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Spiced Vinegar
Put three pounds sugar in a three gallon jar with a small mouth; mix two ounces each of mace, cloves, pepper, allspice, turmeric, celery seed, white ginger in small bits, and ground mustard; put in six small bags made of thin but strong muslin, lay in jar, fill with best cider vinegar, and use it in making pickles and sauces.
This is a keeping ingredient rather than a dish: a sweetened, spiced cider vinegar held in bulk and drawn on through the pickling season. The quantities assume a household putting up pickles by the crock, so the first job is scaling down.
- Scale it to your kitchenThree gallons is twelve quarts. For a single quart, use about 4 oz (a generous ½ cup) sugar and one to two teaspoons of each spice tied in one small bag. Divide by four for a three-quart batch if you actually pickle in volume.
- Two ounces each means eight spicesMace, cloves, pepper, allspice, turmeric, celery seed, ginger and mustard at 2 oz apiece is a full pound of spice for three gallons. That is assertive, though the recipe directs it to be used in making pickles and sauces rather than on its own.
- Whole where possibleOnly the mustard is specified as ground, and it will cloud the vinegar slightly (turmeric, if used as a powder, will do the same). Use whole cloves, allspice, peppercorns and blades of mace so the infusion stays clear and the bags can be lifted out without sediment.