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To Salt Cucumbers for Pickling (Evening I have known)

the evening. I have known the cutting of cucumbers at midday to entirely ruin the vines. When twenty-five or thirty small cucumbers are packed, add a half pint of water to moisten the salt; this, with the juice of the cucumbers that exudes, will make sufficient brine. If you wish to add a new supply of cucumbers each day to the cask, simply remove the board and stone and arrange in layers as directed. After the cask is filled, put a thick layer of horse-radish tops underneath the board, then cover the cask with a cloth, tucking it down tightly around the edge. In the winter when the cucumbers are wanted for pickling, carefully lift the cloth with the scum, wash the board, stone and cloth in clear warm water. Do not be alarmed at the heavy scum you may find on top, as this will not injure the cucumbers. Take out as many cucumbers as are wanted, wipe down the sides of the cask, return the board, stone and cloth. Cover closely as before. Put the cucumbers taken out in a large vessel of cold water and soak three days, changing the water each day. At the end of this time drain and wipe each cucumber carefully without bruising. If you have cabbage leaves at hand add three or four good-sized leaves to the pickles while soaking. Put into a porcelain-lined kettle a sufficient quantity of vinegar to cover the cucumbers; stand it over the fire. If you wish the pickles crisp at the expense of health, add a piece of alum the size of a hazel-hut. Let the whole come to a boil; turn the cucumbers several times with a wooden spoon or those at the bottom will become soft and lose their crispness. The cucumbers, understand, must not be cooked, but simply made crisp by the heating vinegar. The moment it begins to steam or simmer take from the fire, drain the cucumbers and put them in a stone jar. Throw this vinegar away. Cover the cucumbers with fresh, cold vinegar; spices may be added according to taste. A tablespoonful of chopped horse-radish will prevent molding. They will be ready for use in about one week.