remain in it 6 days, stirring them every day; have ready 2 quarts of boiling water, put in the lemons, and allow them to boil for 1/4 hour; take them out, and let them lie in a cloth until perfectly dry and cold. Boil up sufficient vinegar to cover the lemons, with all the above ingredients, allowing the same proportion as stated to each quart of vinegar. Pack the lemons in a jar, pour over the vinegar, &c. boiling hot, and tie down with a bladder. They will be fit for use in about 12 months, or rather sooner.

Seasonable.—This should be made from November to April.

THE LEMON.—In the earlier ages of the world, the lemon does not appear to have been at all known, and the Romans only became acquainted with it at a very late period, and then only used it to keep moths from their garments. Its acidity would seem to have been unpleasant to them; and in Pliny’s time, at the commencement of the Christian era, this fruit was hardly accepted, otherwise than as an excellent antidote against the effects of poison. Many anecdotes have been related concerning the anti-venomous properties of the lemon; Athenaeus, a Latin writer, telling us, that on one occasion, two men felt no effects from the bites of dangerous serpents, because they had previously eaten of this fruit.

TO PICKLE LEMONS WITHOUT THE PEEL.

456. INGREDIENTS.—6 lemons, 1 lb. of fine salt; to each quart of vinegar, the same ingredients as No. 455.

Mode.—Peel the lemons, slit each one down 3 times, so as not to divide them, and rub the salt well into the divisions; place them in a pan, where they must remain for a week, turning them every other day; then put them in a Dutch oven before a clear fire until the salt has become perfectly dry; then arrange them in a jar. Pour over sufficient boiling vinegar to cover them, to which have been added the ingredients mentioned in the foregoing recipe; tie down closely, and in about 9 months they will be fit for use.

Seasonable.—The best time to make this is from November to April.

Note.—After this pickle has been made from 4 to 5 months, the liquor may be strained and bottled, and will be found an excellent lemon ketchup.

LEMON-JUICE.—Citric acid is the principal component part of lemon-juice, which, in addition to the agreeableness of its flavour, is also particularly cooling and grateful. It is likewise an antiscorbutic; and this quality enhances its value. In order to combat the fatal effects of scurvy amongst the crews of ships at sea, a regular allowance of lemon-juice is served out to the men; and by this practice, the disease has almost entirely disappeared. By putting the juice into bottles, and pouring on the top sufficient oil to cover it, it may be preserved for a considerable time. Italy and Turkey export great quantities of it in this manner.

MINT VINEGAR.

470. INGREDIENTS.—Vinegar, mint.

Mode.—Procure some nice fresh mint, pick the leaves from the stalks, and fill a bottle or jar with them. Add vinegar to them until the bottle is full; cover closely to exclude the air, and let it infuse for a fortnight. Then strain the liquor, and put it into small bottles for use, of which the corks should be sealed.

Seasonable.—This should be made in June, July, or August.

MIXED PICKLE.

(Very Good.)

471. INGREDIENTS.—To each gallon of vinegar allow 1/4 lb. of bruised ginger, 1/4 lb. of mustard, 1/4 lb. of salt, 2 oz. of mustard-seed, 1-1/2 oz. of turmeric, 1 oz. of ground black pepper, 1/4 oz. of cayenne, cauliflowers, onions, celery, sliced cucumbers, gherkins, French beans, nasturtiums, capsicums.

Mode.—Have a large jar, with a tightly-fitting lid, in which put as much vinegar as required, reserving a little to mix the various powders to a smooth paste. Put into a basin the mustard, turmeric, pepper, and cayenne; mix them with vinegar, and stir well until no lumps remain; add all the ingredients to the vinegar, and mix well. Keep this liquor in a warm place, and thoroughly stir every morning for a month with a wooden spoon, when it will be ready for the different vegetables to be added to it. As these come into season, have them gathered on a dry day, and, after merely wiping them with a cloth, to free them from moisture, put them into the pickle. The cauliflowers, it may be said, must be divided into small bunches. Put all these into the pickle raw, and at the end of the season, when there have been added as many of the vegetables as could be procured, store it away in jars, and tie over with bladder. As none of the ingredients are boiled, this pickle will not be fit to eat till 12 months have elapsed. Whilst the pickle is being made, keep a wooden spoon tied to the jar; and its contents, it may be repeated, must be stirred every morning.

Seasonable.—Make the pickle-liquor in May or June, as the season arrives for the various vegetables to be picked.

PICKLED ONIONS.

487. INGREDIENTS.—1 gallon of pickling onions, salt and water, milk; to each 1/2 gallon of vinegar, 1 oz. of bruised ginger, 1/4 teaspoonful of cayenne, 1 oz. of allspice, 1 oz. of whole black pepper, 1/4 oz. of whole nutmeg bruised, 8 cloves, 1/4 oz. of mace.

Mode.—Gather the onions, which should not be too small, when they are quite dry and ripe; wipe off the dirt, but do not pare them; make a strong solution of salt and water, into which put the onions, and change this, morning and night, for 3 days, and save the last brine they were put in. Then take the outside skin off, and put them into a tin saucepan capable of holding them all, as they are always better done together. Now take equal quantities of milk and the last salt and water the onions were in, and pour this to them; to this add 2 large spoonfuls of salt, put them over the fire, and watch them very attentively. Keep constantly turning the onions about with a wooden skimmer, those at the bottom to the top, and vice versâ; and let the milk and water run through the holes of the skimmer. Remember, the onions must never boil, or, if they do, they will be good for nothing; and they should be quite transparent. Keep the onions stirred for a few minutes, and, in stirring them, be particular not to break them. Then have ready a pan with a colander, into which turn the onions to drain, covering them with a cloth to keep in the steam. Place on a table an old cloth, 2 or 3 times double; put the onions on it when quite hot, and over them an old piece of blanket; cover this closely over them, to keep in the steam. Let them remain till the next day, when they will be quite cold, and look yellow and shrivelled; take off the shrivelled skins, when they should be as white as snow. Put them in a pan, make a pickle of vinegar and the remaining ingredients, boil all these up, and pour hot over the onions in the pan. Cover very closely to keep in all the steam, and let them stand till the following day, when they will be quite cold. Put them into jars or bottles well bunged, and a tablespoonful of the best olive-oil on the top of each jar or bottle. Tie them down with bladder, and let them stand in a cool place for a month or six weeks, when they will be fit for use. They should be beautifully white, and eat crisp, without the least softness, and will keep good many months.

Seasonable from the middle of July to the end of August.

TO PRESERVE PARSLEY THROUGH THE WINTER.

496. Use freshly-gathered parsley for keeping, and wash it perfectly free from grit and dirt; put it into boiling water which has been slightly salted and well skimmed, and then let it boil for 2 or 3 minutes; take it out, let it drain, and lay it on a sieve in front of the fire, when it should be dried as expeditiously as possible. Store it away in a very dry place in bottles, and when wanted for use, pour over it a little warm water, and let it stand for about 5 minutes.

Seasonable.—This may be done at any time between June and October.

AN EXCELLENT PICKLE.

497. INGREDIENTS.—Equal quantities of medium-sized onions, cucumbers, and sauce-apples; 1-1/2 teaspoonful of salt, 3/4 teaspoonful of cayenne, 1 wineglassful of soy, 1 wineglassful of sherry; vinegar.

Mode.—Slice sufficient cucumbers, onions, and apples to fill a pint stone jar, taking care to cut the slices very thin; arrange them in alternate layers, shaking in as you proceed salt and cayenne in the above proportion; pour in the soy and wine, and fill up with vinegar. It will be fit for use the day it is made.

Seasonable in August and September.

[This recipe was forwarded to the editress of this work by a subscriber to the “Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine.” Mrs. Beeton, not having tested it, cannot vouch for its excellence; but the contributor spoke very highly in its favour.]

SOY.—This is a sauce frequently made use of for fish, and comes from Japan, where it is prepared from the seeds of a plant called Dolichos Soja. The Chinese also manufacture it; but that made by the Japanese is said to be the best. All sorts of statements have been made respecting the very general adulteration of this article in England, and we fear that many of them are too true. When genuine, it is of an agreeable flavour, thick, and of a clear brown colour.

PICKLED RED CABBAGE.

498. INGREDIENTS.—Red cabbages, salt and water; to each quart of vinegar, 1/2 oz. of ginger well bruised, 1 oz. of whole black pepper, and, when liked, a little cayenne.

Mode.—Take off the outside decayed leaves of a nice red cabbage, cut it in quarters, remove the stalks, and cut it across in very thin slices. Lay these on a dish, and strew them plentifully with salt, covering them with another dish. Let them remain for 24 hours, turn into a colander to drain, and, if necessary, wipe lightly with a clean soft cloth. Put them in a jar; boil up the vinegar with spices in the above proportion, and, when cold, pour it over the cabbage. It will be fit for use in a week or two, and, if kept for a very long time, the cabbage is liable get soft and to discolour. To be really nice and crisp, and of a good red colour, it should be eaten almost immediately after it is made. A little bruised cochineal boiled with the vinegar adds much to the appearance of this pickle. Tie down with bladder, and keep in a dry place.

Seasonable in July and August, but the pickle will be much more crisp if the frost has just touched the leaves.

RED CABBAGE.—This plant, in its growth, is similar in form to that of the white, but is of a bluish-purple colour, which, however, turns red on the application of acid, as is the case with all vegetable blues. It is principally from the white vegetable that the Germans make their sauer kraut; a dish held in such high estimation with the inhabitants of Vaderland, but which requires, generally speaking, with strangers, a long acquaintance in order to become sufficiently impressed with its numerous merits. The large red Dutch is the kind generally recommended for pickling.

SPANISH ONIONS—PICKLED.

527. INGREDIENTS.—Onions, vinegar; salt and cayenne to taste.

Mode.—Cut the onions in thin slices; put a layer of them in the bottom of a jar; sprinkle with salt and cayenne; then add another layer of onions, and season as before. Proceeding in this manner till the jar is full, pour in sufficient vinegar to cover the whole, and the pickle will be fit for use in a month.

Seasonable.—May be had in England from September to February.

UNIVERSAL PICKLE.

533. INGREDIENTS.—To 6 quarts of vinegar allow 1 lb. of salt, 1/4 lb. of ginger, 1 oz. of mace, 1/2 lb. of shalots, 1 tablespoonful of cayenne, 2 oz. of mustard-seed, 1-1/2 oz. of turmeric.

Mode.—Boil all the ingredients together for about 20 minutes; when cold, put them into a jar with whatever vegetables you choose, such as radish-pods, French beans, cauliflowers, gherkins, &c. &c., as these come into season; put them in fresh as you gather them, having previously wiped them perfectly free from moisture and grit. This pickle will be fit for use in about 8 or 9 months.

Time.—20 minutes.

Seasonable.—Make the pickle in May or June, to be ready for the various vegetables.

Note.—As this pickle takes 2 or 3 months to make,—that is to say, nearly that time will elapse before all the different vegetables are added,—care must be taken to keep the jar which contains the pickle well covered, either with a closely-fitting lid, or a piece of bladder securely tied over, so as perfectly to exclude the air.

A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes BY CHARLES ELMÉ FRANCATELLI, [1852]

Raisinet—A Preserve for Winter.

Ingredients, twelve pounds of fruit, consisting of peeled apples, pears, plums, and blackberries, in equal proportion; six pounds of raw sugar, at 4 1/2d. per pound; one quart of water. Bake three hours in a slack or slow oven. First, prepare the fruit, and put it in mixed layers of plums, pears, berries, apples, alternating each other, in stone jars. Next, put the six pounds of sugar in a clean saucepan, with the quart of water, and stir it with a spoon on the fire till it comes to a gentle boil; remove the dirty scum from the surface of the sugar; and, after allowing it to boil for ten minutes, pour it in equal proportions into the jar or jars containing the fruits, and place them in a moderate heat to bake slowly for three hours at least. When boiling the sugar for this purpose, remember that it is most prudent to use a saucepan capable of containing double the quantity, as sugar is very liable to boil over and waste. When the fruit is nearly dissolved, the raisinet will be done; it must then be removed to a cool place until it has become thoroughly cold and partially set firm; the jars should then be tied down with thick paper, or bladder, and kept in the cellar for winter use, either for making puddings or tarts, or for spreading on bread for the children.

Currant Jam.

Ingredients, twelve pounds of picked currants, either red, black, or white, or, if agreeable, mixed; eight pounds of raw sugar, three pints of water. If you could borrow what is called a preserving-pan from a neighbour, it would suit the purpose better than a pot; but, failing the preserving-pan, put the eight pounds of sugar in a four-gallon iron pot, with the three pints of water; stir these on the fire till the sugar boils; remove the scum from the surface, and, when it has boiled for about ten minutes, add the currants, and keep stirring the jam, while it boils for half an hour; and then, if it presents the appearance of being rather thick, and the currants partly dissolved, it will be ready to pour into stone jars, which, after being allowed to cool all night, are to be tied down with paper, and kept in a cold place for winter’s use. All kinds of seed fruit can be prepared in the same manner, as well as all kinds of plums.

How to Preserve Rhubarb.

Free the rhubarb from leaves, cut it up in inch lengths, wash and drain it in a sieve or colander. Next, put the rhubarb into a sufficiently large pot, or preserving-pan, with a little water—say a pint of water to ten pounds of rhubarb, and put this on the fire, with the lid on, to boil until dissolved to a pulp, stirring it occasionally; as soon as all the rhubarb is dissolved, add six pounds of moist sugar, and stir the whole continuously on the fire while boiling fast, until reduced to a rather stiff paste or marmalade—this will require about half an hour’s boiling; the preserve or jam must then be immediately put into jars, or gallipots, and, when cold, is to be covered with stiff paper, and tied round with string. Keep the jam in a cold place, for use.

How to make Gooseberry Jam.

Pick ten pounds of ripe gooseberries, put them in a covered pot, with a pint of water, and set them on the fire to boil to a pulp, stirring them frequently, and, when they are thoroughly dissolved, add six pounds of sugar, and stir the whole continuously while boiling on the fire, until the jam is reduced to a rather stiff paste; it must then be poured into gallipots, and, when cold, is to be covered with paper, and tied round with string.

THE LADY’S OWN COOKERY BOOK, AND NEW DINNER-TABLE DIRECTORY; [1844]

Cherry Jam.

Take twelve pounds of stoned cherries; boil and break them as they boil, and, when you have boiled all the juice away, and can see the bottom of the pan, put in three pounds of sugar finely beaten: stir it well in; give the fruit two or three boils, and put it in pots or glasses, and cover with brandy paper.

Strawberry Jam—very good.

To one pound of scarlet strawberries, which are by far the best for the purpose, put a pound of powdered sugar. Take another half pound of strawberries, and squeeze all their juice through a cloth, taking care that none of the seeds come through to the jam. Then boil the strawberries, juice, and sugar, over a quick fire; skim it very clean; set it by in a clean China bowl, covering it close with writing paper; when the currants are ripe, add to the strawberries full half a pint of red currant juice, and half a pound more of pounded sugar: boil it all together for about ten or twelve minutes over a quick fire, and skim it very well.

Another way.

Gather the strawberries very ripe; bruise them fine; put to them a little juice of strawberries; beat and sift their weight in sugar, and strew it over them. Put the pulp into a preserving-pan; set it on a clear fire, and boil it three quarters of an hour, stirring it all the time. Put it into pots, and keep it in a dry place, with brandy paper over it.

Raspberry Jam. No. 1.—Very good.

Take to each pound of raspberries half a pint of juice of red and white currants, an equal quantity of each, in the whole half a pint, and a pound of double-refined sugar. Stew or bake the currants in a pot, to get out the juice. Let the sugar be finely beaten; then take half the raspberries and squeeze through a coarse cloth, to keep back the seeds; bruise the rest with the back of a wooden spoon; the half that is bruised must be of the best raspberries. Mix the raspberries, juice, and sugar, together: set it over a good fire, and let it boil as fast as possible, till you see it will jelly, which you may try in a spoon.

Raspberry Jam. No. 2.

Weigh equal quantities of sugar and of fruit; put the fruit into a preserving-pan: boil it very quickly; break it; and stir it constantly. When the juice is almost wasted, add the sugar, and simmer it half an hour. Use a silver spoon.

Raspberry Jam. No. 3.

To six quarts of raspberries put three pounds of refined sugar finely pounded; strain half the raspberries from the seed; then boil the juice and the other half together. As it jellies, put it into pots. The sugar should first be boiled separately, before the raspberries are added.

Quinces, to preserve.

Put a third part of the clearest and largest quinces into cold water over the fire, and coddle till tender, but not so as to be broken. Pare and cut them into quarters, taking out the[326] core and the hard part, and then weigh them. The kernels must be taken out of the core, and tied up in a piece of muslin or gauze. The remaining two-thirds of the quinces must be grated, and the juice well squeezed out; and to a pound of the coddled quinces put a pint of juice; pound some cochineal, tie it up in muslin, and put it to the quinces and juice. They must be together all night; next day, put a pound of lump sugar to every pound of coddled quinces; let the sugar be broken into small lumps, and, with the quince juice, cochineal, and kernels, be boiled together until the quinces are clear and red, quite to the middle of each quarter. Take out the quarters, and boil the syrup for half an hour: put the quarters in, and let them boil gently for near an hour: then put them in a jar, boil the syrup till it is a thick jelly, and put it boiling hot over them.

Quinces, to preserve whole.

Pare the quinces very thin, put them into a well-tinned saucepan; fill it with hard water, lay the parings over the fruit, and keep them down; cover close that the steam may not escape, and set them over a slow fire to stew till tender and of a fine red colour. Take them carefully out, and weigh them to two pounds of quinces. Take two pounds and a half of double-refined sugar; put it into a preserving-pan, with one quart of water. Set it over a clear charcoal fire to boil; skim it clean, and, when it looks clear, put in the quinces. Boil them twelve minutes; take them off, and set them by for four hours to cool. Set them on the fire again, and let them boil three minutes; take them off, and let them stand two days; then boil them again ten minutes with the juice of two lemons, and set them by till cold. Put them into jars; pour on the syrup, cover them with brandy paper, tie them close with leather or bladder, and set them in a dry cool place.

Raspberries, to preserve.

Take the juice of red and white raspberries; if you have no white raspberries, put half codling jelly; put a pint and a half of juice to two pounds of sugar; let it boil, and skim it. Then put in three quarters of a pound of large red raspberries; boil them very fast till they jelly and are very clear; do not take them off the fire, that would make them hard, and a quarter of an hour will do them. After they begin to boil fast, put the raspberries in pots or glasses; then strain the jelly from the seeds, and put it to them. When they begin to cool, stir them, that they may not lie at the top of the glasses; and, when cold, lay upon them papers wetted with brandy and dried with a cloth.

Another way.

Put three quarters of a pound of moist sugar to every quart of fruit, and let them boil gently till they jelly.

Black or red Currant Jelly.

Strip the fruit when full ripe; put it into a stone jar; put the jar, tied over with white paper, into a saucepan of cold water, and stew it to boiling on the stove. Strain off the liquor, and to every pint of red currants weigh out a pound of loaf-sugar, if black, three quarters of a pound; mix the fruit and the sugar in lumps, and let it rest till the sugar is nearly dissolved. Then put it in a preserving-pan, and simmer and skim it till it is quite clear. When it will jelly on a plate, it is done, and may be put in pots.

Currant Jam or Jelly.

Take two pounds of currants and half a pound of raspberries: to every pound of fruit add three quarters of a pound of good moist sugar. Simmer them slowly; skim the jam very nicely; when boiled to a sufficient consistency, put it into jars, and, when cold, cover with brandy paper.

Currant Jam.

To a pound of currants put three quarters of a pound of lump sugar. Put the fruit first into the preserving-pan, and place the sugar carefully in the middle, so as not to touch the pan. Let it boil gently on a clear fire for about half an hour. It must not be stirred. Skim the jelly carefully from the top, and add a quarter of a pound of fruit to what remains from the jelly; stir it well, and boil it thoroughly. The proportion of fruit added for the jam must always be one quarter. In making jelly or jam, it is an improvement to add to every five pounds of currants one pound of raisins.

White Currants, to preserve.

Take the largest white currants, but not the amber colour; strip them, and to two quarts of currants put a pint of water; boil them very fast, and run them through a jelly-bag to a pint of juice. Put a pound and half of sugar, and half a pound of stoned currants; set them on a brisk fire, and let them boil very fast till the currants are clear and jelly very well; then put them into glasses or pots, stirring them as they cool, to make them mix well. Paper them down when just cold.

Red Currants, to preserve.

Mash the currants and strain them through a thin strainer; to a pint of juice take a pound and a half of sugar and six spoonfuls of water. Boil it up and skim it well. Put in half a pound of stoned currants; boil them as fast as you can, till the currants are clear and jelly well; then put them into pots or glasses, and, when cold, paper them as other sweetmeats. Stir all small fruits as they cool, to mix them with the jelly.

Another way.

Take red and white currants; squeeze and drain them. Boil two pints of juice with three pounds of fine sugar: skim it; then put in a pound of stoned currants; let them boil fast till they jelly, and put them into bottles.

Barberries, to preserve.

Tie up the finest maiden barberries in bunches; to one pound of them put two pounds and a quarter of sugar; boil the sugar to a thick syrup, and when thick enough stir it till it is almost cold. Put in the barberries; set them on the fire, and keep them as much under the syrup as you can, shaking the pan frequently. Let them just simmer till the syrup is hot through, but not boiling, which would wrinkle them. Take them out of the syrup, and let them drain on a lawn sieve; put the syrup again into the pot, and boil it till it is thick. When half cold put in the barberries, and let them stand all night in the preserving-pan. If the syrup has become too thin, take out the fruit and boil it again, letting it stand all night: then put it into pots, and cover it with brandy paper.

Apricots, to preserve.

Stone and pare four dozen of large apricots, and cover them with three pounds of fine sugar finely beaten; put in some of the sugar as you pare them. Let them stand at least six or seven hours; then boil them on a slow fire till they are clear and tender. If any of them are clear before the rest, take them out and put them in again. When the rest are ready, let them stand closely covered with paper till next day. Then make very strong codling jelly: to two pounds of jelly add two pounds of sugar, which boil till they jelly; and while boiling make your apricots scalding hot; put the jelly to the apricots, and boil them, but not too fast. When the apricots rise in the jelly and jelly well, put them in pots or glasses, and cover closely with brandy paper.

Another way.

Cut in half, and break in pieces, ripe apricots; put them in a preserving pan, simmer for a few minutes, and pass through a fine hair sieve: no water to be used. Add three quarters of a pound of white powdered sugar to a pound of fruit; put in the kernels; mix all together, and boil for twenty minutes: well skim when it begins to boil. Put it into pots; when cold, cover close with paper dipped in brandy, and tie down with an outer cover of paper.

Apricots, to preserve whole.

Gather the fruit before it is too ripe, and to one pound put three quarters of a pound of fine sugar. Stone and pare the apricots as you put them into the pan; lay sugar under and over them, and let them stand till next day. Set them on a quick fire, and let them just boil; skim well; cover them till cold, or till the following day; give them another boil; put them in pots, and strew a little sugar over them while coddling, to make them keep their colour.

Apricot Paste.

Take ripe apricots, pare, stone, and quarter them, and put them into a skillet, setting them on embers, and stirring them till all the pieces are dissolved. Then take three quarters of their weight in fine sugar, and boil it to a candy; put in the apricots, and stir it a little on the fire; then turn it out into glasses. Set it in a warm stove; when it is dry on one side, turn the other. You may take apricots not fully ripe, and coddle them, and that will do also.

Another.

Pare and stone your apricots; to one pound of fruit put one pound of fine sugar, and boil all together till they break. Then to five pounds of paste put three pounds of codling jelly, and make a candy of three pounds of fine sugar. Put it in all together; just scald it, and put it in little pots to dry quickly. Turn it out to dry on plates or glasses.

Apricot Jam.

Take two pounds of apricot paste [see recipes above] in pulp and a pint of strong codling liquor; boil them very fast together till the liquor is almost wasted; then put to it one pound and a half of fine sugar pounded; boil it very fast till it jellies; put it into pots, and it will make clear cakes in the winter.

Apricot and Plum Jam.

Stone the fruit; set them over the fire with half a pint of water; when scalded, rub them through a sieve, and to every pound of pulp put a pound of sifted loaf-sugar. Set it over a brisk fire in a preserving-pan; when it boils, skim it well, and throw in the kernels of the apricots and half an ounce of bitter almonds blanched; boil it together fast for a quarter of an hour, stirring it all the time.

Apple Jelly. No. 1.

Pare and slice pippins, or sharp apples, into a stewpan, with just as much water as will cover them; boil them as fast as possible till half the liquid is wasted; then strain them through a jelly-bag, and to every pint of juice put three quarters of a pound of sugar. Boil it again till it becomes jelly; put lemon-juice and lemon-peel to the palate. Some threads of lemon-peel should remain in the jelly.

Apple Jelly. No. 2.

Take about a half sieve of john apples, or golden pippins; pare them, and put them in a clean bright copper pan; add as much river water as will cover them; set them over a charcoal fire, turning them now and then, till they are boiled tender. Put a hair-sieve over a pan, and throw them on to drain; then put the apples in a large pan or mortar, and beat them into pulp. Put them back into the copper pan, adding about half the water that came from them; then set them on the fire, and stir them till they boil two or three minutes. Strain them into a flannel jelly-bag; it should run out quite slowly, and be thick like syrup; you should allow it six or eight hours to run or drop. Then measure the jelly into a bright copper pan, and to each pint add one pound of treble-refined sugar; put it on a slow fire till the sugar is melted; then let the fire be made up, that it may boil; keep skimming it constantly. When you hold up the skimmer near the window, or in the cool, and you perceive it hangs about half an inch, with a drop at the end, then add the juice of half a lemon, if a small quantity. Take it off the fire, and pour it into gallipots.

The apples that are supposed to have the most jelly in them in this country are the john apple. The best time to make the jelly is the autumn; the riper they get, the less jelly. If the flannel bag is quite new, it should be washed in several clean warm waters, without soap. The jelly, if well made, should appear like clear water, about the substance of currant-jelly.

Apple Jelly. No. 3.

Take apples, of a light green, without any spot or redness, and rather sour; cut them in quarters, taking out the cores, and put them into a quart of water; let them boil to a pulp, and strain it through a hair-sieve, or jelly-bag. To a pint of liquor take a pound of double-refined sugar; wet your sugar, and boil it to a thick syrup, with the white and shell of an egg: then strain your syrup, and put your liquor to it. Let it boil again, and, as it boils, put in the juice of a lemon and the peel, pared extremely thin, and cut as fine as threads; when it jellies, which you may know by taking up some in your spoon, put it in moulds; when cold, turn it out into your dish; it should be so transparent as to let you see all the flowers of your china dish through it, and quite white.

Crab Jam or Jelly. [crab apples]

Pare and core the crabs; to fifteen pounds of crabs take ten pounds of sugar, moistened with a little water; boil them well, skimming the top. When boiled tender, and broke to the consistency of jam, pour it into your pans, and let it stand twenty-four hours. It is better the second year than the first. The crabs should be ripe.

Crabs, to preserve. [crab apples]

Gently scald them two or three times in a thin syrup; when they have lain a fortnight, the syrup must be made rich enough to keep, and the crabs scalded in it.

PICKLES.

General Directions.

Stone jars, well glazed, are best for all sorts of pickles, as earthen vessels will not resist the vinegar, which penetrates through them.

Never touch pickles with the hand, or any thing greasy; but always make use of a wooden spoon, and keep them closely tied down, in a cool, dry place.

When you add vinegar to old pickles, let it boil, and stand till cold before you use it: on the contrary, when you make pickles, put it on the ingredients boiling and done with the usual spices.

Green Almonds.

Boil a quantity of vinegar proportionate to that of the almonds to be pickled, skim it, and put into it salt, mace, ginger, Jamaica and white pepper. Put it into a jar, and let it stand till cold. Throw your almonds into the liquor, which must cover them.

Artichokes.

Artichokes should be laid about six hours in a very strong brine of salt and water. Then put them into a pot of boiling water, and boil them till you can draw the leaves from the bottom, which must be cut smooth and clean, and put into a pot, with whole black pepper, salt, cloves, mace, bay-leaves, and as much white wine vinegar as will cover them. Lastly, pour upon them melted butter an inch thick, and cover them down close. When you take out any for use, put them into boiling water, with a piece of butter to plump them, and you may use them for whatever you please.

Artichokes to boil in Winter.

Boil your artichokes for half a day in salt and water; put them into a pot of boiling water, allowing them to continue boiling until you can just draw off the leaves from the bottom; cut them very clean and smooth, and put them into the pot with cloves, mace, salt, pepper, two bay-leaves, and as much vinegar as will cover them. Pour melted butter over to cover them about an inch thick; tie and keep them close down for use, with a piece of butter to plump them. You may use these for what you like.

Asparagus.

Scrape the asparagus, and cut off the prime part at the ends; wipe them, and lay them carefully in a jar or jelly-pot, pour vinegar over them, and let them lie in this about fourteen days. Then boil fresh vinegar, and pour it on them hot; repeat this until they are of a good colour; add a little mace and nutmeg, and tie them down close. This does very well for a made dish when asparagus is not to be had.

Barberries. No. 1.

Gather the barberries when full ripe, picking out those that look bad. Lay them in a deep pot. Make two quarts of strong brine of salt and water; boil it with a pint of vinegar, a pound of white sugar, a few cloves, whole white pepper, and mace, tied in a bag; skim it, and when cold pour it on your barberries. Barberries with stones will pickle; they must be without stones for preserving.

Barberries. No. 2.

Colour the water of the worst barberries, and add salt till the brine is strong enough to bear an egg. Boil it for half an hour, skimming it, and when cold strain it over the barberries. Lay something on them to keep them in the liquor: put them into a glass, and cover with leather.

Barberries. No. 3.

Boil a strong brine of salt and water, let it stand till quite cold, and pour it upon the barberries.

Barberries. No. 4.

Put into a jar some maiden barberries, with a good quantity of salt; tie on a bladder, and when the liquor scums change it.

Beet-root.

Beet-root must be boiled in strong salt and water, to which add a pint of vinegar and a little cochineal. When boiled enough, take it off the fire, and keep it in the liquor in which it has been boiled. It makes a pretty garnish for a dish of fish, and is not unpleasant to eat.

Another.

Boil the root till tender, peel it, and, if you think proper, cut it into shapes. Pour over it a hot pickle of white wine vinegar, horseradish, a little ginger, and pepper.

Beet-root and Turnips.

Boil your beet-root in salt and water, with a little cochineal and vinegar; when half boiled, put in your turnips pared; when they are done enough, take them off, and keep them in the same liquor in which they were boiled.

Cabbage.

Shave the cabbage into long slips, or, if you like, cut it in quarters. Scald it in salt and water for about four minutes; then take it out, and let it cool. Boil some vinegar, salt, ginger, whole pepper, and mace; after boiling and skimming it, let it get cold, and then put in your cabbage, which, if covered down presently, will keep white.

Red Cabbage. No. 1.

Slice the cabbage very fine crosswise, put it on an earthen dish, sprinkle a handful of salt over it, cover it with another dish, and let it stand twenty-four hours. Then put it in a colander to drain, and lay it in your jar; take white wine vinegar enough to cover it, a little cloves, mace, and allspice. Put them in whole with one pennyworth of cochineal, bruised fine; boil it up, and put it over the cabbage, hot, or cold, which you like best. Cover it close with a cloth till it is cold, and then tie it over with leather.

Red Cabbage. No. 2.

Slice the cabbage into a colander, sprinkle each layer with salt, let it drain two days; then put it into wide-mouthed bottles, pour on it boiling vinegar, sufficient to cover it, and add a few slices of beet-root. Cover the bottle with bladder.

Red Cabbage. No. 3.

Take a firm cabbage cut in quarters; slice it; boil your vinegar with ginger and pepper; let it stand till cold; then pour it over your cabbage, and tie it down. It will be fit for use in three weeks.

Capers.

Capers are the produce of, a small shrub, but preserved in pickle, and are grown in some parts of England, but they come chiefly from the neighbourhood of Toulon, the produce of which is considered the finest of any in Europe. The buds are gathered from the blossom before they open, and then spread on the floor, where the sun cannot reach them, and there they are left till they begin to wither; they are then thrown into sharp vinegar, and in about three days bay salt is added in proper quantity, and when this is dissolved they are fit for packing for sale, and sent all over the world.

Capsicum.

Let the pods be gathered with the stalks on before they turn red, and with a penknife cut a slit down the side, and take out all the seed, but as little of the meat as possible. Lay them in strong brine for three days, changing the brine every day. Take them out, lay them on a cloth, and another over them. Boil the liquor, put into it some mace and nutmeg beaten small; put the pods into a jar; when the liquor is cold, pour it over them, and tie down with a bladder and leather.

Cauliflower.

Cut from the closest and whitest heads pieces about the length of your finger, and boil them in a cloth with milk and water, but not till tender. Take them out very carefully, and let them stand till cold. With the best white wine vinegar boil nutmeg, cut into quarters, mace, cloves, a little whole pepper, and a bay-leaf, and let it remain till cold. Pour this into the jar to your cauliflower, and in three or four days it will be ready for use.

Another way.

Having cut the flower in bunches, throw them for a minute into boiling salt and water, and then into cold spring water. Drain and dry them; cover with double-distilled vinegar; in a week put fresh vinegar, with a little mace and nutmeg, covering down close.

Clove Gilliflower, or any other Flower, for Salads.

Put an equal weight of the flowers and of sugar, fill up with white wine vinegar, and to every pint of vinegar put a pound of sugar.

Codlings.

The codlings should be the size of large walnuts; put vine leaves in the bottom of your pan, and lay in the codlings, cover[345]ing with leaves and then with water; set them over a gentle fire till they may be peeled; then peel and put them into the water, with vine leaves at top and bottom, covering them close; set them over a slow fire till they become green, and, when they are cold, take off the end whole, cutting it round with a small knife; scoop out the core, fill the apple with garlic and mustard seed, put on the bit, and set that end uppermost in the pickle, which must be double-distilled vinegar cold, with mace and cloves.

Cucumbers. No. 1.

Gather young cucumbers, commonly called gherkins—the small long sort are considered the best—wipe them very clean with a cloth; boil some salt and water, and pour over them; keep them close covered. Repeat this every day till they are green, putting fresh water every other day: let them stand near the fire, just to keep warm; the brine must be strong enough to bear an egg. When they are green, boil some white wine vinegar, pour it over them, put some mace in with them, and cover them with leather. It is better to put the salt and water to them once only, and they should be boiled up over the fire, in the vinegar, in a bell-metal kettle, with some vine leaves over, to green them. A brass kettle will not hurt, if very clean, and the cucumbers are turned out of it as soon as off the fire.

Cucumbers. No. 2.

In a large earthen pan mix spring water and salt well together, taking two pounds of salt to every gallon of water. Throw in your cucumbers, wash them well, and let them remain for twelve hours; then drain and wipe them very dry, and put them into a jar. Put into a bell-metal pot a gallon of the best white wine vinegar, half an ounce of cloves and of mace, one ounce of allspice, one ounce of mustard-seed, a stick of horseradish sliced, six bay-leaves, a little dill, two or three races of ginger, a nutmeg cut in pieces, and a handful of salt. Boil all together, and pour it over the cucumbers. Cover them close down, and let them stand twenty-four hours, then pour off the vinegar from them, boil it, pour it over them again, and cover them close: repeat this process every day till they are green. Then tie them down with bladder and leather; set them in a cool dry place, and they will keep for three or four years. Beans may be pickled in the same manner.

Cucumbers. No. 3.

Wipe the cucumbers clean with a coarse cloth, and put them into a jar. Take some vinegar, into which put pepper, ginger, cloves, and a handful of salt. Pour it boiling hot over the cucumbers, and smother them with a flannel: let them stand a fortnight; then take off the pickle, and boil it again. Pour it boiling on the cucumbers, and smother them as before. The pickle should be boiled in a bell-metal skillet. With two thousand cucumbers put into the pot about a pennyworth of Roman vitriol.

Large Cucumbers, Mango of.

Take a cucumber, cut out a slip from the side, taking out the seeds, but be careful to let as much of the meat remain as you can. Bruise mustard seed, a clove of garlic, some bits of horseradish, slices of ginger, and put in all these. Tie the piece on again, and make a pickle of vinegar, whole pepper, salt, mace, and cloves: boil it, and pour it on the mangoes, and continue this for nine days together. When cold, cover them down with leather.

Another.

Scrape out the core and seed, filling them with whole pepper, a clove of garlic, and other spice. Put them into salt and water, covered close up, for twenty-four hours; then drain and wipe them dry. Boil as much vinegar with spice as will cover them, and pour it on them scalding hot.

Cucumbers sliced.

Take cucumbers not full grown, slice them into a pewter dish; to twelve cucumbers put three or four onions sliced, and as you do them strew salt on them; cover them with a pewter dish, and let them stand twenty-four hours. Then take out the onions, strain the liquor from the cucumbers through a colander, and put them in a well glazed jar, with a pickle made of white wine vinegar, distilled in a cold still, with seasoning of mace, cloves, and pepper. The pickle must be poured boiling hot upon them, and then cover them down as close as possible. In four or five days take them out of the pickle, boil it, and pour it on as before, keeping the jar very close. Repeat this three times; cover the jar with a bladder, and leather over it; the cucumbers will keep the whole year, and be of a fine sea-green, but perhaps not of so fine colour when first you open them; they will become so, however, if the vinegar is really fine.

Cucumbers, to preserve.

Take some small cucumbers, and large ones that will cut in quarters, but let them be as green and as free from seeds as you can get them. Put them into a narrow-mouthed jar, in strong salt and water, with a cabbage-leaf to keep them from rising; tie a paper over them, and set them in a warm place till they are yellow. Then wash them out, and set them over the fire in fresh water, with a little salt and a fresh cabbage-leaf over them. Cover the pan very close, but be sure you do not let them boil. If they are not of a fine green, change the water, which will help them; then make them hot, and cover them as before. When you find them of a good green, take them off the fire, and let them stand till they are cold: then cut the large ones into quarters; take out the seeds and soft parts, put them into cold water, and let them stand two days; but change the water twice each day, to take out the salt; put a pound of refined sugar to a pint of water, and set it over the fire; when you have skimmed it clear, put in the rind of a lemon and an ounce of ginger, scraping off the outside. Take your syrup off as soon as it is pretty thick, and, when it is cold, wipe the cucumbers dry and put them into it. Boil the syrup once in two or three days for three weeks, and strengthen the syrup if required, for the greatest danger of spoiling them is at first. When you put the syrup to the cucumbers, wait till it is quite cold.

French Beans. No. 1.

Gather them when very slender; string and parboil them in very strong salt and water; then take them out, and dry them between two linen cloths. When they are well drained, put them into a large earthen vessel, and, having boiled up the same kind of pickle as for cucumbers, pour as much upon your beans as will cover them well. Strain the liquor from them three days successively; boil it up, and put your beans into the vinegar on the fire till they are warm through. After the third boiling, put them into jars for use, and tie them down.

French Beans. No. 2.

Take from the small slender beans their stalks, and let them remain fourteen days in salt and water; then wash and well cleanse them from the brine, and put them in a saucepan of water over a slow fire, covering them with vine-leaves. Do not let them boil, but only stew, until they are tender, as for eating; strain them off, lay them on a coarse cloth to dry, and put them into pots; boil and skim alegar, and pour it over, covering them close; keep boiling in this manner for three or four days, or until they become green; add spice, as you would to other pickles, and, when cold, cover with leather.

French Beans. No. 3.

Put in a large jar a layer of beans, the younger the better, and a layer of salt, alternately, and tie it down close. When wanted for use, boil them in a quantity of boiling water: change the water two or three times, always adding the fresh water boiling; then put them into cold water to soak out the salt, and cut them when you want them for dressing for table. They must not be soaked before they are boiled.

India Pickle, called Picolili. No. 1.

Lay one pound of ginger in salt and water for a whole night; then scrape and cut it in thin slices, and lay them in the sun to dry; put them into a jar till the other ingredients are ready. Peel two pounds of garlic, and cut it in thin slices; cover it with salt for three days; drain it well from the brine, and dry it as above directed. Take young cabbages, cut them in quarters, salt them for three days, and dry them as above; do the same with cauliflowers, celery, and radishes, scraping the latter and leaving the tops of the celery on, French beans, and asparagus, which last two must be salted only two days, and dried in the same manner. Take long pepper and salt it, but do not dry it too much, three ounces of turmeric, and a quarter of a pound of mustard seed finely bruised; put these into a stone jar, and pour on them a gallon of strong vinegar; look at it now and then, and if you see occasion add more vinegar. Proceed in the same manner with plums, peaches, melons, apples, cucumbers; artichoke bottoms must be pared and cut raw; then salt them, and give them just one gentle boil, putting them into the water when hot. Never do red cabbage or walnuts. The more every thing is dried, the plumper it will be come in the vinegar. Put in a pound or two of whole garlic prepared as above to act as a pickle. You need never empty the jar, as the pickle keeps; but as things come into season, do them and throw them in, observing that the vinegar always covers them. If the ingredients cannot be conveniently dried by the sun, you may do them by the fire, but the sun is best.

India Pickle. No. 2.

Select the closest and whitest cabbage you can get, take off the outside leaves, quarter and cut them into thin slices, and lay them upon a sieve; salt well between each layer of the cabbage, and let it drain till the next day; then dry it in a cloth, and spread it in dishes before the fire, or the sun, often turning it till dry. Put it in a stone jar, with half a pint of white mustard seed, a little mace and cloves beat to a powder, as much cayenne as will lie on a shilling, a large head of garlic, and one pennyworth of turmeric in powder. Pour on it three quarts of vinegar boiling hot; cover it close with a cloth, and let it stand a fortnight; then turn it all out into a saucepan. Boil it, turning it often, about eight minutes, and put it up in your jar for use. It will be ready in a month. If other things are put in, they should lie in salt three days and then be dried; in this case, it will be necessary to make the pickle stronger, by adding ginger and horseradish, and it must be kept longer before used.

India Pickle. No. 3.

Boil one pound of salt, four ounces of ginger, eight ounces of shalots or garlic, a spoonful of cayenne pepper, two ounces of mustard seed, and six quarts of good vinegar. When cold, you may put in green fruit or any vegetable you choose, fresh as you pick them, only wiping off the dust. Stop your jar close, and put in a little turmeric to colour it.

Lemons. No. 1.

Cut the lemons through the yellow rind only, into eight parts; then put them into a deep pan, a layer of salt and a layer of lemons, so as not to touch one another; set them in the chimney corner, and be sure to turn them every day, and to pack them up in the same manner as before. This you must continue doing fifteen or sixteen days; then take them out of the salt, lay them in a flat pan, and put them in the sun every day for a month; or, if there should be no sun, before the fire; then put them in the pickle; in about six months they will be fit to eat. Make the pickle for them as follows: Take two[351] pounds of peeled garlic, eight pods of India pepper, when it is green; one pound and a half of ginger, one pound and a quarter of mustard seed, half an ounce of turmeric; each clove of the garlic must be split in half; the ginger must be cut in small slices, and, as no green ginger can be had in Europe, you must cover the ginger with salt in a clean earthen vessel, until it is soft, which it will be in about three weeks, or something more, by which means you may cut it as you please; the mustard seed must be reduced, but not to powder, and the turmeric pounded fine: mix them well together, and add three ounces of oil of mustard seed. Put these ingredients into a gallon of the best white wine vinegar boiled; then put the whole upon the lemons in a glazed jar, and tie them up close. They will not be fit in less than six months. When the vinegar is boiled, let it stand to be cold, or rather lukewarm, before you put it to the lemons, and if you use more than a gallon of vinegar, increase the quantity of each ingredient in proportion. Strictly observe the direction first given, to let the lemons lie in salt fifteen or sixteen days, to turn them every day, and to let them be thoroughly dry before you put the pickle to them; it will be a month at least before they are sufficiently dry.

Lemons. No. 2.

Take twelve lemons pared so thin that not the least of the whites is to be seen; slit them across at each end, and work in as much salt as you can, rubbing them very well within and without. Lay them in an earthen pan for three or four days, and strew a good deal of salt over them; then put in twelve cloves of garlic, and a large handful of horseradish; dry the lemons with the salt over them in a very slow oven, till the lemons have no moisture in them, but the garlic and the horseradish must not be dried so much. Then take a gallon of vinegar, cloves, mace, and nutmegs, broken roughly, half an ounce of each, and the like quantity of cayenne pepper. Give them a boil in the vinegar; and, when cold, stir in a quarter of a pound of flour of mustard, and pour it upon the lemons, garlic, &c. Stir them every day, for a week together, or more. When the lemons are used in made dishes, shred them very small; and, when you use the liquor, shake it before you put it to the sauce, or in a cruet. When the lemons are dried, they must be as hard as a crust of bread, but not burned.

Lemons. No. 3.

Take two dozen lemons, cut off about an inch at one end, scoop out all the pulp, fill them with salt, and sew on the tops. Let them continue over the mouth of an oven, or in any slow heat, for about three weeks, till they are quite dried. Take out the salt; lay them in an earthen jar; put to them six quarts of the best vinegar which has been boiled; add some long pepper, mace, ginger, and cinnamon, a few bay-leaves, four cloves of garlic, and six ounces of the best flour of mustard. When quite cold, cover up the jar, and let it stand for three weeks or a month. Then strain off the liquor, and bottle it.

Lemons. No. 4.

Quarter the lemons lengthwise, taking care not to cut them so low as to separate; put a table-spoonful of salt into each. Set them on a pewter dish; dry them very slowly in a cool oven or in the sun; they will take two or three weeks to dry properly. For a dozen large lemons boil three quarts of vinegar, with two dozen peppercorns, two dozen allspices, and four races of ginger sliced. When the vinegar is cold, put it, with the lemons, the ingredients, and all the salt, into a jar; add a quarter of a pound of flour of mustard and two dozen cloves of garlic; the garlic must be peeled and softened in scalding water for a little while, then covered with salt for three days, and dried before it is put into the jar. Let the whole remain for two months closely tied down and stirred every day; then squeeze the lemons well; strain and bottle the liquor.

Lemons. No. 5.

Select small thick-rinded lemons; rub them with a flannel; slit them in four parts, but not through to the pulp; stuff the slits full of salt, and set them upright in a pan. Let them remain thus for five or six days, or longer if the salt should not be melted, turning them three times a day in their own liquor, until they become tender. Then make a pickle of rape, vinegar, and the brine from the lemons, ginger, and Jamaica pepper. Boil and skim it, and when cold put it to the lemons, with three cloves of garlic, and two ounces of mustard seed. This is quite sufficient for six lemons.

Lemons. No. 6.

Boil them in water and afterwards in vinegar and sugar, and then cut them in slices.

Lemons, or Oranges.

Select fruit free from spots; lay them gently in a barrel. Take pure water, and make it so strong with bay-salt as that it would bear an egg; with this brine fill up the barrel, and close it tight.

Mango Cossundria, or Pickle.

Take of green mangoes two pounds, green ginger one pound, yellow mustard seed one pound; half dried chives, garlic, salt, mustard, oil, of each two ounces; fine vinegar, four bottles. Cut the mangoes in slices lengthwise, and place them in the sun till half dried. Slice the ginger also; put the whole in a jar well closed, and set it in the sun for a month. This pickle will keep for years, and improves by age.

Melons.

Scoop your melons clean from the pulp; fill them with scraped horseradish, ginger, nutmeg, sliced garlic, mace, pepper, mustard-seed, and tie them up. Afterwards take the best white wine vinegar, a quartered nutmeg, a handful of salt, whole pepper, cloves, and mace, or a little ginger; let the vinegar and spice boil together, and when boiling hot pour it over the fruit, and tie them down very close for two or three days; but, if you wish to have them green, let them be put over a fire in their pickle in a metal pot, until they are scalding hot and green; then pour them into pots, and stop them close down, and, when cold, cover them with wet bladder and leather.

Melons to imitate Mangoes.

Cut off the tops of the melons, so as that you may take out the seeds with a small spoon; lay them in salt and water, changing it every twenty-four hours for nine successive days: then take them out, wipe them dry, and put into each one clove of garlic or two small shalots, a slice or two of horseradish, a slice of ginger, and a tea-spoonful of mustard seed; this being done, tie up their tops again very fast with packthread, and boil them up in a sufficient quantity of white wine vinegar, bay-salt, and spices, as for cucumbers, skimming the pickle as it rises; put a piece of alum into your pickle, about the size of a walnut; and, after it has boiled a quarter of an hour, pour it, with the fruit, into your jar or pan, and cover it with a cloth. Next day boil your pickle again, and pour it hot upon your melons. After this has been repeated three times, and the pickle and fruit are quite cold, stop them up as directed for mushrooms. These and all other pickles should be set in a dry place, and frequently inspected; and, if they grow mouldy, you must pour off the liquor and boil it up as at first.

Melons or Cucumbers, as Mangoes.

Pour over your melons or other vegetables boiling hot salt and water, and dry them the next day; cut a piece out of the side; scrape away the seed very clean; and fill them with scraped horseradish, garlic, and mustard seed; then put in the piece, and tie it close. Pour boiling hot vinegar over them, and in about three days boil up the vinegar with cloves, pepper, and ginger: then throw in your mangoes, and boil them up quick for a few minutes; put them in jars, which should be of stone, and cover them close.

The melons ought to be small and the cucumbers large. Should they not turn out green enough, the vinegar must be boiled again.

Mushrooms. No. 1.

Gather your mushrooms in August or September, and peel off the uppermost skin; cut the large ones into quarters, and, as you do them, throw them into clear water, but be very careful not to have any worm-eaten ones. You may put the buttons in whole; the white are the best, and look better than the red. Take them out, and wash them in another clear water; then put them into a dry skillet without water; and with a little salt set them on the fire to boil in their own liquor, till half is consumed and they are as tender as you wish them; as the scum rises, take it off. Remove them from the fire: pour them into a colander, and drain off all the water. Have ready pickle, boiled and become cold again, made of the best white wine vinegar; then add a little mace, ginger, cloves, and whole pepper: boil it; put your mushrooms in the pickle when cold, and tie them up close.

Mushrooms. No. 2.

Put your mushrooms into salt and water, and wash them clean with a flannel, throw them into water as you do them; then boil some salt and water: when it boils, put in your mushrooms, and let them boil one minute. Take them out, and smother them between two flannels; when cold, put them into white wine vinegar, with what spice you choose. The vinegar must be boiled and stand till cold. Keep them closely tied down with a bladder. A bit of alum is frequently put to keep them firm.

The white mushrooms are done the same way, using milk and water instead of salt and water, distilled vinegar in the room of white wine vinegar, no spices except mace, and a lump of alum.

Mushrooms. No. 3.

Cut off the stalks of the small hard mushrooms, called buttons, and wash and rub them dry in a clean flannel. Boil some water and salt, and while boiling put in the mushrooms. Let them just boil, and strain them through a cloth. Make a pickle of white wine vinegar, mace, and ginger, and put to them; then put them into pots, with a little oil over them, and stop them close.

Mushrooms. No. 4.

Put young mushrooms into milk and water; take them out, dry them well, and put them into a brine made of salt and spring water. Boil the brine, and put in the mushrooms; boil them up for five minutes; drain them quick, covering them up between two cloths and drying them well. Boil a pickle of double-distilled vinegar and mace; when it is cold, put in the buttons, and pour oil on the top. It is advisable to put them into small glass jars, as they do not keep after being opened. It is an excellent way to boil them in milk.

Mushrooms. No. 5.

Put your mushrooms into water; rub them very clean with a piece of flannel; put them into milk and water, and boil them till they are rather tender. Then pour them into an earthen colander, and pump cold water on them till they are quite cold. Have ready some salt and water; put them into it; let them lie twenty-four hours; then dry them in a cloth. Then put them into a pickle made of the best white wine vinegar, mace, pepper, and nutmeg. If you choose to boil your pickle, it must be quite cold before you put in the mushrooms.

Mushrooms. No. 6.

Peel your mushrooms, and throw them into clean water; wash them in two or three waters, and boil them in a little water, with a bundle of sweet-herbs, a good quantity of salt, a little rosemary, and spice of all sorts. When well boiled, let them remain in the liquor for twenty-four hours; pour the liquor into a hot cloth, smothering them for a night and a day; then put in your pickle, which make of elder and white wine vinegar, with all kinds of spice, horseradish, ginger, and lemon-juice. Put them into pots, cover with oiled paper, and keep them close for use.

Mushrooms. No. 7.

Clean them very well, and take out the gills; boil them tender with a little salt, and dry them with a cloth. Make a strong brine; when it is cold, put in the mushrooms, and in about ten days or a fortnight change the brine, and put them into small bottles, pouring oil on the top.

Brown Mushrooms.

Wipe them very clean, put them into a stewpan with mace, cloves, pepper, and salt, and to every quart of mushrooms put about two large spoonfuls of mushroom ketchup; stew them gently over a slow fire for about half an hour, then let them cool. Put them into bottles. To each quart of mushrooms put a quarter of a pint of white wine vinegar boiled and cooled; stop the bottles close with rosin.

Mustard Pickle.

Cut cabbages, cauliflowers, and onions, in small pieces or slices; salt them together, and let them stand in the salt for a few days. Then take them up in a strainer that the brine may run off; put them in a jar that will hold three quarts; take enough vinegar to cover them; boil it up, pour it on them, and cover it till next day. Pour the vinegar off, take the same quantity of fresh vinegar, of black pepper, ginger, and Jamaica pepper, each one ounce; boil them up together, let the liquor stand till cold; then mix four tea-spoonfuls of turmeric, and six ounces of flour of mustard, which pour on them cold. Cover the pickle up close; let it stand three weeks; and it will be fit for use. The spices must be put in whole.

Nasturtiums.

The seed must be full grown and gathered on a dry day. Let them lie two or three days in salt and water; take them out, well dry them, and put them into a jar. Take as much white wine vinegar as will cover them, and boil it up with mace, sliced ginger, and a few bay leaves, for a quarter of an hour. Pour the pickle upon the seeds boiling hot. This must be repeated three days, keeping them covered with a folded cloth. After the third time, take care to let them be quite cold before you stop them up, which you must do very close.

Onions. No. 1.

Take your onions when they are dry enough to lay up for winter, the smaller the better they look: put them in a pot, cover them with spring water, with a handful of salt, and let them boil up; then strain them off. Take off three coats; lay them on a cloth, and let two persons take hold of it, one at each end, and rub them backwards and forwards till they are very dry. Then put them in your jars or bottles, with some blades of mace, cloves, and nutmeg, cut into pieces; take some double-distilled white wine vinegar, boil it up with a little salt; let it stand till it is cold, and put it over the onions. Cork them close, and tie a bladder and leather over them.

Onions. No. 2.

Take the smallest onions you can get; peel and put them into spring water and salt made very strong. Shift them daily for six days; then boil them a very little; skim them well, and make a pickle as for cucumbers, only adding a little mustard seed. Let the onions and the pickle both be cold, when you put them together. Keep them stopped very close, or they will spoil.

Onions. No. 3.

Peel some small white onions, and boil them in water with salt; strain them, and let them remain till cool in a cloth. Make the pickle as for mushrooms; when quite cold, put them in and cover them down. Should the onions become mouldy, boil them again, carefully skimming off the impurities; then let them cool, and proceed as at first.

Cauliflowers are excellent done in this way.

Onions. No. 4.

Put your small onions, after peeling them, into salt and water, shifting them once a day for three or four days; set them over the fire in milk and water till ready to boil; dry them; and, when boiled and cold, pour over a pickle made of double-distilled vinegar, a bay-leaf or two, salt, and mace.

Onions. No. 5.

Parboil small white onions, and let them cool. Make a pickle with half vinegar, half wine, into which put some salt, a little ginger, some mace, and sliced nutmeg. Boil all this up together, skimming it well. Let it stand till quite cold; then put in your onions, covering them down. Should they become mouldy, boil the liquor again, but skim it well; let it stand till quite cold before the onions are again put in, and they will keep all the year.

Onions. No. 6.

Take the small white round onions; peel off the brown skin. Have ready a stewpan of boiling water; throw in as many onions as will cover the top. As soon as they look clear on the outside, take them up quickly, lay them on a clean cloth, and cover them close with another cloth.

Spanish Onions, Mango of.

Having peeled your onions, cut out a small piece from the bottom, scoop out a little of the inside, and put them into salt and water for three or four days, changing the brine twice a day. Then drain and stuff them, first putting in flour of mustard, then a little ginger cut small, mace, shalot cut small, then more mustard, and filling up with scraped horseradish. Put on the bottom piece, and tie it on close. Make a strong pickle of white wine vinegar, ginger, mace, sliced horseradish, nutmeg, and salt: put in your mangoes, and boil them up two or three times. Take care not to boil them too much, otherwise they lose their firmness and will not keep. Put them, with the pickle, into a jar. Boil the pickle again next morning, and pour it over them.

Orange and Lemon Peel.

Boil the peels of the fruit in vinegar and sugar, and lay them in the pickle; but be careful to cut them in small long slices, about the length of half the peel of your lemon. It must be boiled in water previously to boiling in sugar and vinegar.

Samphire.

Pick and lay it in strong brine, cold; let it remain twenty-four hours, boil the brine once on a quick fire, and pour it immediately on the samphire. After standing twenty-four hours, just boil it again on a quick fire, and stand till cold. Lay it in a pot, let the pickle settle, and cover the samphire with the clear portion of the pickle. Set it in a dry place, and, should the pickle become mothery, boil it once a month, and, when cold, put the samphire into it.

VINEGARS

Vinegar for Pickling. No. 1.

Take the middling sort of beer, but indifferently hopped, let it work as long as possible, and fine it down with isinglass; then draw it from the sediment, and put ten pounds weight of the husks of grapes to every ten gallons. Mash them together, and let them stand in the sun, or, if not in summer, in a close room, heated by fire, and, in about three or four weeks, it will become an excellent vinegar. Should you not have[363] grape husks, you may take the pressing of sour apples, but the vinegar will not prove so good either in taste or body. Cyder will make a decent sort of vinegar, and also unripe grapes, or plums, but foul white Rhenish wines, set in a warm place, will fine, naturally, into good vinegar.

Vinegar. No. 2.

To a pound and a half of the brownest sugar put a gallon of warm water; mix it well together; then spread a hot toast thick with yest, and let it work very well about twenty-four hours. Skim off the toast and the yest, and pour off the clear liquor, and set it out in the sun. The cask must be full, and, if painted and hooped with iron hoops, it will endure the weather better. Lay a tile over the bunghole.

Vinegar. No. 3.

To every gallon of water put three pounds of Malaga raisins; stop it up close, and let it stand in the cellar two years.

Camp Vinegar.

Infuse a quarter of an ounce of cayenne, four heads of garlic, some shalots, half a drachm of cochineal, a quarter of a pint of ketchup, soy, walnut pickle, and an ounce of black, white, and long pepper, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg, all grossly bruised, a little mace, and cloves, in a quart of the best wine vinegar; cork it close, and put a leather and bladder over it. Let it stand before the fire for a month, shaking it frequently. You must let it stand upon the ingredients, and fill up with vinegar as you take any out. This is not only an excellent sauce, but a powerful preservative against infectious disorders.

Another.

Half an ounce of cayenne pepper, a large head of garlic, half a drachm of cochineal, two spoonfuls of soy, the same of walnut pickle, and a pint of vinegar.

Chili Vinegar.

Gather the pods of capsicum when full ripe; put them into a jar with a clove of garlic and a little cayenne pepper; boil the vinegar, and pour it on hot; fill up your jar: let it stand for a fortnight; pour it off clear, and it will be fit for use.

Elder-flower Vinegar. No. 1.

Put two gallons of strong alegar to a peck of the pips of elder-flowers, set it in the sun in a stone jar for a fortnight, and then filter it through a flannel bag; when you draw it off, put it into small bottles, in which it will preserve its flavour better than in larger ones; when you mix the flowers and the alegar together, be careful not to drop any stalks amongst the pips.

Elder-flower Vinegar. No. 2.

Take good vinegar, fill a cask three quarters full, and gather some elder-flowers, nearly or moderately blown, but in a dry day; pick off the small flowers and sprigs from the greater stalks, and air them well in the sun, that they may grow dry, but not so as to break or crumble. To every four gallons of vinegar put a pound of them, sewing them up in a fine rag.

Elder-flower Vinegar. No. 3.

Pick the flowers before they are too much blown from the stalks, and dry them in the sun, but not when it is very hot. Put a handful of them to a quart of the best white wine vinegar, and let it stand a fortnight. Strain and draw it off, and put it into a cask, keeping out about a quart. Make it very hot, and put it into your cask to produce fermentation. Stop it very close, and draw it off when wanted.

Elder-flower Vinegar. No. 4.

Gather the elder-flowers in dry weather, pick them clean from the stalks, and put two pints of them to a gallon of the best white wine vinegar. Let them infuse for ten days, stirring them every day till the last day or two; then strain off the vinegar, and bottle it.

Garlic Vinegar.

Take sixty cloves, two nutmegs sliced, and eight cloves of garlic, to a quart of vinegar.

Gooseberry Vinegar.

To every gallon of water take six pounds of full ripe gooseberries; bruise them, and put them into a vessel, pouring the water cold upon them. Set the vessel in a hot place till the gooseberries come to the top, which they will do in about a fortnight; then draw off the liquor, and, when you have taken the gooseberries out of the vessel, measure the liquor into it again, and to every gallon put a pound of coarse sugar. It will work again, and, when it has done working, stop it down close, set it near the fire or in the sun: it will be fit for use in about six months. If the vessel is not full, it will be ready sooner.

Plague, or Four Thieves’ Vinegar.

Take rue, sage, mint, rosemary, wormwood, and lavender, of each a large handful; put them into a stone jar, with a gallon of the best vinegar; tie it down very close, and let it stand a fortnight in the sun, shaking the jar every day. Bottle it, and to every bottle add a quarter of an ounce of camphor, beaten very fine. The best time to make it is in June or July.

Raisin Vinegar.

Put four quarts of spring water to two pounds of Malaga raisins, lay a stone or slate over the bung-hole, and set it in the sun till ready for use. If you put it into a stone jar or bottle, and let it stand in the chimney corner, for a proper time, it will answer the same purpose.

Raspberry Vinegar. No. 1.

Fill a very large jug or jar with raspberries; then pour as much white wine vinegar upon them as it will hold; let it stand four days, stirring it three times every day. Let it stand four days more, covered close up, stirring it once a day. Strain it through a hair sieve, and afterwards through a flannel bag; and to every pint of liquor add one pound of loaf-sugar. Simmer it over the fire, skimming it all the time, till quite clear. As soon as cold, bottle it.

This is very good sauce for a plain batter pudding and pancakes.

Raspberry Vinegar. No. 2.

Take two pounds of sugar; dissolve it in a pint of water; then clarify, and let it boil till it is a thick syrup. Take the same quantity of raspberries, or currants, but not too ripe, and pour over them a quarter of a pint of vinegar, in which they must steep for twenty-four hours. Pour the fruit and vinegar into the syrup, taking care not to bruise the fruit; then give it one boil, strain it, and cork it up close in bottles. The fruit must be carefully picked and cleaned, observing not to use any that is in the least decayed. To the syrup of currants a few raspberries may be added, to heighten the flavour. An earthen pipkin is the best to boil in.

Raspberry Vinegar. No. 3.

Fill a jug with raspberries; add as much of the best vinegar as the jug will hold; let the fruit steep ten or twelve days; then strain the liquor through a fine sieve, without squeezing the raspberries; put three pounds of lump sugar to a quart of juice, and skim it.

Walnuts, black. No. 1.

Take large full grown walnuts before they are hard; lay them in salt and water for two days: then shift them into fresh water, and let them lie two days longer; change them again, and let them lie two days longer; take them out, and put them in your pickle pot; when the pot is half full, put in some shalots, and a head of garlic. To a hundred of walnuts add half an ounce of allspice, half an ounce of black pepper, six bay-leaves, and a stick of horseradish. Then fill your pots, and pour boiling vinegar over them; cover them with a plate, and when cold tie them down.

Before you put the nuts into salt and water, prick them well with a pin.

Walnuts. No. 2.

About midsummer take your walnuts, run a knitting-needle through them, and lay them in vinegar and salt, sufficiently strong to bear an egg. Let them remain in this pickle for three weeks; then make some fresh pickle; shift them into it, and let them lie three weeks longer; take them out, and wipe them with a clean cloth; and tie up every nut in a clean vine-leaf. Put them into fresh vinegar, seasoned with salt, mace, mustard, garlic, and horseradish; and to a hundred nuts put one ounce of ginger, one ounce of pepper, and of cloves and mace a quarter of an ounce each, two small nutmegs, and half a pint of mustard seed. All the pickles to be done in raw vinegar (that is, not boiled). It is always recommended to have the largest double nuts, being the best to pickle.

MARMALADES

Orange Marmalade. No. 1.

Pare your oranges very thin, and lay them in water two or three days, changing the water twice a day; then take them out, and dry them with a linen cloth. Take their weight in sugar beat fine; cut the oranges in halves, take out the pulp, pick out the seeds, and take off the skins carefully. Boil the rinds very tender in a linen cloth; cut them in strips whilst hot, and lay them in the pan in which you design to boil the marmalade. Put a layer of sugar, and a layer of orange rinds, alternately, till all are in; let them stand till the sugar is quite dissolved; add the juice of a lemon; set them on a stove, and let them boil fast till nearly done; then put in the pulp, and boil them again till quite done. Take them off, and add the juice of a lemon; let them stand in pots for a few days, and they will be fit for eating.

Lemon marmalade may be done in the same way, only with a much greater quantity of sugar, or sugar mixed with sugar-candy.

Orange Marmalade. No. 2.

Take six dozen Seville oranges; pare thin three dozen, the other three rasp thin, and keep the parings and raspings separate. Cut all the six dozen in halves; squeeze out the juice,[285] but not too hard; scoop out the pulp with a tea-spoon; pick out the seeds, and keep the pulp. Boil the skins, changing the water two or three times, to take off the bitterness, till they are tender enough for a straw to pierce them. When they are boiled, scoop out and throw away the stringy part; boil the parings three times in different waters; beat the boiled skins very fine in a marble mortar; beat the boiled rinds in the same manner. The pulp, skin, rinds, and juice, must be all weighed, but not yet mixed; for each pound in the whole take one pound of loaf sugar, which must first be mixed with a little water, boiled alone, well skimmed, and thoroughly cleared. The pulp, skins, and juice, must then be put into this syrup, well mixed, and boiled together for about half an hour; after which put in the rasped rinds, beaten as above directed, and boil all together for a short time. Put the marmalade into small pots, and cover with brandy paper.

Orange Marmalade. No. 3.

Take a dozen of Seville oranges and their weight in sugar finely powdered. Pare the oranges as thin as possible; the first peel is not used in marmalade; it is better to grate off the outer peel and put them in water. Let them lie two or three days, changing the water every day; then cut the oranges in quarters, and take out all the pulp; boil the peels in several waters, till they are quite tender and not bitter. Then put to the sugar half a pint of water, and boil it to a syrup, till it draws as fine as a hair; put in the peels sliced very thin, and boil them gently about a quarter of an hour. While the peels are boiling, pick out all the seeds and skins from the pulp; then put the pulp to the orange-peel; let it boil till it is clear; put a little in a saucer, and when it jellies it is done enough.

Scotch Orange Marmalade.

Weigh the oranges, and take an equal weight of sugar; wipe the fruit with a wet cloth; grate them, cut them across, and squeeze them through a hair sieve. Boil the skins tender, so that the head of a pin will easily pierce them; take them off the fire, squeeze out the water, scrape the pulp from them, cut the skins into very thin chips, and let them boil until they are very transparent. Then put in the juice and so much of the gratings as you choose; let it all boil together till it will jelly, which you will know by letting a little of it cool in a saucer.

Red Quince Marmalade. No. 1.

Take one pound and a half of quinces, two pounds of sugar, a pint of water, and a quarter of a pint of the juice of quinces; boil it tender, and skim it well. When done enough, put into it a quarter of a pint of the juice of barberries. Skim it clear as long as any thing rises.

Red Quince Marmalade. No. 2.

Scald as many fine large quinces as you would use, and grate as many small ones as will make a quart of juice, or according to the quantity you want. Let this settle; after you have pressed it through a coarse cloth, strain it through a jelly-bag, that what you use may be perfectly clear. To every pint of this liquor put a pound and a half of sugar, and a pound and a half of the scalded quinces, which must be pared and cored before they are weighed. Set it at first on a pretty brisk fire; when it begins to boil, slacken the fire; and when it begins to turn red cover it close. As soon as it is of a fine bright red, take it off, as it turns of a blackish muddy colour in a moment if not carefully watched. A small bit of cochineal, tied up in a bit of rag and boiled with it, gives it a beautiful colour. Before you have finished boiling, add barberry juice, to your judgment, which improves the flavour.

Red Quince Marmalade. No. 3.

Pare the quinces, quarter them, and cut out all the hard part; to a pound of quinces put a pound and a half of sugar and half a pound of the juice of barberries, boiled with water, as you do jelly or other fruit, boiling it very fast, and break it very small; when it is all to pieces and jellied, it is enough. If you wish the marmalade to be of a green colour, put a few black bullaces to the barberries when you make the jelly.

White Quince Marmalade.

Pare and quarter the quinces, and put as much water as will cover them; boil them all to pieces to make jelly, and run it through a jelly-bag. Take a pound of quinces, quarter them, and cut out all the hard parts; pare them, and to a pound of fruit put a pound and a half of finely beaten sugar and half a pint of water. Let it boil till very clear; keep stirring it, and it will break as you wish it. When the sugar is boiled very thick, almost to a candy, put in half a pint of jelly, and let it boil very fast till it becomes a jelly. Take it off the fire, and put in juice of lemon; skim it well, and put it into pots or glasses.

Citron Marmalade.

Boil the citron very tender, cutting off all the yellow rind; beat the white very well in a wooden bowl; shred the rind, and to a pound of pulp and rind take a pound and a half of sugar, and half a pint of water. When it boils, put in the citron, and boil it very fast till it is clear; put in half a pint of pippin jelly, and boil it till it jellies very well; then add the lemon-juice, and put it into your pots or glasses.

Cherry Marmalade.

Take eight pounds of cherries, not too ripe; stone them; take two pounds of sugar beaten, and the juice of four quarts of currants, red and white. Put the cherries into a pan, with half a pound of the sugar, over a very hot fire; shake them frequently; when there is a good deal of liquor, put in the rest of the sugar, skimming it well and boiling it as fast as possible, till your syrup is almost wasted; then put in your currant juice, and let it boil quick till it jellies; keep stirring it with care; then put it in pots.

Another way.

Take five pounds of cherries stoned and two pounds of loaf sugar; shred your cherries, wet your sugar with the juice that runs from them, then put the cherries into the sugar, and boil them pretty fast, till they become a marmalade. When cold, put it into glasses for use.

THE COOK AND HOUSEKEEPER’S COMPLETE AND UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY; INCLUDING A SYSTEM OF MODERN COOKERY, IN ALL ITS VARIOUS BRANCHES, ADAPTED TO THE USE OF PRIVATE FAMILIES: ALSO A VARIETY OF ORIGINAL AND VALUABLE INFORMATION. BY Mrs. MARY EATON. (1823)

PRESERVES. (advice)

These can never be done to perfection, without plenty of good sugar. Fruits may be kept with small quantities of sugar, but then they must boil so long that there is as much waste in the boiling away, as some more sugar added at first would have cost, and the quality of the preserve will neither be so proper for use, nor of so good an appearance, as with a larger proportion of sugar, and moderate boiling. Fruits are often put up without any sugar at all, but if they do not ferment and spoil, which is very common, they must have a good deal of sugar added to them when used, and thus the risk of spoiling seems hardly compensated by any saving. The only real economy that can be exercised in this case is, not to make any preserves at all. The most perfect state in which fruits in general can be taken for preserving is, just when they are full ripe. Sooner than this they have not acquired their best qualities, and if they hang long after it they begin to lose them. Some persons will delay the doing them, under an idea that the longer they hang the less sugar they require. But it is a false economy that would lose the perfection of the fruit to save some of the sugar, and probably quite unfounded in fact, as all things will naturally keep the best that are taken at their highest perfection, and hence do with as little sugar then as at any time.

APPLE JELLY.

Prepare twenty golden pippins, boil them quite tender in a pint and a half of spring water, and strain the pulp through a cullendar. To every pint add a pound of fine sugar, with grated orange or lemon peel, and then boil the whole to a jelly. Or, having prepared the apples by boiling and straining them through a coarse sieve, get ready an ounce of isinglass boiled to a jelly in half a pint of water, and mix it with the apple pulp. Add some sugar, a little lemon juice and peel; boil all together, take out the peel, and put the jelly into a dish, to serve at table.—When apple jelly is required for preserving apricots, or any sort of sweetmeats, a different process is observed. Apples are to be pared, quartered and cored, and put into a stewpan, with as much water as will cover them. Boil them to a mash as quick as possible, and add a quantity of water; then boil half an hour more, and run it through a jelly bag. If in summer, codlins are best: in autumn, golden rennets or winter pippins.—Red apples in jelly are a different preparation. These must be pared and cored, and thrown into water; then put them in a preserving pan, and let them coddle with as little water as will only half cover them. Observe that they do not lie too close when first put in; and when the under side is done, turn them. Mix some pounded cochineal with the water, and boil with the fruit. When sufficiently done, take them out on the dish they are to be served in, the stalk downwards. Make a rich jelly of the water with loaf sugar, boiling them with the thin rind and juice of a lemon. When cold, spread the jelly over the apples; cut the lemon peel into narrow strips, and put them across the eye of the apple. The colour should be kept fine from the first, or the fruit will not afterwards gain it; and use as little of the cochineal as will serve, lest the syrup taste bitter.

APPLE MARMALADE.

Scald some apples till they come to a pulp; then take an equal weight of sugar in large lumps, just dip them in water, and boil the sugar till it can be well skimmed, and is reduced to a thick syrup. Put it to the pulp, and simmer it on a quick fire a quarter of an hour. Grate a little lemon peel before boiling, but if too much it will be bitter.

APRICOT JAM.

When the fruit is nearly ripe, pare and cut some in halves; break the stones, blanch the kernels, and put them to the fruit. Boil the parings in a little water, and strain it: to a pound of fruit add three quarters of a pound of fine sifted sugar, and a glass of the water in which the parings were boiled. Stir it over a brisk fire till it becomes rather stiff: when cold, put apple jelly over the jam, and tie it down with brandy paper.

BLACKBERRY JAM.

Put some red, but not ripe, blackberries into a jar, and cover it up closely. Set the jar in a kettle or deep stewpan of water over the fire, as a water bath; and when it has simmered five or six hours, force the juice through a sieve. To every pint of juice, add two pounds of powdered loaf-sugar, boiling and scumming it in the same manner as for any other jam or jelly. This simple article is said to afford effectual relief in cases of stone or gravel: a tea-spoonful to be taken every night, and repeated in the morning, if necessary. A good jam may also be made of ripe blackberries, in a similar manner; and both, like other jams, should be kept in jars, closely tied over with brandy paper.

CURRANT JELLY.

Strip the fruit, whether red or black, and put them into a stone jar, to boil on a hot hearth, or over the fire in a saucepan of water. Strain off the liquor, and to every pint add a pound of loaf sugar in large lumps. Put the whole into a china or stone jar, till nearly dissolved; then put it into a preserving pan, and skim it while simmering on the fire. When it will turn to jelly on a plate, keep it in small jars or glasses.

CURRANT JAM.

Whether it be made of black, red, or white currants, let the fruit be very ripe. Pick it clean from the stalks, and bruise it. To every pound put three quarters of a pound of loaf sugar, stir it well, and boil it half an hour.

GOOSEBERRY JAM.

Gather some ripe gooseberries, of the clear white or green sort, pick them clean and weigh them. Allow three quarters of a pound of lump sugar to a pound of fruit, and half a pint of water. Boil and skim the sugar and water, then put in the fruit, and boil it gently till it is quite clear. Break the gooseberries into jam, and put into small pots.—Another. Gather some ripe gooseberries in dry weather, of the red hairy sort, and pick off the heads and tails. Put twelve pounds of them into a preserving pan, with a pint of currant juice, drawn as for jelly. Boil them pretty quick, and beat them with a spoon; when they begin to break, add six pounds of white Lisbon sugar, and simmer them slowly to a jam. They require long boiling, or they will not keep; but they make an excellent jam for tarts and puffs. When the jam is put into jars, examine it after two or three days; and if the syrup and fruit separate, the whole must be boiled again. In making white gooseberry jam, clarified sugar should be used; and in all cases great care must be taken to prevent the fruit from burning to the bottom of the pan.

HARTSHORN JELLY.

Simmer eight ounces of hartshorn shavings with two quarts of water, till reduced to one. Strain and boil it with the rinds of four China oranges, and two lemons pared thin. When cool, add the juice of both, half a pound of sugar, and the whites of six eggs beaten to a froth. Let the jelly have three or four boils without stirring, and strain it through a jelly bag.

INDIAN PICKLE.

Lay a pound of white ginger in water one night; then scrape, slice, and lay it in salt in a pan, till the other ingredients are prepared. Peel and slice a pound of garlic, lay it in salt three days, and afterwards dry it in the sun. Salt and dry some long pepper in the same way: then prepare various sorts of vegetables in the following manner. Quarter some small white cabbages, salt them three days, then squeeze and lay them in the sun to dry. Cut some cauliflowers into branches, take off the green part of radishes, cut celery into lengths of about three inches, put in young French beans whole, and the shoots of elder, which will look like bamboo. Choose apples and cucumbers of a sort the least seedy, quarter them, or cut them in slices. All must be salted, drained, and dried in the sun, except the latter, over which some boiling vinegar must be poured. In twelve hours drain them, but use no salt. Put the spice into a large stone jar, adding the garlic, a quarter of a pound of mustard seed, an ounce of turmeric, and vinegar sufficient for the quantity of pickle. When the vegetables are dried and ready, the following directions must be observed. Put some of them into a half-gallon stone jar, and pour over them a quart of boiling vinegar. Next day take out those vegetables; and when drained, put them into a large stock jar. Boil the vinegar, pour it over some more of the vegetables, let them lie all night, and complete the operation as before. Thus proceed till each set is cleansed from the dust they may have contracted. Then to every gallon of vinegar, put two ounces of flour of mustard, gradually mixing in a little of it boiling hot, and stop the jar tight. The whole of the vinegar should be previously scalded, and set to cool before it is put to the spice. This pickle will not be ready for a year, but a small quantity may be got ready for eating in a fortnight, by only giving the cauliflower one scald in water, after salting and drying as above, but without the preparative vinegar: then pour the vinegar, which has the spice and garlic, boiling hot over it. If at any time it be found that the vegetables have not swelled properly, boiling the pickle, and pouring it hot over them, will make them plump.—Another way. Cut the heads of some good cauliflowers into pieces, and add some slices of the inside of the stalk. Put to them a white cabbage cut in pieces, with inside slices of carrot, turnips, and onions. Boil a strong brine of salt and water, simmer the vegetables in it one minute, drain them, and dry them on tins over an oven till they are shriveled up; then put them into a jar, and prepare the following pickle. To two quarts of good vinegar, put an ounce of the flour of mustard, one of ginger, one of long pepper, four of cloves, a few shalots, and a little horseradish. Boil the vinegar, put the vegetables into a jar, and pour it hot over them. When cold, tie them down, and add more vinegar afterwards, if necessary. In the course of a week or two, the pickle will be fit for use.

LEMON PICKLE.

Wipe six lemons, and cut each into eight pieces. Put on them a pound of salt, six large cloves of garlic, two ounces of horseradish sliced thin; likewise of cloves, mace, nutmeg, and cayenne, a quarter of an ounce of each, and two ounces of flour of mustard. To these add two quarts of vinegar, and boil it a quarter of an hour in a well-tinned saucepan; or, which is better, do it in a jar, placed in a kettle of boiling water, or set the jar on a hot hearth till done. Then set the jar by closely covered, stirring it daily for six weeks, and afterwards put the pickle into small bottles.

PLUM JAM.

Cut some ripe plums to pieces, put them into a preserving pan, bruise them with a spoon, warm them over the fire till they are soft, and press them through a cullender. Boil the jam an hour, stir it well, add six ounces of fine powdered sugar to every pound of jam, and take it off the fire to mix it. Then heat it ten minutes, put it into jars, and sift some fine sugar over it.

PRESERVED CUCUMBERS.

Choose such as are most free from seed; some should be small to preserve whole, and others large to cut in pieces. Put them into a jar, with strong salt and water, and a cabbage leaf to keep them down, and set them in a warm place till they turn yellow. Then wash and set them over the fire in fresh water, with a little salt, and a fresh cabbage leaf over them; cover the pan close, but they must not be boiled. If not of a fine green, change the water, cover them as before, and make them hot; when of a good green, take them off the fire, and let them stand till cold. Cut the large cucumbers in quarters, and take out the seeds and pulp; put them into cold water for two days, and change the water twice each day. Place on the fire a pound of refined sugar, with half a pint of water; skim it clean, put in the rind of a lemon, and an ounce of ginger with the outside scraped off. When the syrup is pretty thick take it off, and when cold wipe the cucumbers dry, and put them in. Boil the syrup every two or three days, continuing to do so for three weeks, and make it stronger if necessary. Be sure to put the syrup to the cucumbers quite cold, cover them close, and keep them in a dry place.

PRESERVED WALNUTS.

Put the walnuts into cold water, let them boil five minutes, strain off the water, and change it three times. Dry the nuts in a cloth, and weigh them; to every pound of nuts allow a pound of sugar, and stick a clove in each. Put them into a jar with some rose vinegar; boil up a syrup, with a pint of water and half a pound of sugar, and pour over them. Let them stand three or four days, and boil up the syrup again. Repeat this three times, and at last give the walnuts a good scald, and let them remain in the syrup

QUINCES PRESERVED.

Wipe clean a quantity of golden pippins, not pared but sliced, and put them into two quarts of boiling water. Boil them very quick, and closely covered, till the water is reduced to a thick jelly, and then scald the quinces, either whole or cut in halves. To every pint of pippin jelly add a pound of the finest sugar, boil and skim it clear. Put those quinces that are to be done whole into the syrup at once, and let it boil very fast; and those that are to be in halves by themselves. Skim it carefully, and when the fruit is clear, put some of the syrup into a glass, to try whether it jellies, before taking it off the fire. A pound of quinces is to be allowed to a pound of sugar, and a pound of jelly already boiled with the sugar.

RASPBERRY JAM.

Weigh equal quantities of fruit and sugar; put the former into a preserving-pan, boil and break it, stir it constantly, and let it boil very quickly. When most of the juice is wasted, add the sugar, and simmer it half an hour. By this mode of management the jam is greatly superior in colour and flavour, to that which is made by putting the sugar in at first.—Another way. Put the fruit in a jar, and the jar in a kettle of water on a hot hearth, and let it remain till the juice will run from it. Then take away a quarter of a pint from every pound of fruit, boil and bruise it half an hour. Put in the weight of the fruit in sugar, add the same quantity of currant juice, and boil it to a strong jelly. The raspberry juice will serve to put into brandy, or may be boiled with its weight in sugar, for making the jelly for raspberry ice or cream.

STRAWBERRY JAM.

Dissolve four pounds of lump sugar in a quart of currant juice, then boil and scum it quite clean. Mash four quarts of raspberries, and mix with it. Let it boil quick, over a clear fire, for nearly an hour, or till the sugar and raspberries are quite mixed. This may be known by putting a little on a plate; if the juice drains from the fruit, it must be boiled longer. When done enough, put it into pots, and the next day put brandy papers over them. Tie them down with another paper, and set the jars in a dry place.

STRAWBERRIES PRESERVED.

To keep whole strawberries, take equal weights of the fruit and double refined sugar. Lay the strawberries in a large dish, and sprinkle over them half the sugar in fine powder. Shake the dish gently, that the sugar may touch the under side of the fruit. Next day make a thin syrup with the remainder of the sugar, and instead of water, allow to every pound of strawberries a pint of red currant juice. Simmer the fruit in this, until sufficiently jellied. Choose the largest scarlet strawberries, before they are dead ripe. They will eat well in thin cream, served up in glasses.

The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined By John Mollard, Cook, [1802]

Orange Marmalade.

Take seville oranges when in season, which is generally at the beginning of March; cut them into halves, and the halves again into thin slices, which put with the juice, but not too much of the core, and take away the pips. To every pound weight of orange add two pounds of sifted sugar and a gill of water; then put them into a preserving pan, set the pan over a quick fire, and when the mixture boils keep stirring and skimming till it becomes of a proper stiffness, which may be known by putting a little into a saucer and setting it in cold water. Then fill the pots with the marmalade, and when cold put over white paper dipped in brandy; after which cover the pots with paper and white leather, and preserve them in a dry place for use.

N. B. In the same way try the proper stiffness of other jellies or jams, and cover them in like manner.

Raspberry Jam.

To every pound weight of ripe picked raspberries, add fourteen ounces of sifted sugar and half a gill of currant juice; put them into a preserving pan, set them over a brisk fire, and when it boils skim it well and let it simmer till it becomes of a good consistence.

N. B. The raspberries may be mashed with a spoon previous to adding the sugar, or rubbed through a wicker sieve.

Quince Jam.

Pare ripe quinces, cut them into thin slices, put them into a stewpan with a sufficient quantity of water to cover them, let them boil gently till tender close covered, and rub them through a large hair sieve; add to a pound of the pulp a pound and a half of sifted sugar and half a gill of syrup of cloves; then put them into a preserving pan, and let them simmer together till of a good strength.

N. B. A little of this jam mixed with apples in a pie will make it very good.

Green Gage Jam.

Rub ripe gages through a large hair sieve, and put them into a preserving pan; then, to a pound of pulp add a pound of sifted sugar; after which boil to a proper thickness, skim it clean, and put it into small pots.

Apricot Jam.

Take apricots when nearly ripe, pare and cut them into halves, break the stones, blanch the kernels, and add them to the halves. To a pound of fruit put a pound of sifted sugar and a gill of the water in which the parings have been boiled. Then set it over a brisk fire, stir the mixture well together till it becomes of a good strength, but let it not be very stiff.

Preserved Apricots for Tarts or Desserts.

Cut ripe apricots in halves, blanch the kernels and add them to the fruit. Have ready clarified sugar boiling hot, put the apricots into it, and let them stand till cold. Then boil the syrup again, add the apricots as before, and when they are cold put the halves into small pots or glasses, and if the syrup is too thin boil it again, and when it is cold put it to the fruit, and cover it with paper dipped in brandy.

N. B. Green gages may be done whole in the same manner, or green gooseberries with the seeds taken out. These fruits may be served up with the syrup; or they may be dried on tin plates, in a moderately heated oven, and when almost cold put sifted sugar over.

Currant Jelly.

Take two thirds of ripe red currants and one third of white, pick them, put them into a preserving pan over a good fire, and when they are dissolved run their liquor through a flannel bag. To a pint of juice add fourteen ounces of sifted sugar. Set it over a brisk fire, let it boil quick, skim it clean, and reduce it to a good stiffness, which may be known as before directed in orange marmalade.

N. B. In the same manner may be made black currant jelly, but allowing sixteen ounces of sugar to a pint of juice.

Tarragon Vinegar.

Put into a stone jar half a pound of fresh gathered tarragon leaves and two quarts of best common vinegar, and let them ferment a fortnight; then run it through a flannel bag, and add to it a quarter of an ounce of isinglass dissolved in cyder.

Put it into a clean jar, let it stand till fine, pour it off, put it into small bottles, cork them close, and set them in a dry place.

N. B. In the same manner may be done elder flowers, &c. &c.

India Pickle.

Take large fresh cauliflowers in the month of July, pick them into small pieces, wash them clean, put them into a pan with plenty of salt over them for three days; then drain and lay them separately to dry in the sun, repeatedly turning them till they are almost of a brown colour, which will require several days. Then put plenty of whole ginger, slices of horseradish, peeled garlick, whole long pepper, peeled eschallots and onions, into salt and water for one night; drain and dry them also; and when the ingredients are ready, boil more than a sufficient quantity of vinegar to cover them, and to two quarts of it add an ounce of the best pale turmeric, and put the flowers and the other ingredients into stone jars, pour the vinegar boiling hot over, cover them till the next day, then boil the pickle again, and the same on the third day; after which fill the jars with liquor, cover them over close with bladder and white leather, and set them in a dry place.

N. B. In the same manner may be done white cabbages cut into half quarters, whole french beans, heads of celery, heads of asparagus, onions whole or sliced, or pickling melons peeled thin, cut into halves, and formed like an indian mango.

Rules to be observed in Pickling.

It is recommended that the best common vinegar be in general used for pickling, and that it be put into a well-cleaned copper or brass-preserving pan just before it is to be put over the fire, and when it boils not to remain in the pan.

There can be no occasion of the many arts that are used in order to preserve the ingredients green, if the vegetables are gathered fresh, on a dry day, when in season, and the process followed that has been recommended.

Further directions could be given that might be attended with greater expence, but which would scarcely answer a better purpose, excepting only to those who are in the habit of extensive practice.

To pickle Cucumbers, &c.

Gather jerkins not too large, lay them in a strong brine of salt and water for three days, then wipe them dry, and put them into stone jars. Then put a sufficient quantity of vinegar to cover them into a preserving pan, add plenty of whole ginger and black pepper, a middling quantity of mace, allspice and cloves, some slices of horseradish, peeled onions, eschallots, and a small quantity of garlick. Let the ingredients boil for ten minutes, and pour them with the liquor over the cucumbers; cover the jars with cabbage leaves and a plate, set them in a warm place, the next day drain the liquor from them, boil it, and pour over them again, and if on the third day they are not green enough, boil the vinegar again, pour it over, and when cold tie bladder and white leather over the jars, and set them in a dry place.

N. B. In the same manner may be done walnuts, love apples, barberries, capsicums, french beans, nasturtiums, and small pickling melons peeled very thin and cut into quarters.

To pickle Onions.

Peel small button onions into milk and water, in which put plenty of salt; set it over a fire, and when it boils strain the onions, wipe them dry, and put them into glasses. Have ready cold white wine vinegar, in which whole white pepper, ginger, mace, and slices of horseradish have been boiled. Pour it over the onions, and cover them with bladder and leather.

To pickle Mushrooms.

Take a sufficient quantity of double distilled white wine vinegar to cover the mushrooms; add to it whole white pepper, ginger, mace, peeled eschallots, and a small quantity of garlick if approved; boil all together ten minutes and let it stand till cold. Then peel fresh forced button mushrooms into water, wash them clean, strain, and put them into a stewpan. To a quart of mushrooms add the juice of a lemon and a table spoonful of salt. Cover the pan close, set it over a fire, and when the liquor is sufficiently drawn from the mushrooms put the whole into glasses and cover them with the pickle. Tie bladder and white leather over the glasses.

The general rule has been deviated from of making the pickle for onions and mushrooms with double distilled white wine vinegar, as in this instance it is requisite to preserve them white. It is likewise recommended that they be put into small jars or glasses for use; for this reason, that, if exposed to the air but for a short space of time, they will discolour.

To pickle Beet Roots.

Boil the roots till three parts done, and cut them into slices of an inch thick. Then take a sufficient quantity of vinegar to cover them, and add to it whole allspice, a few cloves, mace, black pepper, slices of horseradish, some onions, eschallots, a little pounded ginger, some salt, and a few bay leaves. Boil the ingredients together twenty minutes and strain it, and when the pickle is cold add a little bruised cochineal. Put the slices of beet into jars, add the pickle, put a small quantity of sweet oil on the top, and tie the jars down close.

N. B. When the beet is wanted for use mix well together sweet oil, mustard, some of the liquor in which the roots were pickled, and a very little sifted sugar. Lay the slices in a deep plate and pour the mixture over.

To pickle Artichoke Bottoms.

Take large fresh and sound artichokes, boil them just enough to take the leaves and choke away, then trim and lay them in salt and water; after which boil (for five minutes) a sufficient quantity of vinegar to cover them, in which put whole allspice, black pepper, ginger, mace, cloves, eschallots, salt, a few bay leaves, and some slices of horseradish. Drain and wipe dry the bottoms, put them into jars, add the liquor and ingredients to them, and tie them down close. When they are fit for use serve them up in a deep plate with a little of the pickle, oil, and mustard mixed with it.

To pickle large Cucumbers.

Peel them very thin, cut them into halves, throw the seeds away, and lay the cucumbers in salt for a day. Then wipe them dry, fill them with mustard seed, peeled eschallots, garlick, small slips of horseradish, and mace. After which tie them round with twine, put them into jars, pour over them some boiling liquor made as for india pickle or for jerkins, and cover them down close till fit for use.

To pickle Red Cabbage.

Cut a fresh light red cabbage into slips, wash it clean, and put it into a pan with plenty of salt for two days. Then boil together for half an hour a sufficient quantity of vinegar to cover the cabbage, together with bruised black pepper, mace, allspice, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and mustard seed, a middling quantity of each. Strain the vinegar and ingredients, and let them stand till cold; then add a little bruised cochineal, drain the cabbage on a large sieve till dry, put it into the jars, add the pickle, and tie the jars down close; or the liquor may be poured over the cabbage boiling hot; and when cold, before the jars are tied down, add a little bruised cochineal. This method will make the cabbage sooner fit for use.

N. B. Onions may be peeled and done whole in the same manner, and mixed with red cabbage.

To pickle Red Currants.

To a quart of double distilled white wine vinegar add half a pound of loaf sugar, whole ginger, one ounce of salt, and a pint of red currant juice; boil all together, skim it clean, and let it stand till cold. Then pick and put some best ripe red currants into glasses, fill them with the pickle, and cover them down close with bladder and leather.

To pickle Barberries.

Bruise and strain ripe barberries, and to a pint of juice add three pints of vinegar, a quarter of a pound of loaf sugar, an ounce of salt, and a quarter of an ounce of pounded and sifted ginger. Boil all together, skim it clean, and put bunches of the best ripe barberries into jars, pour the pickle boiling hot over, and let it stand till cold; then add a little bruised cochineal, and tie the jars over close.

N. B. Bunches of currants may be done in like manner.

Sour Crout.

Take large white cabbages when in season, cut them into halves, and then into slips; wash them clean and drain them dry. After which put into a tub a layer of cabbage, then a layer of salt, afterwards a small quantity of pounded and sifted coriander seeds, and so on alternately; when the tub is nearly full put a weight over to press it well, and set it in a cold dry place covered with a coarse cloth.

When it is wanted for use put some of the cabbage into boiling water over a fire for five minutes, and strain it.

Have ready some pieces of salted bouillie beef (of a quarter of a pound each) nearly boiled enough; likewise some pieces of pickle pork of the same number and weight.

Then put them into a stewpan, add the cabbage, fresh butter, a little vinegar, onions sliced very thin, some whole pepper, allspice, and mace, tied in a bit of cloth. Let all stew till tender; then take out the spices, season the cabbage to the palate with cayenne pepper, and serve it up with fried onions (done as per receipt), with fried sausages round the crout.

Candied Orange or Lemon Peels.

Take either lemon or orange peels well cleaned from the pulp, and lay them in salt and water for two days; then scald and drain them dry, put them into a thin syrup, and boil them till they look clear. After which take them out, and have ready a thick syrup made with fine loaf sugar; put them into it, and simmer till the sugar candies about the pan and peels.

Then lay them separately on a hair sieve to drain, strew sifted sugar over, and set them to dry in a slow oven; or the peels may be cut into chips, and done in the same manner.

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