Harper's cook book encyclopædia

PICKLES, ETC . Piccalilli, Yellow them out with a skimmer and put in jars. Boil the syrup a minute, and pour over the fruit in the jars. Break a few of the stones and add the kernels, blanched in hot water, to the pickles. Pears, Pickled. — Take 7 lbs. of pears, pare and steam them until you can run a fork through them easily ; then put into a preserving-kettle with three pints of vinegar, 3 lbs. of sugar, half a cupful of spices — equal parts of cloves, cinnamon, and allspice — and boil until they are cooked through. Put them in a jar and boil the liquid down until thick ; pour over the fruit, and when used for the table serve some of the syrup with them. Another way : — To 10 lbs. of fruit allow 7 lbs. of sugar, two quarts of vinegar, two table-spoonfuls of ground cinnamon, one lemon, sliced very thin, and a little mace. Stick two or three whole cloves in each pear. Put the fruit in the cold vinegar and sugar and boil until soft ; take out and put in jars, allowing the vinegar to boil until reduced to the quantity needed for filling the jars ; pour it over the fruit. In three days pour off the vinegar and reboil. The pickles will be ready for use in two weeks or ten days. Pears, Spiced. — Cut in half and pare 7 lbs. of the best winter pears — those commencing to soften are best. Pour a pint and a half of good cider vinegar over 3 lbs. of the best brown sugar. Put the vinegar and sugar in a preserving - kettle, add I oz. of whole cloves, /4 oz. of mace, and half a dozen pieces of ginger-root ; boil, and skim well. When clear, put in the fruit, and cook slowly for two hours ; when cold, put in jars and seal air-tight. Peppers (to pickle quickly). — Put the peppers into a bowl, and pour over them a very strong brine. Put a board over them to keep them under the water, and let them lie for two days. Drain them, make a small incision in the side of each to let out the water, wipe them with a soft cloth, and put them into a stone jar, with x/z oz. of allspice, x/z oz. of cloves, and a small lump of alum. Pour cold vinegar over them, and tie a bladder securely over the jar. When pickled in this way, the peppers will preserve their color. Piccalilli. — Chop a peck of green tomatoes, mix with a cupful of salt, and let them stand all night. The next day pour off the brine and throw it away, and mix in the pickle one large head of celery and six small onions, chopped fine, and a head of cauliflower picked up into flowerets, with two quarts of vinegar, a few slices of horseradish, two cupfuls of brown sugar, one table-spoonful each of ground cinnamon, allspice, and dry mustard, and one teaspoonful of white pepper. Cook slowly all day.