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Vinegar, Pickles, and Pickling: Pack

Pickled Melons. - Take hard muskmelons that are late in ripening, cut out a circular piece around the stem about 3 inches across and through this opening remove the seeds and scrape out any part that may be soft or ripe. Pack the melons in a wooden tub, fill them inside, and cover them with salt and let stand until the salt is melted. Remove them from the salt, rinse with pure water and fill with a mixture of chopped peppers and onions with a few shallots, a little garlic, and a quantity of bruised mustard seed. Close the opening with the plug, and fasten it with thread or with skewers made of toothpicks. Pack the melons in a tub or earthen jar and cover with spiced pickling liquid boiling hot. Remove and scald the spiced liquid every day for four or five days, pour it back over the melons, and finally seal up the jars.

Or stuff the melons with a piccalilli or chowchow or any sort of mixed pickles, as desired. - Pickled Citron. Cut the citron into inch cubes, cover with weak brine. Let stand twenty-four hours and pour out on a cloth strainer to dry. For every gallon of spiced vinegar add 4 ounces of coffee sugar, bring to a boil and pour over the citron boiling hot. Let stand three or four days, each day pouring off the pickling liquid from the citron, scalding it and pouring it back. Finally, bring the whole to a boil and cook until the citron is very tender. Pack in suitable jars. Seal and store in a cool, dry place.

Peach Mangoes. -Select large freestone peaches and take out the stone through a slit in the side. Cover with weak brine scalding hot. Let stand until cool enough to handle.

Lift out the peaches on a cloth strainer, and wipe dry with a clean, soft cloth. Now fill the cavity with mixed spices to taste, as white mustard seed, cloves, mace, cinnamon, grated horse-radish, ginger root, etc., softened by placing all together in a thin muslin bag and immersing for a few minutes in boiling water. Remove the bag from the water, let the spices drip dry, fill the peaches, sew them up, pack them in jars, and fill to overflowing with a scalding hot sirup made of 1 pint of sugar in 3 pints of vinegar. Seal while hot. Let stand a week or two before bringing to the table. - Tomato Catsup. Wash bushel fine ripe red tomatoes. Quarter them, place them in a preserving kettle, and bring them to a boil. Remove from the fire and let cool until they will bear the hands. Then rub them through a wire sieve and add to the strained juice 2 teacupfuls of salt, 2 teacupfuls of mixed spices, 1 quart of vinegar. Boil over a slow fire for an hour or more, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Fill the bottles to overflowing with the hot liquid and seal at once. Thin for use, if necessary, with a little vinegar. Wrap in colored paper to exclude the light.