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To Preserve Vegetables and Fruit
hurtful in infusions, by leaving irritating particles in the throat. Flowers of little or no smell may be dried in a heat of 75° to 100° Fahr.; the succulent petals of the liliaceous plants, whose odor is very fugaceous, cannot well be dried; several sorts of flowering tops, as those of lesser centaury, lily of the valley, wormwood, mellilot, water germander, etc., are tied up in small parcels and hung up, or exposed to the sun, wrapped in paper cornets, that they may not be discolored.
The color of the petals of red roses is preserved by their being quickly dried with heat, after which the yellow anthers are separated by sifting; the odor of roses and red pinks is considerably increased by drying. To dry Tops, Leaves, or Whole Herbs.
They should be gathered in a dry season, cleansed from discolored and rotten leaves, screened from earth or dust, placed on handles covered with blotting paper and exposed to the sun or the heat of a stove, in a dry, airy place.
The quicker they are dried the better, as they have less time to ferment or grow mouldy; hence they should be spread thin and frequently turned; when dried they should be shaken in a large meshed sieve to get rid of the eggs of any insects.
Aromatic herbs ought to be dried quickly with a moderate heat, that their odor may not be lost.
Cruciferous plants should not be dried, as in that case they lose much of their antiscorbutic qualities. Some persons have proposed to dry herbs in a water bath, but this occasions them, as it were, to be half boiled in their own water.
To dry Roots.
They should be rubbed. in water to get rid of the dirt and also some of the mucous substance that would otherwise render them mouldy; the larger are then to be cut, split, or peeled, but in most aromatic roots, the odor residing in the bark, they must not be peeled; they are then to be spread on sieves or hurdles and dried in a heat of about 120° Fahr. either on the top of an oven, in a stove, or a steam closet, taking care to shake them occasionally to change the surface exposed to the air. Thick and juicy roots, as rhubarb, briony, peony, water-lily, etc., are cut in slices, strung upon a thread and hung in a heat of about 90° to 100° Fahr. Squills are scaled, threaded and dried round the tube of a German stove, or in a hot closet. Rhubarb should be washed to separate that mucous principle which would otherwise render it black and soft when powdered. Potatoes are cut in slices and dried. To preserve Roots.
These are preserved in different ways, according to the object in view. Tuberous roots, as those of the dahlia, pæonia, tuberose, etc., intended to be planted in the succeeding spring, are preserved through the winter in dry earth, in a temperature rather under than above what is natural to them.
So may the bulbous roots of commerce, as hyacinths, tulips, onions, etc., but for convenience, these are kept either loose, in cool dry shelves or lofts, or the finer sorts in papers, till the season of planting.
Roots of all kinds may be preserved in an icehouse till the return of the natural crop. After stuffing the vacuities with straw, and covering the surface of the ice with the same material, place on it case boxes, casks, baskets, etc., and fill them with turnips, carrots, beetroots, and in particular potatoes. By the cold of the place vegetation is so much suspended that all these articles may be thus kept fresh and uninjured till they give place to another crop in its natural season.
To gather Vegetables.
This is, in part, performed with a knife, and in part by fracture or torsion with the hand. In all cases of using the knife, the general principle of cutting is to be attended to, leaving also a sound section on the living plant. Gathering with the hand ought to be done as little as possible.
To preserve Vegetables.
This is effected in cellars or sheds, of any temperature, not lower nor much above the freezingpoint. Thus cabbages, endive, chicory, lettuce, etc., taken out of the ground with their main roots, in perfectly dry weather, at the end of the season, and laid on, or partially immersed in sand or dry earth, in a close shed, cellar, or ice-cold room, will keep through the winter, and be fit for use till spring, and often till the return of the season of their produce in the garden. Time for Gathering Fruits.
This should take place in the middle of a dry day. Plums readily part from the twigs when ripe; they should not be much handled, as the bloom is apt to be rubbed off. Apricots may be accounted ready when the side next the sun feels a little soft upon gentle pressure with the finger.
They adhere firmly to the tree, and would overripen on it and become mealy. Peaches and nectarines, if moved upwards, and allowed to descend with a slight jerk, will separate, if ready; and they may be received into a tin funnel lined with velvet, so as to avoid touching with the fingers or bruising.
A certain rule for judging of the ripeness of figs is to notice when the small end of the fruit becomes of the same color as the large one. The most transparent grapes are the most ripe.
All the berries in a bunch never ripen equally; it is therefore proper to cut away unripe or decayed berries before presenting the bunches at table.
Autumn and winter pears are gathered, when dry, as they successively ripen.
Immature fruit never keeps so well as that which nearly approaches maturity. Winter apples should be left on the trees till there be danger of frost; they are then gathered on a dry day. To gather Orchard Fruits.
In respect to the time of gathering, the criterion of ripeness, adopted by Forsyth, is their beginning to fall from the tree. Observe attentively when the apples and pears are ripe; and do not pick them always at the same regular time of the year, as is the practice with many. A dry season will forward the ripening of fruit, and a wet one retard it so that there will sometimes be a month's difference in the proper time for gathering. If this is attended to the fruit will keep well, and be plump, and not shrivelled, as is the case with all fruit that is gathered before it is ripe.
The art of gathering is to give them a lift, so as to press away the stalk, and if ripe, they readily part from the tree. Those that will not come off easily should hang a little longer; for when they come off hard they will not be so fit to store; and the violence done at the foot-stalk may injure the bud there formed for the next year's fruit.
Let the pears be quite dry when pulled, and in handling avoid pinching the fruit, or in any way bruising it, as those which are hurt not only decay themselves, but presently spread infection to those near them; when suspected to be bruised, let them be carefully kept from others, and used first; as gathered, lay them gently in shallow baskets To preserve Green Fruits.