The "Queen" cookery books: Pickles and Preserves

leaves under and above each layer, and cover it all with some good brine ; lay vine leaves over the top, tie them down with a clean cloth, and then cover with a plate. Let them stand in this for twenty-four hours, then lift them out, lay them on a clean cloth, cover with another, and leave them till dry. Meanwhile, boil together two quarts of vinegar, one quart of spring water, and lib. of coarse sugar, and skim off all the scum as it rises ; then let it stand till cold. Now dry the first jar carefully, put in some fresh vine leaves, and lay in the grapes again with more vine leaves between each layer ; then pour the clear part of the pickle over the grapes, being careful that they are well covered by the vinegar, and place a flannel -covered board on the top to keep the fruit well under the liquid ; then cork and cover down closely. Take them out with a wooden spoon only, and be very careful to cover down the jar each time, or they will certainly be spoiled. For the brine, dry and crush a pound of bay salt, and dissolve it in as much cold spring water as you want to cover the grapes, adding enough best salt to make a brine that will bear an egg. Let this all boil well together, carefully removing all the black scum, and when it has boiled for fifteen minutes, put it aside to cool and settle, pouring the clear part, when almost cold, over the grapes. Lemons, to pickle, — Wipe eight good lemons carefully, then gash them equally four times, from stalk to crown, but without dividing them ; now stuff them with as much salt as you can make them hold, and lay them in a deep dish, in a sunny window, or a warm place for a week or ten days, keeping them often turned and basted with their own liquor ; then rub them well with loz. or 2oz. of pale turmeric, and put them with their juice into a stone jar, with two or three cloves of garlic, peeled, and twelve small onions, each stuck with two cloves. Now in two quarts of white wine vinegar boil fib. of slightly bruised ginger, fib. mustard seed and 2oz. whole black peppers, and pour this all, straight off the fire, on to the lemons, cover the jar with a plate, let it stand till next day, then add to it six or seven capsicums or chillies, and cover. Limes make a delicious pickle in the same way, but should only lie in the salt four or five days, and all the salt (of which 2oz. will be required for every six limes), left unmelted must be put into the jar with them, before pouring in the vinegar, &c. Melons, to pickle. — Take a couple of melons before they are quite ripe, pare off the rinds, remove all the seeds, and slice the flesh about half an inch thick. Steep these in good white wine vinegar for a week or ten days, then cover them with cold fresh vinegar and simmer them very gently in this, till perfectly tender. Now drain them thoroughly on a reversed sieve, and when cold, stick each slice with a couple of cloves, put them into glass jars and cover with cold syrup made by boiling together a pint of water and lOoz. of sugar for twenty minutes. In a week, lift them out of this syrup, drain them a little, again put them into glass jars and pour over them sufficient white wine vinegar (previously scalded and allowed to get cool) to cover