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Cucumber Relish
Large, partly ripe cucumbers are liked best for this purpose. Cut the cucumbers in halves lengthwise, remove seeds and soft portion, then grate and measure; allow half as much vinegar as there is pulp. To each quart of pulp allow a level teaspoonful of salt, four teaspoonfuls of grated horseradish, and one fourth a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper. Mix well and bottle. If corks are used, seal with wax. Use cider vinegar.
This is an uncooked, unprocessed relish sealed into bottles and held at room temperature, and that is the problem with it. The notes below explain the period language and then why the method itself is unsound.
- No heat, no processing, no acid measurementNothing here is ever brought to a temperature that kills anything, and the jars are never processed. A sealed, waxed bottle of moist vegetable pulp held at room temperature is an anaerobic environment, which is precisely the condition Clostridium botulinum requires. Only reliable acidity keeps such a pack safe, and this recipe never verifies any.
- The vinegar is diluted by the cucumbersGrated cucumber is roughly 95 percent water. Vinegar at half the volume of the pulp is about a third of the finished pack, and because the vegetable's own liquid dilutes it and the vinegar's strength is unstated, the finished pH is unknown and cannot be assumed to sit below the 4.6 threshold that separates a safe acid pack from a low-acid one. Modern tested relish recipes specify vinegar of 5 percent acidity and a fixed ratio for exactly this reason.
- Cider vinegar was not standardisedCider vinegar of this period carried no stated acetic acid content, and strength could vary from one supply to another. "Use cider vinegar" is therefore not an acid specification, so the recipe's margin depends on whatever bottle is to hand.
- Salt, horseradish and cayenne are not preservatives hereA level teaspoon of salt per quart is seasoning, not brine. Horseradish and cayenne do have mild antimicrobial properties, but at these quantities neither contributes meaningful preservation.
- Corks and sealing waxWaxed corks were a normal closure for sauces and relishes before two-piece canning lids were universal. They exclude air well enough to create the anaerobic conditions that matter, without any of the heat processing that would make those conditions safe.
- "Partly ripe" cucumbersThis means the large, yellowing, seedy cucumbers left too long on the vine, which is why the recipe has you halve them and scrape out the seeds and soft core. Modern slicing cucumbers are picked much younger and rarely reach this stage.
- If you want cucumber relishUse a current tested recipe from a reputable canning authority, which will specify vinegar strength, headspace and a processing time. This one should be read rather than made.
Uncooked relishes of this kind belong to a period when vinegar was widely trusted to preserve whatever it touched, an assumption inherited from older pickling practice that used far more salt and far more acid. Cookbooks of this era contain many grated, chopped and shredded vegetables simply stirred with vinegar and salt and bottled. The flavouring here, cucumber sharpened with horseradish and cayenne, suits a cold, pungent condiment for plain boiled or roasted meat. The scientific understanding of botulism in home-canned goods, and the systematic testing of preserving recipes by agricultural extension services, came later than books of this kind.