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Vinegar, Pickles, and Pickling: Place
Camp Vinegar. -Chop together dozen anchovies, 1 shallot, 1 clove of garlic, and stir in saltspoonful of Cayenne and 2 ounces of walnut catsup. Place in a glass bottle and pour over it pint pure vinegar. Let stand a week or ten days, strain and bottle for use.
Garlic Vinegar.-Place in a glass bottle 1 ounce of finely chopped garlic, pour over it a pint of strong vinegar. Let stand ten days, shaking frequently, strain and bottle for use. Curry Vinegar.-Place 3 ounces of curry powder in a glass bottle, add 3 pints of strong vinegar. Let stand a week or ten days in a warm place, strain and bottle for use.
PICKLES AND PICKLING - Pickling Vegetables.
Almost every sort of esculent may be preserved for table use by means of spiced vinegar. The objects to be obtained are to secure firmness or hardness of texture, to impart a fine bright green or other color, to kill all germs of decay that may be present, and to protect from the air.
Firmness of texture is secured by steeping the vegetable in strong brine for a number of days, and by picking them over at intervals to discard all doubtful specimens. This may be done by lifting them from the brine, rinsing them and after they have been picked over, covering them with brine that is freshly made. The excess of brine may then be removed by freshening them in pure salt water for twenty-four hours or more.
A fine green is imparted by lining a kettle with fresh vine leaves and packing the pickles with these in alternate layers. The addition of powdered alum sprinkled among the layers assists in setting or fixing the color. They are then covered with cold water and boiled for two hours or more until the color is satisfac- "Pickles and Pickling." tory.
Cooking, of course, softens them, but their freshness may be restored by dropping them into iced water for an hour or two.
Finally, scalding hot pickling liquid is poured over them both to kill the germs of decay and exclude the air. And this process may be repeated by pouring off the pickling liquid, bringing it to a boil and again pouring it over them at intervals of every two or three days for a fortnight. The jars may then be sealed, or a layer of cotton batting tied over them to exclude the germs that float in the air, and thus they may be preserved for years. To Select Cucumbers for Pickling. -Plant for pickles a variety of cucumbers that bears a large number of small cucumbers, only 2 or 3 inches long when ripe. These are small, compact, and make firm, crisp pickles that are preferred by most persons to the large cucumber pickles, which, when ripe, are 5 to 7 inches long, ? to 3 inches thick, and full of seeds.
Or use the small, unripe specimens of the large varieties. Cut the cucumbers from the vines carefully. Leave part of the stem on. And take VINEGAR, PICKLES, AND PICKLING If two or three days. But the better opinion seems to be in favor of steeping or immersing them in cold brine for a longer period to draw out the rank juices that occur in all crude fruit rather than to pour scalding brine over them. Scalding is thought by many to be unnecessary, and to tend to make the pickles soft. care to handle them gently. bruised they will become soft and decay. Pick the vines clean each morning of all that are of a suitable size. This keeps the vines bearing. Pick them over carefully. Throw out any that are bruised or spotted in any way. And, if an Al quality of pickles is desired, either for home use or for sale, sort them into lots of uniform size and shape.
To Preserve Cucumbers for Pickles. -Have ready two or more stout wooden tubs or earthenware jars, and in these each morning as fast as they are gathered pack the pickles in layers. First put on the bottom of the vessel a layer of salt ½ inch thick, then a layer of cucumbers. Over them put a layer of salt about + inch thick. When about 30 cucumbers have been packed in this way, add a large cupful of water. This will dissolve the salt and make brine enough to cover the cucumbers. Put a stout board, with a stone on top, over the cucumbers to press them down in the brine. Continue to add more cucumbers from time to time as they are ready, picking them if possible in the morning before the dew is off. Add salt and water until the keg is full.
Weigh down the cucumbers securely under the brine and until ready to do them up store the keg in a cold cellar. Look at them now and then to be sure that they are kept under the brine, and add more brine, if necessary, to replace the water lost by evaporation. Let stand in brine ten days to two weeks, or until they become yellow. But they will not be injured if allowed to stand longer, provided the brine covers them. Or after standing in cold brine for one week, lift them carefully from the brine with the hands, so as not to bruise them. Place the brine over the fire and bring it to a boil. Immerse the cucumbers in the brine while boiling hot.