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Piccalilli
Piccalilli may be made of almost all kinds of vegetables that are used for pickling--cauliflowers, white cabbages, French beans, capsicums, gherkins, large and small onions, cucumbers, radish pods, green tomatoes, and nasturtiums. Take equal quantities of each kind. Prepare them by slicing the large sorts, shredding the cabbage, and pulling the cauliflower into small pieces. Put them into a large pan with boiling brine sufficiently strong to bear an egg. Let them simmer for one minute, then drain the liquid from them, spread them out on large dishes, and place them in the sun until they are perfectly dry. Prepare as much pickle as will entirely cover the vegetables, in the following proportions. Boil two quarts of good vinegar with two ounces of bruised ginger, one ounce of whole white pepper, one ounce of allspice, two ounces of curry-powder, and two ounces of shallots. Boil these for five minutes, then mix two ounces of best mustard smoothly with a little boiling vinegar, and stir it into the rest of the vinegar, which must not boil after the mustard is added. Let the first heat go off, then pour the vinegar over the vegetables, and when they are quite cold store them in jars, and intermix the spices amongst them. Be careful that the vegetables are covered with the vinegar, and cover the jar with bladder to exclude the air. This pickle must be examined at intervals, and as the vegetables absorb the vinegar, fresh cold vinegar must be added and well stirred in. Additions of various vegetables may be made as they come into season; but it should be remembered that they must be scalded in brine and dried, then scalded in hot vinegar, and allowed to grow cold, before they are put to the rest of the pickle, or they will not keep.