Virginia Cookery-book

them out of the sirup with a perforated ladle and lay them upon a dish to drain. When all are done fill your jars full of the fruit, and pour on of the brandied liquid until they are entirely covered. The sirup from the peaches may be used for stewing fruit to be used at once. Some think it best to peel after weighing, and allow six peaches for the thin skins of six pounds. Two persons should be engaged, the one in peeling, the other in cooking, to prevent the fruit from looking dark. CHAPTER XX. PICKLES, Prepared Vinegar. — Green Pickle, No. 1 (quickly made). — Green Pickle, No. 2 (quickly made). — Isabella's Cabbage Pickle.— Green Mangoes. — Cabbage Pickle. — Chopped Pickle. — Filling for Five Dozen Peach Mangoes. — Peach Mangoes. — Peach Mangoes (Another Way). — Pepper Mangoes. — Martinoes. — Cut-cucumber Pickle. — Ripe Tomato Pickle. — Green Tomato Pickle, No. 1. — Green Tomato Pickle, No. 2. — Onion Pickle. — Walnut Pickle. — Hiden Salad. — Chow-chow, Nos. 1, 2, and 3. — Pickled Mushrooms. — Pickled Peppers. — Sweet Pickle. (So-called German.) — To Green Pickles. — To Stuff Forty Large Cucumbers. — Spanish Pickle. — Watermelon - rind Pickle, No. 1. — Watermelon -rind Pickle, No. 2. — Buck and Breck Pickle. — Sweet-peach Pickle. — Ripe Cantaloupe Pickle. (Eastern Shore.) General Directions for Pickling. The horseradish used in pickles must be scraped and dried; the garlic must be soaked from three to ten days in salt and water, changing the water once or twice a day. Let the mustard and other seeds be bruised ; spices are put in without any preparation. The above-mentioned ingredients may be put in as you prepare them, but the vegetables should not be kept waiting ; as soon as they are ready the vinegar must be poured upon them. Prepared Vinegar. Pour two gallons of vinegar to one pint of black mustard-seed well beaten, four ounces of white ginger, three ounces of black pepper, three ounces of allspice, one ounce of cloves, one ounce of mace, all to be pounded together in a mortar tolerably well ; a large handful of liorseradiBh scraped and cut into thin slices, one handful of garlic, twp pounds of sugar, one ounce of celery -seed bruised, and three lemons sliced, the seeds being carefully picked out with the point of a penknife. This liquor will do for either green or yellow pickle. If meant for the latter, add one ounce of turmeric. This vinegar should be made and set in the sun during the clear hot weather in summer, and kept in a dry place. When the fruit for the yellow pickle is sufficiently bleached for the pot, more turmeric should be added ; and if after a while it is not found sweet enough, add also more sugar until it is pleasantly flavored. In preparing cabbage, it is better to boil it a while in water with a little salt, and let it drain in the sun for a few hours, than to keep it in brine for a few days ; it is more tender, and sooner fit for use. When put in the liquor the cabbage should be sprinkled with turmeric. Green Pickle, No. 1. (Quickly Made.) Cucumbers, snap-beans, gherkins, green fox-grapes, and tomatoes are principally used for this pickle. Put your materials in brine that will bear an egg* Let them remain so a fortnight, or as long as you choose ; for they may remain for six months or even a year thus, without injury, if you only see to it that they are well covered up with grape-leaves weighted down upon them and submerged in brine. When you are ready to pickle, take them out and soak them in weak vinegar for several days; then scald them in strong spiced vinegar, prepared as follows : To one gallon of vinegar (which will be sufficient for a peck of pickles) put four ounces of long pepper, one ounce of cloves, four oimces of mustard-seed (half white, half black), one ounce of mace, two ounces of eel-