Pickles are an indispensable appetizer for the table, and they may be made in so many forms and from such a variety of material that there is room for the exercise of both taste and skill in their production. As a pure cider vinegar is indispensable to good pickles, home-made ones ai*e the best, as the pickles sold in market are nearly always put up in inferior vinegar. A small lump of alum to gallon of cucumbers, dissolved and added to vinegar when scalding the first time, renders them crisp and tender. Keep pickles in a dry, cool cellar, in glass or stone jars ; If in latter, examine frequently and remove all soil ones ; if white specks appear in vine* gar, drain off, scald, add a liberal handful sugar to each gallon, and pour again over pickles ; bits of horse-radish and a few cloves as- , eist in preserving the life of vinegar. If put away in large stone jars, invert a saucer over pickles to keep them well under the vine* gar. The best way to put up pickles of all kinds is in bottles or in self-sealing glass cans, sealing while hot, and keeping in a cool, dark place. When porcelain-lined tops are not used, always grease in* side of can-lids to prevent the moisture from adhering to and rust- ing them. For the bottles take old pickle bottles with corks, or wide-mouthed bottles without covers. Have ready cloth covers cut round to fit over mouth of bottle, sealing-wax, and strips of muslin as wide as tape for tying. Many think that mustard seed improves pickles, especially Chopped, Florida and Mangoes, but use it, as horseradish and cloves, sparingly. For Pickles in Brine, never put them in anything that has ever held any kind of grease, but use an caken tub or cask, keep them well under, and have more salt than will dissolve, so that there will always be plenty at bottom of cask, ' 502 PICKLE8. and nevdr let them freeze. The brine should be strong enough to bear an egg ; make it in proportion of a heaping pint of coarse salt to a gallon of water. If too much salt has been used, correct by let- ting pickles soak longer in water when wanted, adding weak vine- gar at first, then draining and adding strong vinegar. If not suf- ficiently salted the pickles will be insipid. In making pickles by first placing in salt over night or longer, use coarse^ salt and test by tasting pickles before putting on vinegar as they should be of a pleasant saltness ; if not salt enough, add more and let stand until of the proper flavor ; if too salt, cover with weak vinegar, and let stand two or three days, drain, add strong vinegar, either hot or cold, according to recipes, and finish as directed. In scalding cu- cumber pickles, to green them, cabbage or grape leaves may be used for covering bottom, sides and top of kettle. The usual spicing for a quart of pickles is a level teaspoon each pepper-corns, (whole black peppers), celery seed and allspice, tablespoon broken stick cinnamon, half teaspoon cloves, mustard seed and grated horse- radish, and a piece of ginger root an inch long. If cayenne pepper is used instead of whole peppers, an eighth of a teaspoon is enough. Or garden peppers cut in rings, in proportion of two rings of green and one of red without seeds, or a level teaspoon, when finely chopped, may be used to a quart of pickles, instead of peppeivcoms. The proportion may b * increased 6t decreased to suit the taste.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Pickles are an indispensable appetizer for the table, and they may be made in so many forms and from such a variety of material that there is room for the exercise of both taste and skill in their production. As a pure cider vinegar is indispensable to good pickles, home-made ones are the best, as the pickles sold in market are nearly always put up in inferior vinegar. A small lump of alum to gallon of cucumbers, dissolved and added to vinegar when scalding the first time, renders them crisp and tender. Keep pickles in a dry, cool cellar, in glass or stone jars ; If in latter, examine frequently and remove all soil ones ; if white specks appear in vinegar, drain off, scald, add a liberal handful sugar to each gallon, and pour again over pickles ; bits of horse-radish and a few cloves as- , eist in preserving the life of vinegar. If put away in large stone jars, invert a saucer over pickles to keep them well under the vinegar. The best way to put up pickles of all kinds is in bottles or in self-sealing glass cans, sealing while hot, and keeping in a cool, dark place. When porcelain-lined tops are not used, always grease in* side of can-lids to prevent the moisture from adhering to and rusting them. For the bottles take old pickle bottles with corks, or wide-mouthed bottles without covers. Have ready cloth covers cut round to fit over mouth of bottle, sealing-wax, and strips of muslin as wide as tape for tying. Many think that mustard seed improves pickles, especially Chopped, Florida and Mangoes, but use it, as horseradish and cloves, sparingly. For Pickles in Brine, never put them in anything that has ever held any kind of grease, but use an oaken tub or cask, keep them well under, and have more salt than will dissolve, so that there will always be plenty at bottom of cask, ' and never let them freeze. The brine should be strong enough to bear an egg ; make it in proportion of a heaping pint of coarse salt to a gallon of water. If too much salt has been used, correct by letting pickles soak longer in water when wanted, adding weak vinegar at first, then draining and adding strong vinegar. If not sufficiently salted the pickles will be insipid. In making pickles by first placing in salt over night or longer, use coarse salt and test by tasting pickles before putting on vinegar as they should be of a pleasant saltness ; if not salt enough, add more and let stand until of the proper flavor ; if too salt, cover with weak vinegar, and let stand two or three days, drain, add strong vinegar, either hot or cold, according to recipes, and finish as directed. In scalding cucumber pickles, to green them, cabbage or grape leaves may be used for covering bottom, sides and top of kettle. The usual spicing for a quart of pickles is a level teaspoon each pepper-corns, (whole black peppers), celery seed and allspice, tablespoon broken stick cinnamon, half teaspoon cloves, mustard seed and grated horseradish, and a piece of ginger root an inch long. If cayenne pepper is used instead of whole peppers, an eighth of a teaspoon is enough. Or garden peppers cut in rings, in proportion of two rings of green and one of red without seeds, or a level teaspoon, when finely chopped, may be used to a quart of pickles, instead of peppercorns. The proportion may be increased 6t decreased to suit the taste.

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