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Pickles

BRINE in which articles for pickles are to be stored should be strong enough to hold up an egg. A generous pint of coarse salt to one gallon of water is the usual proportion.

Brine in which vegetables for pickles are to be kept simply over night should be made in the proportion of one cup of salt to one gallon of water.

Scalding pickles in vinegar in a saucepan lined with grape or cabbage leaves, the top of the pickles also being covered with the leaves, is thought to aid in retaining and perhaps in intensifying the natural color of the pickles.

A clean board, a plate holding a clean stone, or a similar weight, is often necessary to keep pickles stored in an earthen jar beneath the vinegar, or brine which preserves them.

Articles to be pickled lose crispness on being scalded, but they will absorb vinegar more easily.

Spices and the pungent horseradish are an aid in keeping pickles in good condition, but too many spices should not be used. Green or red peppers of any variety are better than pepper corns, which often give a bitter taste to the article in which they are used.

Cloves are the strongest of the spices put in pickles and should be used less freely than mace or cinnamon. A tablespoonful of cinnamon, eight or ten cloves and one inch of ginger root is a good proportion for a quart of pickles.

When white specks appear on the vinegar surrounding pickles stored in a stone jar, drain it off, scald this same vinegar, or a fresh supply, and pour it over the pickles. Cover when cold.

Pickles put up in a stoneware or unglazed earthen jar will keep for months, if the vinegar and spices are of good quality, but it is preferable to store them in small quantities in fruit jars, which can be closed as in canning and opened as needed.

Use a wooden spoon, a porcelain or agate skimmer or ladle to take the pickles from an earthen jar; vinegar attacks metals, causing dangerous compounds which are liable to be imparted to pickles handled with a metal spoon.

Sugar tends to harden fruit and vegetables, and too heavy a syrup may toughen and spoil peaches, pears, and melons made into sweet pickles. Often such articles must be cooked tender in water before the pickling syrup is added to them. This is the case with some varieties of peaches and is always true with melons and ripe cucumbers.