The hearthstone; or, Life at home

East India Pickle. — Chop one cabbage fine (leaving out the stalks), and with it, three or four onions, a root of horseradish, and a couple of green peppers. Spice some vinegar very strong with mace, cloves, allspice and cinnamon. Heat it scalding hot ; add alum and salt, and turn it on to the cabbage, onions and pepper, which should previously have all the brine drained from them. Fit for use in three weeks. English Pickles. — Put the cucumbers in brine strong enough to bear up a raw potato. Let them remain nine days ; then pour off the brine and scald it ; pour it on again, scalding hot ; cover closely. Do 514 THE hearthstone; or, life at home. this every morning for three days ; then place them in cold, fresh water, and leave them over night; drain them, and place in stone jars, and put over them scraped horseradish, a handful of whole cloves, one tablespoonful of whole allspice, a quart of nasturtiums, a teacup of mixed white mustard-seed, a teacup of black mustard-seed, an onion and five or six red peppers (whole). Scald the best cider vinegar and pour it over the pickles, covering them tightly. In a few days they are fit for use. To Pickle Eggs. — Sixteen eggs, one quart of vinegar, half an ounce of black pepper, half an ounce of Jamaica pepper, half an ounce of ginger ; boil the eggs for twelve minutes ; then dip them into cold water, and take off the shells ; put the vinegar, with the pepper and ginger into a stewpan, and let it simmer for ten minutes; now place the eggs in a jar, pour over them the vinegar, etc., boiling hot, and, when cold, tie them down with bladder to exclude the air. This pickle will be ready for use in a month. Universal Pickle. — To six quarts of vinegar allow one pound of salt, one-fourth pound of ginger, one ounce of mace, one-half pound of shallots, one tablespoonful of cayenne, two ounces of mustard-seed, one and a-half ounces of turmeric. Boil all the ingredients together for about twenty minutes ; when cold, put them into a jar with whatever vegetables you choose, such as radish-pods, French beans, cauliflowers, gherkins, etc., etc., as these come into season ; put them in fresh as you gather them, having previously wiped them perfectly free from moisture and grit. This pickle will be fit for use in about eight or nine months. A Tennessee Recipe for Tomato Catsup (i). — Take two quarts of skinned tomatoes, two tablespoonfuls of salt, two of black pepper, two of ground mustard, one of spice, and four pods of pepper; mix and rub these well together, and stew them slowly in one pint of strong vinegar three hours ; strain through a sieve, and simmer down the liquid to one quart. Put this in a bottle and cork tightly. Tomato Catsup (2). — One and one-half gallons of tomatoes, eight tablespoonfuls of mustard-seed, bruised, four tablespoonfuls of black pepper, four tablespoonfuls of salt, one-half tablespoonful of ground allspice, one-half tablespoonful of cayenne pepper; boil it four hours, putting in a little at a time of sharp vinegar, so as to have at the end of four hours one-half gallon of catsup; pass it through a coarse sieve to strain out all but the rich pulp and spice.