Put all the walnut liquor together, and boil and skim it; then to
every quart allow an ounce of bruised ginger, an ounce of black pepper,
half an ounce of cloves, and half an ounce of nutmeg, all slightly
beaten. Boil the spice and walnut liquor in a closely covered vessel
for three quarters of an hour. When cold, bottle it for use, putting
equal proportions of the spice into each bottle. Secure the corks with
leather.

MUSHROOM CATCHUP.--Take mushrooms that have been freshly gathered, and
examine them carefully to ascertain that they are of the right sort.
Pick them nicely, and wipe them clean, but do not wash them. Spread a
layer of them at the bottom of a deep earthen pan, and then sprinkle
them well with salt; then another layer of mushrooms, and another
layer of salt, and so on alternately. Throw a folded cloth over the
jar, and set it by the fire or in a very cool oven. Let it remain thus
for twenty-four hours, and then mash them well with your hands. Next
squeeze and strain them through a bag.

To every quart of strained liquor add an ounce and a half of whole
black pepper, and boil it slowly in a covered vessel for half an hour.
Then add a quarter of an ounce of allspice, half an ounce of sliced
ginger, a few cloves, and three or four blades of mace. Boil it with
the spice fifteen minutes longer. When it is done, take it off, and let
it stand awhile to settle. Pour it carefully off from the sediment, and
put it into small bottles, filling them to the top. Secure them well
with corks dipped in melted rosin, and leather caps tied over them.

The longer catchup is boiled, the better it will keep.

You may add cayenne and nutmeg to the spices.

The bottles should be quite small, as it soon spoils after being
opened.

TOMATA CATCHUP.--Take a peck of large ripe tomatas. Having cut a slit
in each, put them into a large preserving-kettle, and boil them half
an hour. Then take them out, and press and strain the pulp through a
hair sieve. Put it back into the kettle, and add an ounce of salt,
an ounce of powdered mace, half an ounce of powdered cloves, a small
tea-spoonful of ground black pepper, the same of cayenne pepper, and
eight table-spoonfuls of ground mustard. Mix the seasoning with the
tomata pulp; let it boil slowly during four hours. Then take it out of
the kettle, and let it stand till next day, in an uncovered tureen.
When cold, stir into it one pint of the best cider vinegar. Put it
into clean bottles, and seal the corks. It will be found excellent for
flavouring stews, hashes, fish-sauce, &c.

LEMON CATCHUP.--Grate the peel of a dozen large fresh lemons. Prepare,
by pounding them in a mortar, two ounces of mustard seed, half an ounce
of black pepper, half an ounce of nutmeg, a quarter of an ounce of
mace, and a quarter of an ounce of cloves. Slice thin two ounces of
horseradish. Put all these ingredients together. Strew over them one
ounce of fine salt. Add the juice of the lemons.

Boil the whole twenty minutes. Then put it warm into a jar, and let it
stand three weeks closely covered. Stir it up daily.

Then strain it through a sieve, and put it up in small bottles to
flavour fish and other sauces.

This is sometimes called lemon pickle.

SEA CATCHUP.--Take a gallon of stale strong beer, a pound of anchovies
washed from the pickle, a pound of peeled shalots or small onions,
half an ounce of mace, half an ounce of cloves, a quarter of an ounce
of whole pepper, three or four large pieces of ginger, and two quarts
of large mushroom-flaps rubbed to pieces. Put the whole into a kettle
closely covered, and let it simmer slowly till reduced to one half.
Then strain it through a flannel bag, and let it stand till quite cold
before you bottle it. Have small bottles and fill them quite full of
the catchup. Dip the corks in melted rosin.

This catchup keeps well at sea, and may be carried into any part of the
world. A spoonful of it mixed in melted butter will make a fine fish
sauce. It may also be used to flavour gravy.

FLAVOURED VINEGARS.

These vinegars will be found very useful, at times when the articles
with which they are flavoured cannot be conveniently procured. Care
should be taken to have the bottles that contain them accurately
labelled, very tightly corked, and kept in a dry place. The vinegar
used for these purposes should be of the very best sort.

TARRAGON VINEGAR.--Tarragon should be gathered on a dry day, just
before the plant flowers. Pick the green leaves from the stalks, and
dry them a little before the fire. Then put them into a wide-mouthed
stone jar, and cover them with the best vinegar, filling up the jar.
Let it steep fourteen days, and then strain it into wide-mouthed
bottles, in each of which put a large quantity of fresh tarragon
leaves, and let them remain in the vinegar.

SWEET BASIL VINEGAR.--Is made precisely in the same manner; also those
of green mint, and sweet marjoram.

CELERY VINEGAR.--Pound two ounces of celery seed in a mortar, and steep
it for a fortnight in a quart of vinegar. Then strain and bottle it.

BURNET VINEGAR.--Nearly fill a wide-mouthed bottle with the fresh green
leaves of burnet, cover them with vinegar, and let them steep two
weeks. Then strain off the vinegar, wash the bottle, put in a fresh
supply of burnet leaves, pour the same vinegar over them, and let it
infuse a fortnight longer. Then strain it again and it will be fit for
use. The flavour will exactly resemble that of cucumbers.

HORSERADISH VINEGAR.--Make a quart of the best vinegar boiling hot, and
pour it on four ounces of scraped horseradish. Let it stand a week,
then strain it off, renew the horseradish, adding the same vinegar
cold, and let it infuse a week longer, straining it again at the last.

SHALOT VINEGAR.--Peel and chop fine four ounces of shalots, or small
button onions. Pour on them a quart of the best vinegar, and let them
steep a fortnight; then strain and bottle it.

Make garlic vinegar in the same manner; using but one ounce of garlic
to a quart of vinegar. Two or three drops will be sufficient to impart
a garlic taste to a pint of gravy or sauce. More will be offensive. The
cook should be cautioned to use it very sparingly, as to many persons
it is extremely disagreeable.

CHILLI VINEGAR.--Take a hundred red chillies or capsicums, fresh
gathered; cut them into small pieces and infuse them for a fortnight in
a quart of the best vinegar shaking the bottle every day. Then strain
it.

RASPBERRY VINEGAR.--Put two quarts of ripe fresh-gathered raspberries
into a stone or china vessel, and pour on them a quart of vinegar.
Let it stand twenty-four hours, and then strain it through a sieve.
Pour the liquid over two quarts of fresh raspberries, and let it again
infuse for a day and a night. Then strain it a second time. Allow a
pound of loaf sugar to every pint of juice. Break up the sugar, and
let it melt in the liquor. Then put the whole into a stone jar, cover
it closely, and set it in a kettle of boiling water, which must be kept
on a quick boil for an hour. Take off all the scum, and when cold,
bottle the vinegar for use.

Raspberry vinegar mixed with water is a pleasant and cooling beverage
in warm weather; also in fevers.

MUSTARD AND PEPPER.

COMMON MUSTARD--Is best when fresh made. Take good flour of mustard;
put it in a plate, add to it a little salt, and mix it by degrees with
boiling water to the usual consistence, rubbing it for a long time with
a broad-bladed knife or a wooden spoon. It should be perfectly smooth.
The less that is made at a time the better it will be. If you wish it
very mild, use sugar instead of salt, and boiling milk instead of water.

KEEPING MUSTARD.--Dissolve three ounces of salt in a quart of boiling
vinegar, and pour it hot upon two ounces of scraped horseradish. Cover
the jar closely and let it stand twenty-four hours. Strain it and then
mix it by degrees with the best flour of mustard. Make it of the usual
thickness, and beat it till quite smooth. Then put it into wide-mouthed
bottles and stop it closely.

FRENCH MUSTARD.--Mix together four ounces of the very best mustard
powder, four salt-spoons of salt, a large table-spoonful of minced
tarragon leaves, and two cloves of garlic chopped fine. Dilute it to
the proper consistence by adding alternately equal portions of vinegar
and salad oil. It will probably require about four wine-glassfuls or
half a pint. Mix it well, using for the purpose a wooden spoon. When
done, put it into a wide-mouthed bottle or into little white jars. Cork
it very closely, and keep it in a dry place. It will not be fit for use
in less than two days.

This (used as the common mustard) is a very agreeable condiment for
beef or mutton.

If you cannot procure tarragon leaves, buy at a grocer's a bottle of
tarragon vinegar. Mix it with an equal portion of sweet oil, adding
a few drops of garlic vinegar. Then stir in mustard powder till
sufficiently thick.

TO MAKE CAYENNE PEPPER.--Take ripe chillies and dry them a whole day
before the fire, turning them frequently. When quite dry, trim off the
stalks and pound the pods in a mortar till they become a fine powder,
mixing in about one sixth of their weight in salt. Or you may grind
them in a very fine mill. While pounding the chillies, wear glasses to
save your eyes from being incommoded by them. Put the powder into small
bottles, and secure the corks closely.

KITCHEN PEPPER.--Mix together two ounces of the best white ginger, an
ounce of black pepper, an ounce of white pepper, an ounce of cinnamon,
an ounce of nutmeg, and two dozen cloves. They must all be ground or
pounded to a fine powder, and thoroughly mixed. Keep the mixture in a
bottle, labelled, and well corked. It will be found useful in seasoning
many dishes; and being ready prepared will save much trouble.

VEGETABLES.

GENERAL REMARKS.

All vegetables should be well picked and washed. A very little salt
should always be thrown into the water in which they are boiled. A
steady regular fire should be kept up, and they should never for a
moment be allowed to stop boiling or simmering till they are thoroughly
done. Every sort of vegetable should be cooked till tender, as if the
least hard or under-done they are both unpalatable and unwholesome. The
practice of putting pearl-ash in the pot to improve the colour of green
vegetables should be strictly forbidden, as it destroys the flavour,
and either renders them flat and insipid, or communicates a very
disagreeable taste of its own.

Every sort of culinary vegetable is infinitely best when fresh from the
garden, and gathered as short a time as possible before it is cooked.
They should all be laid in a pan of cold water for a while previous to
boiling.

When done, they should be carefully drained before they go to table, or
they will be washy all through, and leave puddles of discoloured water
in the bottoms of the dishes, to the disgust of the company and the
discredit of the cook.

TO BOIL POTATOES.

Potatoes that are boiled together, should be as nearly as possible
of the same size. Wash, but do not pare them. Put them into a pot
with water enough to cover them about an inch, and do not put on the
pot-lid. When the water is very near boiling, pour it off, and replace
it with the same quantity of cold water, into which throw a good
portion of salt. The cold water sends the heat from the surface to the
heart, and makes the potatoes mealy. Potatoes of a moderate size will
require about half an hour boiling; large ones an hour. Try them with
a fork. When done, pour off the water, cover the pot with a folded
napkin, or flannel, and let them stand by the fire about a quarter of
an hour to dry.

Peel them and send them to table.

Potatoes are often served up with the skins on. It has a coarse,
slovenly look, and disfigures the appearance of the dinner; besides the
trouble and inconvenience of peeling them at table. But many prefer
them thus.

When the skins crack in boiling, it is no proof that they are done, as
too much fire under the pot will cause the skins of some potatoes to
break while the inside is hard.

After March, when potatoes are old, it is best to pare them before
boiling and to cut out all the blemishes. It is then better to mash
them always before they are sent to table. Mash them when quite hot,
using a potato-beetle for the purpose; add to them a piece of fresh
butter, and a little salt, and, if convenient, some milk, which will
greatly improve them. You may score and brown them on the top.

A very nice way of serving up potatoes is, after they are peeled, to
pour over them some hot cream in which a very little butter has been
melted, and sprinkle them with pepper. This is frequently done in
country houses where cream is plenty. New potatoes (as they are called
when quite young) require no peeling, but should be well washed and
brushed before they are boiled.

FRIED POTATOES.--Take cold potatoes that have been boiled, grate them,
make them into flat cakes, and fry them in butter. They are nice at
breakfast. You may mix some beaten yolk of egg with them.

Cold potatoes may be fried in slices or quarters, or broiled on a
gridiron.

Raw potatoes, when fried, are generally hard, tough, and strong.

POTATO SNOW.--For this purpose use potatoes that are very white, mealy,
and smooth. Boil them very carefully, and when they are done, peel
them, pour off the water, and set them on a trivet before the fire till
they are quite dry and powdery. Then rub them through a coarse wire
sieve into the dish on which they are to go to table. Do not disturb
the heap of potatoes before it is served up, or the flakes will fall
and it will flatten. This preparation looks well; but many think that
it renders the potato insipid.

ROASTED POTATOES.--Take large fine potatoes; wash and dry them, and
either lay them on the hearth and keep them buried in hot wood ashes,
or bake them slowly in a Dutch oven. They will not be done in less than
two hours. It will save time to half-boil them before they are roasted.
Send them to table with the skins on, and eat them with cold butter and
salt. They are introduced with cold meat at supper.

Potatoes keep best buried in sand or earth. They should never be wetted
till they are washed for cooking. If you have them in the cellar, see
that they are well covered with matting or old carpet, as the frost
injures them greatly.

SWEET POTATOES BOILED.

If among your sweet potatoes there should be any that are very large
and thick, split them, and cut them in four, that they may not require
longer time to cook than the others. Boil them with the skins on in
plenty of water, but without any salt. You may set the pot on coals
in the corner. Try them with a fork, and see that they are done all
through; they will take at least an hour. Then drain off the water,
and set them for a few minutes in a tin pan before the fire, or in the
stove, that they may be well dried. Peel them before they are sent to
table. When very large, and all of a size, you may roast them.

FRIED SWEET POTATOES.--Choose them of the largest size. Half boil them,
and then having taken off the skins, cut the potatoes in slices, and
fry them in butter, or in nice dripping.

Sweet potatoes are very good stewed with fresh pork, veal, or beef.

The best way to keep them through the cold weather, is to bury them in
earth or sand; otherwise they will be scarcely eatable after October.

CABBAGE.

ALL vegetables of the cabbage kind should be carefully washed, and
examined in case of insects lurking among the leaves. To prepare a
cabbage for boiling, remove the outer leaves, and pare and trim the
stalk, cutting it close and short. If the cabbage is large, quarter
it; if small, cut it in half; and let it stand for a while in a deep
pan of cold water with the large end downwards. Put it into a pot with
plenty of water, (having first tied it together to keep it whole while
boiling,) and, taking off the scum, boil it two hours, or till the
stalk is quite tender. When done, drain and squeeze it well. Before you
send it to table introduce a little fresh butter between the leaves; or
have melted butter in a boat. If it has been boiled with meat add no
butter to it.

A young cabbage will boil in an hour or an hour and a half.

CALE-CANNON.--Boil separately some potatoes and cabbage. When done,
drain and squeeze the cabbage, and chop or mince it very small. Mash
the potatoes, and mix them gradually but thoroughly with the chopped
cabbage, adding butter, pepper and salt. There should be twice as much
potato as cabbage.

Cale-cannon is eaten with corned beef, boiled pork, or bacon.

Cabbages may be kept good all winter by burying them in a hole dug in
the ground.

CAULIFLOWER.

Remove the green leaves that surround the head or white part, and peel
off the outside skin of the small piece of stalk that is left on. Cut
the cauliflower in four, and lay it for an hour in a pan of cold water.
Then tie it together before it goes into the pot. Put it into boiling
water and simmer it till the stalk is thoroughly tender, keeping it
well covered with water, and carefully removing the scum. It will take
about two hours.

Take it up as soon as it is done; remaining in the water will
discolour it. Drain it well, and send it to table with melted butter.

It will be much whiter if put on in boiling milk and water.

BROCOLI.--Prepare brocoli for boiling in the same manner as
cauliflower, leaving the stalks rather longer, and splitting the head
in half only. Tie it together again, before it goes into the pot. Put
it on in hot water, and let it simmer till the stalk is perfectly
tender.

As soon as it is done take it out of the water and drain it. Send
melted butter to table with it.

SPINACH.

Spinach requires close examination and picking, as insects are
frequently found among it, and it is often gritty. Wash it through
three or four waters. Then drain it, and put it on in boiling water.
Ten minutes is generally sufficient time to boil spinach. Be careful
to remove the scum. When it is quite tender, take it up, and drain and
squeeze it well. Chop it fine, and put it into a sauce-pan with a piece
of butter and a little pepper and salt. Set it on hot coals, and let it
stew five minutes, stirring it all the time.

SPINACH AND EGGS.--Boil the spinach as above, and drain and press it,
but do not chop it. Have ready some eggs poached as follows. Boil
in a sauce-pan, and skim some clear spring water, adding to it a
table-spoonful of vinegar. Break the eggs separately, and having taken
the sauce-pan off the fire, slip the eggs one at a time into it with
as much dexterity as you can. Let the sauce-pan stand by the side of
the fire till the white is set, and then put it over the fire for two
minutes. The yolk should be thinly covered by the white. Take them up
with an egg slice, and having trimmed the edges of the whites, lay the
eggs on the top of the spinach, which should first be seasoned with
pepper and salt and a little butter, and must be sent to table hot.

TURNIPS.

Take off a thick paring from the outside, and boil the turnips gently
for an hour and a half. Try them with a fork, and when quite tender,
take them up, drain them on a sieve, and either send them to table
whole with melted butter, or mash them in a cullender, (pressing and
squeezing them well;) season with a little pepper and salt, and mix
with them a very small quantity of butter. Setting in the sun after
they are cooked, or on a part of the table upon which the sun may
happen to shine, will give to turnips a singularly unpleasant taste,
and should therefore be avoided.

When turnips are very young, it is customary to serve them up with
about two inches of the green top left on them.

If stewed with meat, they should be sliced or quartered.

Mutton, either boiled or roasted, should always be accompanied by
turnips.

CARROTS.

Wash and scrape them well. If large cut them into two, three, or four
pieces. Put them into boiling water with a little salt in it. Full
grown carrots will require three hours' boiling; smaller ones two
hours, and young ones an hour. Try them with a fork, and when they are
tender throughout, take them up and dry them in a cloth. Divide them in
pieces and split them, or cut them into slices.

Eat them with melted butter. They should accompany boiled beef or
mutton.

PARSNIPS.

Wash, scrape and split them. Put them into a pot of boiling water; add
a little salt, and boil them till quite tender, which will be in from
two to three hours, according to their size. Dry them in a cloth when
done, and pour melted butter over them in the dish. Serve them up with
any sort of boiled meat, or with salt cod.

Parsnips are very good baked or stewed with meat.

RUSSIAN OR SWEDISH TURNIPS.

This turnip (the Ruta Baga) is very large and of a reddish yellow
colour; they are generally much liked. Take off a thick paring, cut the
turnips into large pieces, or thick slices, and lay them awhile in cold
water. Then boil them gently about two hours, or till they are quite
soft. When done, drain, squeeze and mash them, and season them with
pepper and salt, and a very little butter. Take care not to set them in
a part of the table where the sun comes, as it will spoil the taste.

Russian turnips should always be mashed.

SQUASHES OR CYMLINGS.

The green or summer squash is best when the outside is beginning to
turn yellow, as it is then less watery and insipid than when younger.
Wash them, cut them into pieces, and take out the seeds. Boil them
about three quarters of an hour, or till quite tender. When done,
drain and squeeze them well till you have pressed out all the water;
mash them with a little butter, pepper and salt. Then put the squash
thus prepared into a stew-pan, set it on hot coals, and stir it very
frequently till it becomes dry. Take care not to let it burn.

WINTER SQUASH, OR CASHAW.

This is much finer than the summer squash. It is fit to eat in August,
and, in a dry warm place, can be kept well all winter. The colour is
a very bright yellow. Pare it, take out the seeds, cut it in pieces,
and stew it slowly till quite soft, in a very little water. Afterwards
drain, squeeze, and press it well, and mash it with a very little
butter, pepper and salt.

PUMPKIN.

Deep coloured pumpkins are generally the best. In a dry warm place
they can be kept perfectly good all winter. When you prepare to stew
a pumpkin, cut it in half and take out all the seeds. Then cut it in
thick slices, and pare them. Put it into a pot with a very little
water, and stew it gently for an hour, or till soft enough to mash.
Then take it out, drain, and squeeze it till it is as dry as you can
get it. Afterwards mash it, adding a little pepper and salt, and a
very little butter.

Pumpkin is frequently stewed with fresh beef or fresh pork.

The water in which pumpkin has been boiled, is said to be very good to
mix bread with, it having a tendency to improve it in sweetness and to
keep it moist.

HOMINY.

Wash the hominy very clean through three or four waters. Then put it
into a pot (allowing two quarts of water to one quart of hominy) and
boil it slowly five hours. When done, take it up, and drain the liquid
from it through a cullender. Put the hominy into a deep dish, and stir
into it a small piece of fresh butter.

The small grained hominy is boiled in rather less water, and generally
eaten with butter and sugar.

INDIAN CORN.

Corn for boiling should be full grown but young and tender. When the
grains become yellow it is too old. Strip it of the outside leaves
and the silk, but let the inner leaves remain, as they will keep in
the sweetness. Put it into a large pot with plenty of water, and boil
it rather fast for half an hour. When done, drain off the water, and
remove the leaves.

You may either lay the ears on a large flat dish and send them to table
whole, or broken in half; or you may cut all the corn off the cob, and
serve it up in a deep dish, mixed with butter, pepper and salt.

MOCK OYSTERS OF CORN.

Take a dozen and a half ears of large young corn, and grate all the
grains off the cob as fine as possible. Mix with the grated corn three
large table-spoonfuls of sifted flour, the yolks of six eggs well
beaten. Let all be well incorporated by hard beating.

Have ready in a frying-pan an equal proportion of lard and fresh
butter. Hold it over the fire till it is boiling hot, and then put in
portions of the mixture as nearly as possible in shape and size like
fried oysters. Fry them brown, and send them to table hot. They should
be near an inch thick.

This is an excellent relish at breakfast, and may be introduced as a
side dish at dinner. In taste it has a singular resemblance to fried
oysters. The corn _must_ be young.

STEWED EGG PLANT.

The purple egg plants are better than the white ones. Put them whole
into a pot with plenty of water, and simmer them till quite tender.
Then take them out, drain them, and (having peeled off the skins) cut
them up, and mash them smooth in a deep dish. Mix with them some grated
bread, some powdered sweet marjoram, and a large piece of butter,
adding a pounded nutmeg. Grate a layer of bread over the top, and put
the dish into the oven and brown it. You must send it to table in the
same dish.

Egg plant is sometimes eaten at dinner, but generally at breakfast.

TO FRY EGG PLANT.--Do not pare your egg plants if they are to be fried,
but slice them about half an inch thick and lay them an hour or two
in salt and water to remove their strong taste, which to most persons
is very unpleasant. Then take them out, wipe them, and season them
with pepper only. Beat some yolk of egg; and in another dish grate a
sufficiency of bread-crumbs. Have ready in a frying-pan some lard and
butter mixed, and make it boil. Then dip each slice of egg plant first
in the egg, and then in the crumbs, till both sides are well covered;
and fry them brown, taking care to have them done all through, as the
least rawness renders them very unpalatable.

STUFFED EGG PLANTS.--Parboil them to take off their bitterness. Then
slit each one down the side, and extract the seeds. Have ready a
stuffing made of grated bread-crumbs, butter, minced sweet herbs, salt,
pepper, nutmeg, and beaten yolk of egg. Fill with it the cavity from
whence you took the seeds, and bake the egg plants in a Dutch oven.
Serve them up with a made gravy poured into the dish.

FRIED CUCUMBERS.

Having pared your cucumbers, cut them lengthways into pieces about as
thick as a dollar. Then dry them in a cloth. Season them with pepper
and salt, and sprinkle them thick with flour. Melt some butter in a
frying-pan, and when it boils, put in the slices of cucumber, and fry
them of a light brown. Send them to table hot.

They make a breakfast dish.

TO DRESS CUCUMBERS RAW.--They should be as fresh from the vine as
possible, few vegetables being more unwholesome when long gathered. As
soon as they are brought in lay them in cold water. Just before they
are to go to table take them out, pare them and slice them into a pan
of fresh cold water. When they are all sliced, transfer them to a deep
dish, season them with a little salt and black pepper, and pour over
them some of the best vinegar, to which you may add a little salad
oil. You may mix with them a small quantity of sliced onion; not to be
eaten, but to communicate a slight flavour of onion to the vinegar.

SALSIFY.

Having scraped the salsify roots, and washed them in cold water,
parboil them. Then take them out, drain them, cut them into large
pieces and fry them in butter.

Salsify is frequently stewed slowly till quite tender, and then served
up with melted butter. Or it may be first boiled, then grated, and made
into cakes to be fried in butter.

Salsify must not be left exposed to the air, or it will turn blackish.

ARTICHOKES.

Strip off the coarse outer leaves, and cut off the stalks close to the
bottom. Wash the artichokes well, and let them lie two or three hours
in cold water. Put them with their heads downward into a pot of boiling
water, keeping them down by a plate floated over them. They must boil
steadily from two to three hours; take care to replenish the pot with
additional boiling water as it is wanted. When they are tender all
through, drain them, and serve them up with melted butter.

BEETS.

Wash the beets, but do not scrape or cut them while they are raw; for
if a knife enters them before they are boiled they will lose their
colour. Boil them from two to three hours, according to their size.
When they are tender all through, take them up, and scrape off all
the outside. If they are young beets they are best split down and cut
into long pieces, seasoned with pepper, and sent to table with melted
butter. Otherwise you may slice them thin, after they are quite cold,
and pour vinegar over them.

TO STEW BEETS.--Boil them first, and then scrape and slice them. Put
them into a stew-pan with a piece of butter rolled in flour, some
boiled onion and parsley chopped fine, and a little vinegar, salt and
pepper. Set the pan on hot coals, and let the beets stew for a quarter
of an hour.

TO BOIL GREEN OR FRENCH BEANS.

These beans should be young, tender, and fresh gathered. Remove the
strings with a knife, and take off both ends of the bean. Then cut
them in two or three pieces only; for if split or cut very small, they
become watery and lose much of their taste; and cannot be well drained.
As you cut them, throw them into a pan of cold water, and let them lay
awhile. Boil them an hour and a half. They must be perfectly tender
before you take them up. Then drain and press them well, season them
with pepper, and mix into them a piece of butter.

SCARLET BEANS.--It is not generally known that the pod of the scarlet
bean, if green and young, is extremely nice when cut into three or
four pieces and boiled. They will require near two hours, and must be
drained well, and mixed as before mentioned with butter and pepper. If
gathered at the proper time, when the seed is just perceptible, they
are superior to any of the common beans.

LIMA BEANS.

These are generally considered the finest of all beans, and should be
gathered young. Shell them, lay them in a pan of cold water, and then
boil them about two hours, or till they are quite soft. Drain them
well, and add to them some butter and a little pepper.

They are destroyed by the first frost, but can be kept during the
winter, by gathering them on a dry day when full grown but not the
least hard, and putting them in their pods into a keg. Throw some salt
into the bottom of the keg, and cover it with a layer of the bean-pods;
then add more salt, and then another layer of beans, till the keg is
full. Press them down with a heavy weight, cover the keg closely, and
keep it in a cool dry place. Before you use them, soak the pods all
night in cold water; the next day shell them, and soak the beans till
you are ready to boil them.

DRIED BEANS.

Wash them and lay them in soak over night. Early in the morning put
them into a pot with plenty of water, and boil them slowly till dinner
time. They will require seven or eight hours to be sufficiently done.
Then take them off, put them into a sieve, and strain off the liquid.

Send the beans to table in a deep dish, seasoned with pepper, and
having a piece of butter mixed with them.

GREEN PEAS.

Green peas are unfit for eating after they become hard and yellowish;
but they are better when nearly full grown than when very small and
young. They should be gathered as short a time as possible before they
are cooked, and laid in cold water as soon as they are shelled. They
will require about an hour to boil soft. When quite done, drain them,
mix with them a piece of butter, and add a little pepper.

Peas may be greatly improved by boiling with them two or three lumps of
loaf-sugar, and a sprig of mint to be taken out before they are dished.
This is an English way of cooking green peas, and is to most tastes a
very good one.

TO BOIL ONIONS.

Take off the tops and tails, and the thin outer skin; but no more lest
the onions should go to pieces. Lay them on the bottom of a pan which
is broad enough to contain them without piling one on another; just
cover them with water, and let them simmer slowly till they are tender
all through, but not till they break.

Serve them up with melted butter.

TO ROAST ONIONS.--Onions are best when parboiled before roasting. Take
large onions, place them on a hot hearth and roast them before the
fire in their skins, turning them as they require it. Then peel them,
send them to table whole, and eat them with butter and salt.

TO FRY ONIONS.--Peel, slice them, and fry them brown in butter or nice
dripping.

Onions should be kept in a very dry place, as dampness injures them.

TO BOIL ASPARAGUS.

Large or full grown asparagus is the best. Before you begin to prepare
it for cooking, set on the fire a pot with plenty of water, and
sprinkle into it a handful of salt. Your asparagus should be all of the
same size. Scrape the stalks till they are perfectly nice and white;
cut them all of equal length, and short, so as to leave them but two
or three inches below the green part. To serve up asparagus with long
stalks is now becoming obsolete. As you scrape them, throw them into a
pan of cold water. Then tie them up in small bundles with bass or tape,
as twine will cut them to pieces. When the water is boiling fast, put
in the asparagus, and boil it an hour; if old it will require an hour
and a quarter. When it is nearly done boiling, toast a large slice of
bread sufficient to cover the dish (first cutting off the crust) and
dip it into the asparagus water in the pot. Lay it in a dish, and,
having drained the asparagus, place it on the toast with all the heads
pointed inwards towards the centre, and the stalks spreading outwards.
Serve up melted butter with it.

SEA KALE.--Sea kale is prepared, boiled, and served up in the same
manner as asparagus.

POKE.--The young stalks and leaves of the poke-berry plant when quite
small and first beginning to sprout up from the ground in the spring,
are by most persons considered very nice, and are frequently brought to
market. If the least too old they acquire a strong taste, and should
not be eaten, as they then become unwholesome. They are in a proper
state when the part of the stalk nearest to the ground is not thicker
than small asparagus. Scrape the stalks, (letting the leaves remain on
them,) and throw them into cold water. Then tie up the poke in bundles,
put it into a pot that has plenty of boiling water, and let it boil
fast an hour at least. Serve it up with or without toast, and send
melted butter with it in a boat.

STEWED TOMATAS.

Peel your tomatas, cut them in half and squeeze out the seeds. Then put
them into a stew-pan without any water, and add to them cayenne and
salt to your taste, some grated bread, a little minced onion, and some
powdered mace. Stew them slowly till they are first dissolved and then
dry.

BAKED TOMATAS.--Peel some large fine tomatas, cut them up, and take
out the seeds. Then put them into a deep dish in alternate layers with
grated bread-crumbs, and a very little butter in small bits. There must
be a large proportion of bread-crumbs. Season the whole with a little
salt, and cayenne pepper. Set it in an oven, and bake it. In cooking
tomatas, take care not to have them too liquid. They will not lose
their raw taste in less than three hours' cooking.

MUSHROOMS.

Good mushrooms are only found in clear open fields where the air is
pure and unconfined. Those that grow in low damp ground, or in shady
places, are always poisonous. Mushrooms of the proper sort generally
appear in August and September, after a heavy dew or a misty night.
They may be known by their being of a pale pink or salmon colour on the
gills or under side, while the top is of a dull pearl-coloured white;
and by their growing only in open places. When they are a day old, or a
few hours after they are gathered, the reddish colour changes to brown.

The poisonous or false mushrooms are of various colours, sometimes of
a bright yellow or scarlet all over; sometimes entirely of a chalky
white, stalk, top, and gills.

It is easy to detect a bad mushroom if all are quite fresh; but after
being gathered a few hours the colours change, so that unpractised
persons frequently mistake them.

It is said that if you boil an onion among mushrooms the onion
will turn of a bluish black when there is a bad one among them. Of
course, the whole should then be thrown into the fire. If in stirring
mushrooms, the colour of the silver spoon is changed, it is also most
prudent to destroy them all.

TO STEW MUSHROOMS.--For this purpose the small button mushrooms are
best. Wash them clean, peel off the skin, and cut off the stalks. Put
the trimmings into a small sauce-pan with just enough water to keep
them from burning, and covering them closely, let them stew a quarter
of an hour. Then strain the liquor, and having put the mushrooms into a
clean sauce-pan, (a silver one, or one lined with porcelain,) add the
liquid to them with a little nutmeg, pepper and salt, and a piece of
butter rolled in flour. Stew them fifteen minutes, and just before you
take them up, stir in a very little cream or rich milk and some beaten
yolk of egg. Serve them hot. While they are cooking, keep the pan as
closely covered as possible; shaking it round frequently.

If you wish to have the full taste of the mushroom only, after washing,
trimming, and peeling them, put them into a stew-pan with a little salt
and no water. Set them on coals, and stew them slowly till tender,
adding nothing to them but a little butter rolled in flour, or else a
little cream. Be sure to keep the pan well covered.

BROILED MUSHROOMS.--For this purpose take large mushrooms, and be
careful to have them freshly gathered. Peel them, score the under side,
and cut off the stems. Lay them one by one in an earthen pan, brushing
them over with sweet oil or oiled butter, and sprinkling each with a
little pepper and salt. Cover them closely, and let them set for about
an hour and a half. Then place them on a gridiron over clear hot coals,
and broil them on both sides.

Make a gravy for them of their trimmings stewed in a very little milk,
strained and thickened with a beaten egg stirred in just before it goes
to table.

BOILED RICE.

Pick your rice clean, and wash it in two cold waters, not draining off
the last water till you are ready to put the rice on the fire. Prepare
a sauce-pan of water with a little salt in it, and when it boils,
sprinkle in the rice. Boil it hard twenty minutes, keeping it covered.
Then take it from the fire, and pour off the water. Afterwards set the
sauce-pan in the chimney corner with the lid off, while you are dishing
your dinner, to allow the rice to dry, and the grains to separate.

Rice, if properly boiled, should be soft and white, and every grain
ought to stand alone. If badly managed, it will, when brought to table,
be a grayish watery mass.

In most southern families, rice is boiled every day for the dinner
table, and eaten with the meat and poultry.

The above is a Carolina receipt.

TO DRESS LETTUCE AS SALAD.

Strip off the outer leaves, wash the lettuce, split it in half, and
lay it in cold water till dinner time. Then drain it and put it into a
salad dish. Have ready two eggs boiled hard, (which they will be in ten
minutes,) and laid in a basin of cold water for five minutes to prevent
the whites from turning blue. Cut them in half and lay them on the
lettuce.

Put the yolks of the eggs on a large plate, and with a wooden spoon
mash them smooth, mixing with them a table-spoonful of water, and two
table-spoonfuls of sweet oil. Then add, by degrees, a salt-spoonful
of salt, a tea-spoonful of mustard, and a tea-spoonful of powdered
loaf-sugar. When these are all smoothly united, add very gradually
three table-spoonfuls of vinegar. The lettuce having been cut up fine
on another plate, put it to the dressing, and mix it well.

If you have the dressing for salad made before dinner, put it into the
bottom of the salad dish; then (having cut it up) lay the salad upon
it, and let it rest till it is to be eaten, as stirring it will injure
it.

You may decorate the top of the salad with slices of red beet, and with
the hard white of the eggs cut into rings.

CELERY.--Scrape and wash it well, and let it lie in cold water till
shortly before it goes to table; then dry it in a cloth, trim it, and
split down the stalks almost to the bottom, leaving on a few green
leaves. Send it to table in a celery glass, and eat it with salt only;
or chop it fine, and make a salad dressing for it.

RADISHES.--To prepare radishes for eating, wash them and lay them in
clean cold water as soon as they are brought in. Shortly before they go
to table, scrape off the thin outside skin, trim the sharp end, cut off
the leaves at the top, leaving the stalks about an inch long, and put
them on a small dish. Eat them with salt.

Radishes should not be eaten the day after they are pulled, as they are
extremely unwholesome if not quite fresh.

The thick white radishes, after being scraped and trimmed, should be
split or cleft in four, half way down from the top.

TO ROAST CHESTNUTS.

The large Spanish chestnuts are the best for roasting. Cut a slit
in the shell of every one to prevent their bursting when hot. Put
them into a pan, and set them over a charcoal furnace till they are
thoroughly roasted; stirring them up frequently and taking care not to
let them burn. When they are done, peel off the shells, and send the
chestnuts to table wrapped up in a napkin to keep them warm.

Chestnuts should always be roasted or boiled before they are eaten.

GROUND-NUTS.--These nuts are never eaten raw. Put them, with their
shells on, into an iron pan, and set them in an oven; or you may do
them in a skillet on hot coals. A large quantity may be roasted in an
iron pot over the fire. Stir them frequently, taking one out from time
to time, and breaking it to try if they are done.

CORN AND BEANS WITH PORK.

Take a good piece of pork, either salt or fresh. Boil it by itself till
quite tender. Boil also the corn and beans separately. Either dried
or green beans will do. If string-beans, they must be cut in three.
When the corn is well boiled, cut it from the cob, and mix it with
the boiled beans. Put it into a pot with the boiled pork, and barely
sufficient water to cover it. Season with pepper, and stew the whole
together till nearly dry.

TO KEEP OCHRAS AND TOMATOS.--Take ochras when they first come in
season; slice them thin; with a large needle run a strong thread
through the slices, and hang them up in your store-room in festoons. In
winter, use them for soup; boiling them till quite dissolved.

Having filled a jar two-thirds with whole tomatos, fill it quite up
with good lard; covering it closely. When wanted for use, take them out
from under the lard, and wash them in hot water.

EGGS, &c.

TO KEEP EGGS.

There is no infallible mode of ascertaining the freshness of an egg
before you break it, but unless an egg is perfectly good, it is unfit
for any purpose whatever, and will spoil whatever it is mixed with. You
may judge with tolerable accuracy of the state of an egg by holding it
against the sun or the candle, and if the yolk, as you see it through
the shell, appears round, and the white thin and clear, it is most
probably a good one; but if the yolk looks broken, and the white thick
and cloudy, the egg is certainly bad. You may try the freshness of eggs
by putting them into a pan of cold water. Those that sink the soonest
are the freshest; those that are stale or addled will float on the
surface.

There are various ways of preserving eggs. To keep them merely for
plain boiling, you may parboil them for one minute, and then bury them
in powdered charcoal with their small ends downward. They will keep a
few days in a jar of salt; but do not afterwards use the salt in which
they have been immersed.

They are frequently preserved for two or three months by greasing them
all over, when quite fresh, with melted mutton suet, and then wedging
them close together (the small end downwards) in a box of bran, layer
above layer; the box must be closely covered. Charcoal is better than
bran.

Another way (and a very good one) is to put some lime in a large
vessel, and slack it with boiling water, till it is of the consistence
of thin cream; you may allow a gallon of water to a pound of lime.
When it is cold, pour it off into a large stone jar, put in the eggs,
and cover the jar closely. See that the eggs are always well covered
with the lime-water, and lest they should break, avoid moving the jar.
If you have hens of your own, keep a jar of lime-water always ready,
and put in the eggs as they are brought in from the nests. Jars that
hold about six quarts are the most convenient.

It will be well to renew the lime-water occasionally.

TO BOIL EGGS FOR BREAKFAST.

The fresher they are the longer time they will require for boiling. If
you wish them quite soft, put them into a saucepan of water that is
boiling hard at the moment, and let them remain in it five minutes. The
longer they boil the harder they will be. In ten minutes' fast boiling
they will be hard enough for salad.

If you use one of the tin egg-boilers that are placed on the table, see
that the water is boiling hard at the time you put in the eggs. When
they have been in about four or five minutes, take them out, pour off
the water, and replace it by some more that is boiling hard; as, from
the coldness of the eggs having chilled the first water, they will
not otherwise be done enough. The boiler may then be placed on the
table, (keeping the lid closed,) and in a few minutes more they will be
sufficiently cooked to be wholesome.

TO POACH EGGS.

Pour some boiling water out of a tea-kettle through a clean cloth
spread over the top of a broad stew-pan; for by observing this process
the eggs will be nicer and more easily done than when its impurities
remain in the water. Set the pan with the strained water on hot coals,
and when it boils, break each egg separately into a saucer. Remove the
pan from the fire, and slip the eggs one by one into the surface of the
water. Let the pan stand till the white of the eggs is set; then place
it again on the coals, and as soon as the water boils again, the eggs
will be sufficiently done. Take them out carefully with an egg-slice,
and trim off all the ragged edges from the white, which should thinly
cover the yolk. Have ready some thin slices of buttered toast with the
crust cut off. Lay them in the bottom of the dish, with a poached egg
on each slice of toast, and send them to the breakfast table.

FRICASSEED EGGS.

Take a dozen eggs, and boil them six or seven minutes, or till they
are just hard enough to peel and slice without breaking. Then put them
into a pan of cold water while you prepare some grated bread-crumbs,
(seasoned with pepper, salt and nutmeg,) and beat the yolks of two
or three raw eggs very light. Take the boiled eggs out of the water,
and having peeled off the shells, slice the eggs, dust a little flour
over them, and dip them first into the beaten egg, and then into the
bread-crumbs so as to cover them well on both sides. Have ready in a
frying-pan some boiling lard; put the sliced eggs into it, and fry them
on both sides. Serve them up at the breakfast table, garnished with
small sprigs of parsley that has been fried in the same lard after the
eggs were taken out.

PLAIN OMELET.

Take six eggs, leaving out the whites of two. Beat them very light, and
strain them through a sieve. Add pepper and salt to your taste. Divide
two ounces of fresh butter into little bits, and put it into the egg.
Have ready a quarter of a pound of butter in a frying-pan, or a flat
stew-pan. Place it on hot coals, and have the butter boiling when you
put in the beaten egg. Fry it gently till of a light brown on the under
side. Do not turn it while cooking as it will do better without. You
may brown the top by holding a hot shovel over it. When done, lay it in
the dish, double it in half, and stick sprigs of curled parsley over it.

You may flavour the omelet by mixing with the beaten egg some parsley
or sweet herbs minced fine, some chopped celery, or chopped onion,
allowing two moderate sized onions to an omelet of six eggs. Or what
is still better, it may be seasoned with veal kidney or sweet-bread
minced; with cold ham shred as fine as possible; or with minced
oysters, (the hard part omitted,) with tops of asparagus (that has been
previously boiled) cut into small pieces.

You should have one of the pans that are made purposely for omelets.

AN OMELETTE SOUFFLÉ.

Break eight eggs, separate the whites from the yolks, and strain them.
Put the whites into one pan, and the yolks into another, and beat them
separately with rods till the yolks are very thick and smooth, and the
whites a stiff froth that will stand alone. Then add gradually to the
yolks, three quarters of a pound of the finest powdered loaf-sugar,
and orange-flower water or lemon-juice to your taste. Next stir the
whites lightly into the yolks. Butter a deep pan or dish (that has
been previously heated) and pour the mixture rapidly into it. Set it
in a Dutch oven with coals under it, and on the top, and bake it five
minutes. If properly beaten and mixed, and carefully baked, it will
rise very high. Send it immediately to table, or it will fall and
flatten.

Do not begin to make an omelette soufflé till the company at table have
commenced their dinner, that it may be ready to serve up just in time,
immediately on the removal of the meats. The whole must be accomplished
as quickly as possible. Send it round with a spoon.

If you live in a large town, the safest way of avoiding a failure in an
omelette soufflé is to hire a French cook to come to your kitchen with
his own utensils and ingredients, and make and bake it himself, while
the first part of the dinner is progressing in the dining-room.

An omelette soufflé is a very nice and delicate thing when properly
managed; but if flat and heavy, it should not be brought to table. If
well made, you may turn it out on a dish.

TO DRESS MACCARONI.

Have ready a pot of boiling water. Throw a little salt into it, and
then by slow degrees put in a pound of the maccaroni, a little at a
time. Keep stirring it gently, and continue to do so very often while
boiling. Take care to keep it well covered with water. Have ready a
kettle of boiling water to replenish the maccaroni pot if it should be
in danger of getting too dry. In about twenty minutes it will be done.
It must be quite soft, but it must not boil long enough to break.

When the maccaroni has boiled sufficiently, pour in immediately a
little cold water, and let it stand a few minutes, keeping it covered.

Grate half a pound of Parmesan cheese into a deep dish and scatter over
it a few small bits of butter. Then with a skimmer that is perforated
with holes, commence taking up the maccaroni, (draining it well,) and
spread a layer of it over the cheese and butter. Spread over it another
layer of grated cheese and butter, and then a layer of maccaroni, and
so on till your dish is full; having a layer of maccaroni on the top,
over which spread some butter without cheese. Cover the dish, and set
it in an oven for half an hour. It will then be ready to send to table.

You may grate some nutmeg over each layer of maccaroni.

Allow half a pound of butter to a pound of maccaroni and half a pound
of cheese.

ANOTHER WAY.

First put on the maccaroni in a very little water. Let it come to a
hard boil, and then drain off the water. Put it on again with milk
instead of water, and a large lump of butter. Boil it till quite tender
all through. Then, while hot, mix in a little cream, and add some sugar
and nutmeg, or powdered cinnamon.

PICKLING.

GENERAL REMARKS.

Never on any consideration use brass, copper, or bell-metal kettles for
pickling; the verdigris produced in them by the vinegar being of a most
poisonous nature. Kettles lined with porcelain are the best, but if
you cannot procure them, block tin may be substituted. Iron is apt to
discolour any acid that is boiled in it.

Vinegar for pickles should always be of the best cider kind. In putting
away pickles, use stone or glass jars. The lead which is an ingredient
in the glazing of common earthenware, is rendered very pernicious by
the action of the vinegar. Have a large wooden spoon and a fork, for
the express purpose of taking pickles out of the jar when you want them
for the table. See that, while in the jar, they are always completely
covered with vinegar. If you discern in them any symptoms of not
keeping well, do them over again in fresh vinegar and spice.

Vinegar for pickles should only boil five or six minutes.

The jars should be stopped with large flat corks, fitting closely, and
having a leather or a round piece of oil-cloth tied over the cork.

It is a good rule to have two-thirds of the jar filled with pickles,
and one-third with vinegar.

Alum is very useful in extracting the salt taste from pickles, and in
making them firm and crisp. A very small quantity is sufficient. Too
much will spoil them.

In greening pickles keep them very closely covered, so that none of
the steam may escape; as its retention promotes their greenness and
prevents the flavour from evaporating.

Vinegar and spice for pickles should be boiled but a few minutes. Too
much boiling takes away the strength.

TO PICKLE CUCUMBERS.

Cucumbers for pickling should be very small, and as free from spots
as possible. Make a brine of salt and water strong enough to bear an
egg. Pour it over your cucumbers, cover them with fresh cabbage leaves,
and let them stand for a week, or till they are quite yellow, stirring
them at least twice a day. When they are perfectly yellow, pour off the
water. Take a porcelain kettle, and cover the bottom and sides with
fresh vine leaves. Put in the cucumbers (with a small piece of alum)
and cover them closely with vine leaves all over the top, and then with
a dish or cloth to keep in the steam. Fill up the kettle with clear
water, and hang it over the fire when dinner is done, but not where
there is a blaze. The fire under the kettle must be kept very moderate.
The water must not boil, or be too hot to bear your hand in. Keep them
over the fire in a slow heat till next morning. If they are not then of
a fine green, repeat the process. When they are well greened, take them
out of the kettle, drain them on a sieve, and put them into a clean
stone jar. Boil for five or six minutes sufficient of the best vinegar
to cover the cucumbers well; putting into the kettle a thin muslin bag
filled with cloves, mace, and mustard seed. Pour the vinegar scalding
hot into the jar of pickles, which should be secured with a large flat
cork, and an oil-cloth or leather cover tied over it.

Another way to green pickles is to cover them with vine leaves or
cabbage leaves, and to keep them on a warm hearth, pouring boiling
water on them five or six times a day; renewing the water as soon as it
becomes cold.

In proportioning the spice to the vinegar, allow to every two quarts,
an ounce of mace, two dozen cloves, and two ounces of mustard seed.
You may leave the muslin bag, with the spice, for about a week in the
pickle jar to heighten the flavour, if you think it necessary.

GREEN PEPPERS--May be done in the same manner as cucumbers, only
extracting the seeds before you put the pickles into the salt and
water. Do not put peppers into the same jar with cucumbers, as the
former will destroy the latter.

GHERKINS.--The gherkin is a small thick oval-shaped species of cucumber
with a hairy or prickly surface, and is cultivated solely for pickling.
It is customary to let the stems remain on them. Wipe them dry, put
them into a broad stone jar, and scald them five or six times in the
course of the day with salt and water strong enough to bear an egg, and
let them set all night. This will make them yellow. Next day, having
drained them from the salt and water, throw it out, wipe them dry, put
them into a clean vessel (with a little piece of alum,) and scald them
with boiling vinegar and water, (half and half of each,) repeating it
frequently during the day till they are green. Keep them as closely
covered as possible. Then put them away in stone jars, mixing among
them whole mace and sliced ginger to your taste. Fill up with cold
vinegar, and add a little alum, allowing to every hundred gherkins a
piece about the size of a shelled almond.

The alum will make them firm and crisp.

RADISH PODS.--Gather sprigs or bunches of radish pods while they are
young and tender, but let the pods remain on the sprigs; it not being
the custom to pick them off. Put them into strong salt and water, and
let them stand two days. Then drain and wipe them and put them into a
clean stone jar. Boil an equal quantity of vinegar and water. Pour it
over the radish pods while hot, and cover them closely to keep in the
steam. Repeat this frequently through the day till they are very green.
Then pour off the vinegar and water, and boil for five minutes some
very good vinegar, with a little bit of alum, and pour it over them.
Put them into a stone jar, (and having added some whole mace, whole
pepper, a little tumeric and a little sweet oil,) cork it closely, and
tie over it a leather or oil-cloth.

GREEN BEANS.--Take young green or French beans; string them, but do not
cut them in pieces. Put them in salt and water for two days, stirring
them frequently. Then put them into a kettle with vine or cabbage
leaves under, over, and all round them, (adding a little piece of
alum.) Cover them closely to keep in the steam, and let them hang over
a slow fire till they are a fine green.

Having drained them in a sieve, make for them a pickle of cider
vinegar, and boil in it for five minutes, some mace, whole pepper, and
sliced ginger tied up in a thin muslin bag. Pour it hot upon the beans,
put them into a stone jar, and tie them up.

PARSLEY.--Make a brine of salt and water strong enough to bear an egg,
and throw into it a large quantity of curled parsley tied up in little
bunches with a thread. After it has stood three days (stirring it
frequently) take it out drain it well, and lay it for three days in
cold spring or pump-water, changing the water daily. Then scald it in
hard water, and hang it, well covered, over a slow fire till it becomes
green. Afterwards take it out, and drain and press it till quite dry.

Boil for five minutes a quart of cider vinegar with a small bit of
alum, a few blades of mace, a sliced nutmeg, and a few slips of
horseradish. Pour it on the parsley, and put it away in a stone jar.

MANGOES.

Take very young oval shaped musk-melons. Cut a round piece out of the
top or side of each, (saving the piece to put on again,) and extract
the seeds. Then (having tied on the pieces with packthread) put them
into strong salt and water for two days. Afterwards drain and wipe
them, put them into a kettle with vine leaves or cabbage leaves under
and over them, and a little piece of alum, and hang them on a slow fire
to green; keeping them closely covered to retain the steam, which will
greatly accelerate the greening. When they are quite green, have ready
the stuffing, which must be a mixture of scraped horseradish, white
mustard seed, mace and nutmeg pounded, race ginger cut small, pepper,
tumeric and sweet oil. Fill your mangoes with this mixture, putting
a small clove of garlic into each, and replacing the pieces at the
openings; tie them with a packthread crossing backwards and forwards
round the mango. Put them into stone jars, pour boiling vinegar over
them, and cover them well. Before you put them on the table remove the
packthread.

NASTURTIANS.--Have ready a stone or glass jar of the best cold vinegar.
Take the green seeds of the nasturtian after the flower has gone off.
They should be full-grown but not old. Pick off the stems, and put the
seeds into the vinegar. No other preparation is necessary, and they
will keep a year with nothing more than sufficient cold vinegar to
cover them. With boiled mutton they are an excellent substitute for
capers.

MORELLA CHERRIES.--See that all your cherries are perfect. Remove the
stems, and put the cherries into a jar or glass with sufficient vinegar
to cover them well. They will keep perfectly in a cool dry place.

They are very good, always retaining the taste of the cherry. If you
cannot procure morellas, the large red pie-cherries may be substituted.

PEACHES.--Take fine large peaches (either cling or free stones) that
are not too ripe. Wipe off the down with a clean flannel, and put the
peaches whole into a stone jar. Cover them with cold vinegar of the
best kind, in which you have dissolved a little of salt, allowing a
tea-spoonful to a quart of vinegar. Put a cork in the jar and tie
leather or oil-cloth over it.

Plums and grapes may be pickled thus in cold vinegar, but without salt.

BARBERRIES.--Have ready a jar of cold vinegar, and put into it ripe
barberries in bunches. They make a pretty garnish for the edges of
dishes.

TO PICKLE GREEN PEPPERS.

The bell pepper is the best for pickling, and should be gathered when
quite young. Slit one side, and carefully take out the core, so as not
to injure the shell of the pepper. Then put them into boiling salt and
water, changing the water every day for one week, and keeping them
closely covered in a warm place near the fire. Stir them several times
a day. They will first become yellow, and then green. When they are a
fine green put them into a jar, and pour cold vinegar over them, adding
a small piece of alum.

They require no spice.

You may stuff the peppers as you do mangoes.

TO PICKLE BUTTERNUTS.

These nuts are in the best state for pickling when the shell is soft,
and when they are so young that the outer skin can be penetrated by the
head of a pin. They should be gathered when the sun is hot upon them.

If you have a large quantity, the easiest way to prepare them for
pickling is to put them into a tub with sufficient lye to cover them,
and to stir and rub them about with a hickory broom till they are clean
and smooth on the outside. This is much less trouble than scraping
them, and is not so likely to injure the nuts. Another method is to
scald them, and then to rub off the outer skin. Put the nuts into
strong salt and water for one week; changing the water every other
day, and keeping them closely covered from the air. Then drain and
wipe them, (piercing each nut through in several places with a large
needle,) and prepare the pickle as follows:--For a hundred large nuts,
take of black pepper and ginger root of each an ounce; and of cloves,
mace and nutmeg of each a half ounce. Pound all the spices to powder,
and mix them well together, adding two large spoonfuls of mustard seed.
Put the nuts into jars, (having first stuck each of them through in
several places with a large needle,) strewing the powdered seasoning
between every layer of nuts. Boil for five minutes a gallon of the very
best cider vinegar, and pour it boiling hot upon the nuts. Secure the
jars closely with corks and leathers. You may begin to eat the nuts in
a fortnight.

Walnuts may be pickled in the same manner.

TO PICKLE WALNUTS BLACK.

The walnuts should be gathered while young and soft, (so that you can
easily run a pin through them,) and when the sun is upon them. Rub them
with a coarse flannel or tow cloth to get off the fur of the outside.
Mix salt and water strong enough to bear an egg, and let them lie in
it a week, (changing it every two days,) and stirring them frequently.
Then take them out, drain them, spread them on large dishes, and expose
them to the air about ten minutes, which will cause them to blacken
the sooner. Scald them in boiling water, (but do not let them lie in
it,) and then rub them with a coarse woollen cloth, and pierce every
one through in several places with a large needle, (that the pickle
may penetrate them thoroughly.) Put them into stone jars, and prepare
the spice and vinegar. To a hundred walnuts allow a gallon of vinegar,
an ounce of cloves, an ounce of allspice, an ounce of black pepper,
half an ounce of mace, and half an ounce of nutmeg. Boil the spice in
the vinegar for fifteen minutes, then strain the vinegar, and pour it
boiling hot over the walnuts. Tie up in a thin muslin rag, a tea-cupful
of mustard seed, and a large table-spoonful of scraped horse-radish,
and put it into the jars with the walnuts. Cover them closely with
corks and leathers.

Another way of pickling walnuts black, is (after preparing them as
above) to put them into jars with the spices pounded and strewed among
them, and then to pour over them strong cold vinegar.

WALNUTS PICKLED WHITE.--Take large young walnuts while their shells are
quite soft so that you can stick the head of a pin into them. Pare them
very thin till the white appears; and as you do them, throw them into
spring or pump water in which some salt has been dissolved. Let them
stand in that water six hours, with a thin board upon them to keep them
down under the water. Fill a porcelain kettle with fresh spring water,
and set it over a clear fire, or on a charcoal furnace. Put the walnuts
into the kettle, cover it, and let them simmer (but not boil) for about
ten minutes. Then have ready a vessel with cold spring water and salt,
and put your nuts into it, taking them out of the kettle with a wooden
ladle. Let them stand in the cold salt and water for a quarter of an
hour, with the board keeping them down as before; for if they rise
above the liquor, or are exposed to the air, they will be discoloured.
Then take them out, and lay them on a cloth covered with another, till
they are quite dry. Afterwards rub them carefully with a soft flannel,
and put them into a stone jar; laying among them blades of mace, and
sliced nutmeg, but no dark-coloured spice. Pour over them the very best
vinegar, and put on the top a table-spoonful of sweet oil.

WALNUTS PICKLED GREEN.--Gather them while the shells are very soft,
and rub them all with a flannel. Then wrap them singly in vine leaves,
lay a few vine leaves on the bottom of a large stone jar, put in the
walnuts, (seeing that each of them is well wrapped up so as not to
touch one another,) and cover them with a thick layer of leaves. Fill
up the jar with strong vinegar, cover it closely, and let it stand
three weeks. Then pour off the vinegar, take out the walnuts, renew
all the vine leaves, fill up with fresh vinegar, and let them stand
three weeks longer. Then again pour off the vinegar, and renew the vine
leaves. This time take the best cider vinegar; put salt in it till
it will bear an egg and add to it mace, sliced nutmeg, and scraped
horse-radish, in the proportion of an ounce of each and a gallon of
vinegar to a hundred walnuts. Boil the spice and vinegar about ten
minutes, and then pour it, hot on the walnuts. Cover the jar closely
with a cork and leather, and set it away, leaving the vine leaves with
the walnuts. When you take any out for use, disturb the others as
little as possible, and do not put back again any that may be left.

You may pickle butternuts green in the same manner.

TO PICKLE ONIONS.

Take very small onions, and with a sharp knife cut off the stems as
close as possible, and peel off the outer skin. Then put them into
salt and water, and let them stand in the brine for six days; stirring
them daily, and changing the salt and water every two days. See that
they are closely covered. Then put the onions into jars, and give them
a scald in boiling salt and water. Let them stand till they are cold:
then drain them on a sieve, wipe them, stick a clove in the top of
each, and put them into wide-mouthed bottles; dispersing among them
some blades of mace and slices of ginger or nutmeg. Fill up the bottles
with the best cider vinegar, and put at the top a large spoonful of
salad oil. Cork the bottles well.

ONIONS PICKLED WHITE.--Peel some very small white onions, and lay them
for three days in salt and water, changing the water every day. Then
wipe them, and put them into a porcelain kettle with equal quantities
of milk and water, sufficient to cover them well. Simmer them over a
slow fire, but when just ready to boil take them off, and drain and
dry them, and put them into wide-mouthed glass bottles; interspersing
them with blades of mace. Boil a sufficient quantity of the best cider
vinegar to cover them and fill up the bottles, adding to it a little
salt; and when it is cold, pour it into the bottles of onions. At the
top of each bottle put a spoonful of sweet oil. Set them away closely
corked.

TO PICKLE MUSHROOMS WHITE.

Take small fresh-gathered button mushrooms, peel them carefully with
a penknife, and cut off the stems; throwing the mushrooms into salt
and water as you do them. Then put them into a porcelain skillet of
fresh water, cover it closely, and set it over a quick fire. Boil it
as fast as possible for seven or eight minutes, not more. Take out
the mushrooms, drain them, and spread them on a clean board, with the
bottom or hollow side of each mushroom turned downwards. Do this as
quickly as possible, and immediately, while they are hot, sprinkle them
over with salt. When they are cold, put them into a glass jar with
slight layers of mace and sliced ginger. Fill up the jar with cold
cider vinegar. Put a spoonful of sweet oil on the top of each jar, and
cork it closely.

MUSHROOMS PICKLED BROWN.--Take a quart of large mushrooms and (having
trimmed off the stalks) rub them with a flannel cloth dipped in salt.
Then lay them in a pan of allegar or ale vinegar, for a quarter of an
hour, and wash them about in it. Then put them into a sauce-pan with a
quart of allegar, a quarter of an ounce of cloves, the same of allspice
and whole pepper, and a tea-spoonful of salt. Set the pan over coals,
and let the mushrooms stew slowly for ten minutes, keeping the pan well
covered. Then take them off, let them get cold by degrees, and put them
into small bottles with the allegar strained from the spice and poured
upon them.

It will be prudent to boil an onion with the mushrooms, and if it turns
black or blueish, you may infer that there is a poisonous one among
them; and they should therefore be thrown away. Stir them for the same
reason, with a silver spoon.

TO PICKLE TOMATAS.

Take a peck of tomatas, (the small round ones are best for pickling,)
and prick every one with a fork. Put them into a broad stone or earthen
vessel, and sprinkle salt between every layer of tomatas. Cover them,
and let them remain two days in the salt. Then put them into vinegar
and water mixed in equal quantities, half and half, and keep them in it
twenty-four hours to draw out the saltness. There must be sufficient of
the liquid to cover the tomatas well.

To a peck of tomatas allow a bottle of mustard, half an ounce of
cloves, and half an ounce of pepper, with a dozen onions sliced
thin. Pack the tomatas in a stone jar, placing the spices and onions
alternately with the layers of tomatas. Put them in till the jar is
two-thirds full. Then fill it up with strong cold vinegar, and stop it
closely. The pickles will be fit to eat in a fortnight. If you do not
like onions, substitute for them a larger quantity of spice.

TOMATA SOY.--For this purpose you must have the best and ripest
tomatas, and they must be gathered on a dry day. Do not peel them, but
merely cut them into slices. Having strewed some salt over the bottom
of a tub, put in the tomatas in layers; sprinkling between each layer
(which should be about two inches in thickness) a handful of salt.
Repeat this till you have put in eight quarts or one peck of tomatas.
Cover the tub and let it set for three days. Then early in the morning,
put the tomatas into a large porcelain kettle, and boil it slowly
and steadily till ten at night, frequently mashing and stirring the
tomatas. Then put it out to cool. Next morning strain and press it
through a sieve, and when no more liquid will pass through, put it into
a clean kettle with two ounces of cloves, one ounce of mace, two ounces
of black pepper, and two table-spoonfuls of cayenne, all powdered.

Again let it boil slowly and steadily all day, and put it to cool in
the evening in a large pan. Cover it, and let it set all night. Next
day put it into small bottles, securing the corks by dipping them in
melted rosin, and tying leathers over them.

If made exactly according to these directions, and slowly and
thoroughly boiled, it will keep for years in a cool dry place, and may
be used for many purposes when fresh tomatas are not to be had.

TO PICKLE CAULIFLOWERS.

Take the whitest and closest full-grown cauliflowers; cut off the thick
stalk, and split the blossom or flower part into eight or ten pieces.
Spread them on a large dish, sprinkle them with salt, and let them
stand twenty-four hours. Then wash off the salt, drain them, put them
into a broad flat jar or pan, scald them with salt and water, (allowing
a quarter of a pound of salt to a quart of water,) cover them closely
and let them stand in the brine till next day. Afterwards drain them
in a hair sieve, and spread them on a cloth in a warm place to dry
for a day and a night. Then put them carefully, piece by piece, into
clean broad jars and pour over them a pickle which has been prepared
as follows:--Mix together three ounces of coriander seed, three ounces
of turmeric, one ounce of mustard seed, and one ounce of ginger. Pound
the whole in a mortar to a fine powder. Put it into three quarts of
the very best cider vinegar, set it by the side of the fire in a
stone jar, and let it infuse three days. These are the proportions,
but the quantity of the whole pickle must depend on the quantity of
cauliflower, which must be kept well covered by the liquid. Pour it
over the cauliflower, and secure the jars closely from the air.

You may pickle brocoli in the same manner. Also the green tops of
asparagus.

TO PICKLE RED CABBAGE.

Take a fine firm cabbage of a deep red or purple colour. Strip off the
outer leaves, and cut out the stalk. Quarter the cabbage lengthways,
and then slice it crossways. Lay it in a deep dish, sprinkle a handful
of salt over it, cover it with another dish, and let it lie twenty-four
hours. Then drain it in a cullender from the salt, and wipe it dry.
Make a pickle of sufficient cider vinegar to cover the cabbage well,
adding to it equal quantities of cloves and allspice, with some mace.
The spices must be put in whole, with a little cochineal to give it a
good red colour. Boil the vinegar and spices hard for five minutes,
and having put the cabbage into a stone jar, pour the vinegar over it
boiling hot. Cover the jar with a cloth till it gets cold; and then put
in a large cork, and tie a leather over it.

EXCELLENT COLD SLAW.

Take a nice fresh white cabbage, wash, and drain it, and cut off the
stalk. Shave down the head evenly and nicely into very small shreds,
with a cabbage-cutter, or a sharp knife. Put it into a deep china dish,
and prepare for it the following dressing. Take a large half-pint of
the best cider vinegar, and mix with it a quarter of a pound of fresh
butter, divided into four bits, and rolled in flour; a small salt-spoon
of salt, and the same quantity of cayenne. Stir all this well together,
and boil it in a small saucepan. Have ready the yolks of four eggs well
beaten. As soon as the mixture has come to a hard boil, take it off the
fire, and stir in the beaten egg. Then pour it boiling hot over the
shred cabbage, and mix it well, all through, with a spoon. Set it to
cool on ice or snow, or in the open air. It must be quite cold before
it goes to table.

WARM SLAW.--Take a red cabbage; wash, drain, and shred it finely.
Put it into a deep dish. Cover it closely, and set it on the top of
a stove, or in a bake oven, till it is warm all through. Then make a
dressing as in the receipt for cold slaw. Pour it hot over the cabbage.
Cover the dish, and send it to table as warm as possible.

EAST INDIA PICKLE.

This is a mixture of various things pickled together, and put into the
same jar.

Have ready a small white cabbage, sliced, and the stalk removed; a
cauliflower cut into neat branches, leaving out the large stalk; sliced
cucumbers; sliced carrots; sliced beets, (all nicked round the edges;)
button-onions; string-beans; radish pods; barberries; cherries; green
grapes; nasturtians; capsicums; bell-peppers, &c. Sprinkle all these
things with salt, put them promiscuously into a large earthen pan, and
pour scalding salt and water over them. Let them lie in the brine for
four days, turning them all over every day. Then take them out, wash
each thing separately in vinegar, and wipe them carefully in a cloth.
Afterwards lay them on sieves before the fire, and dry them thoroughly.

For the pickle liquor.--To every two quarts of the best vinegar, put
an ounce and a half of white ginger root, scraped and sliced; the same
of long pepper; two ounces of peeled shalots, or little button-onions,
cut in pieces; half an ounce of peeled garlic; an ounce of turmeric;
and two ounces of mustard seed bruised, or of mustard powder. Let
all these ingredients, mixed with the vinegar, infuse in a close jar
for a week, setting in a warm place, or by the fire. Then (after the
vegetables have been properly prepared, and dried from the brine) put
them all into one large stone jar, or into smaller jars, and strain
the pickle over them. The liquid must be in a large quantity, so as
to keep the vegetables well covered with it, or they will spoil. Put
a table-spoonful of sweet oil on the top of each jar, and secure them
well with a large cork and a leather.

If you find that after awhile the vegetables have absorbed the liquor,
so that there is danger of their not having a sufficiency, prepare some
more seasoned vinegar and pour it over them.

East India pickle is very convenient, and will keep two years. As
different vegetables come into season, you can prepare them with the
salt and water process, and add them to the things already in the jar.
You may put small mangoes into this pickle; also plums, peaches and
apricots.

TO PICKLE OYSTERS FOR KEEPING.

For this purpose take none but the finest and largest oysters. After
they are opened, separate them from their liquor, and put them into a
bucket or a large pan, and pour boiling water upon them to take out the
slime. Stir them about in it, and then take them out, and rinse them
well in cold water. Then put them into a large kettle with fresh water,
barely enough to cover them, (mixing with it a table-spoonful of salt
to every hundred oysters,) and give them a boil up, just sufficient to
plump them. Take them out, spread them on large dishes or on a clean
table, and cover them with a cloth. Take the liquor of the oysters, and
with every pint of it mix a quart of the best vinegar, a table-spoonful
of salt, a table-spoonful of whole cloves, the same of whole black
pepper, and a tea-spoonful of whole mace. Put the liquid over the fire
in a kettle, and when it boils throw in the oysters, and let them
remain in it five minutes. Then take the whole off the fire, stir it
up well, and let it stand to get quite cold. Afterwards (if you have a
large quantity) put it into a keg, which must first be well scalded,
(a new keg is best,) and fill it as full as it can hold. Do not put a
weight on the oysters to keep them down in the liquor, as it will crush
them to pieces if the keg should be moved or conveyed to a distance. If
you have not enough to fill a keg, put them into stone jars when they
are perfectly cold, and cover them securely.

For pickling oysters and all other purposes use only the best cider
vinegar. The sharp pungent vinegar made entirely of chemical substances
will destroy the oysters, and is too unwholesome for any culinary
purpose. No one should purchase it. It may be known by its excessive
sharpness; being violently pungent without any pleasant flavour.

SWEETMEATS.

GENERAL REMARKS.

The introduction of iron ware lined with porcelain has fortunately
almost superseded the use of brass or bell-metal kettles for
boiling sweetmeats; a practice by which the articles prepared in
those pernicious utensils were always more or less imbued with the
deleterious qualities of the verdigris that is produced in them by the
action of acids.

Charcoal furnaces will be found very convenient for preserving; the
kettles being set on the top. They can be used in the open air.
Sweetmeats should be boiled rather quickly, that the watery particles
may exhale at once, without being subjected to so long a process as
to spoil the colour and diminish the flavour of the fruit. But on the
other hand, if boiled too short a time they will not keep so well.

If you wish your sweetmeats to look bright and clear, use only the very
best loaf-sugar. Fruit may be preserved for family use and for common
purposes, in sugar of inferior quality, but it will never have a good
appearance, and it is also more liable to spoil.

If too small a proportion of sugar is allowed to the fruit, it will
_certainly_ not keep well. When this experiment is tried it is
generally found to be false economy; as sweetmeats, when they begin
to spoil, can only be recovered and made eatable by boiling them over
again with additional sugar; and even then, they are never so good as
if done properly at first. If jellies have not sufficient sugar, they
do not congeal, but will remain liquid.

Jelly bags should be made of white flannel. It is well to have a wooden
stand or frame like a towel horse, to which the bag can be tied while
it is dripping. The bag should first be dipped in hot water, for if dry
it will absorb too much of the juice. After the liquor is all in, close
the top of the bag, that none of the flavour may evaporate.

In putting away sweetmeats, it is best to place them in small jars, as
the more frequently they are exposed to the air by opening, the more
danger there is of their spoiling. The best vessels for this purpose
are white queen's-ware pots, or glass jars. For jellies, jams, and for
small fruit, common glass tumblers are very convenient, and may be
covered simply with double tissue-paper, cut exactly to fit the inside
of the top of the glass, laid lightly on the sweetmeat, and pressed
down all round with the finger. This covering, if closely and nicely
fitted, will be found to keep them perfectly well, and as it adheres
so closely as to form a complete coat over the top, it is better for
jellies or jams than writing-paper dipped in brandy, which is always
somewhat shrivelled by the liquor with which it has been saturated.

If you find that your sweetmeats have become dry and candied, you may
liquefy them again by setting the jars in water and making it boil
round them.

In preserving fruit whole, it is best to put it first in a thin syrup.
If boiled in a thick syrup at the beginning, the juice will be drawn
out so as to shrink the fruit.

It is better to boil it but a short time at once, and then to take it
out and let it get cold, afterwards returning it to the syrup, than to
keep it boiling too long at a time, which will cause it to break and
lose its shape.

Preserving kettles should be rather broad than deep, for the fruit
cannot be done equally if it is too much heaped. They should all have
covers belonging to them, to put on after the scum has done rising,
that the flavour of the fruit may be kept in with the steam.

A perforated skimmer pierced all through with holes is a very necessary
utensil in making sweetmeats.

The water used for melting the sugar should be very clear; spring or
pump water is best. But if you are obliged to use river water, let it
first be filtered. Any turbidness or impurity in the water will injure
the clearness of the sweetmeats.

If sweetmeats ferment in the jars, boil them over again with additional
sugar.

CLARIFIED SUGAR SYRUP.

Take eight pounds of the best double-refined loaf-sugar and break it
up or powder it. Then beat the whites of four eggs to a strong froth.
Stir the white of egg gradually into two quarts of very clear spring or
pump water. Put the sugar into a porcelain kettle, and mix with it the
water and white of egg. While the sugar is melting, stir it frequently;
and when it is entirely dissolved, put the kettle over a moderate fire,
and let it boil, carefully taking off the scum as it comes to the top,
and pouring in a little cold water when you find the syrup rising so
as to run over the edge of the kettle. It will be well when it first
boils hard to pour in half a pint of cold water to keep down the
bubbles so that the scum may appear, and be easily removed. You must
not however boil it to candy height, so that the bubbles will look like
hard pearls, and the syrup will harden in the spoon and hang from it in
strings; for though very thick and clear it must continue liquid. When
it is done, let it stand till it gets quite cold; and if you do not
want it for immediate use, put it into bottles and seal the corks.

When you wish to use this syrup for preserving, you have only to put
the fruit into it, and boil it till tender and clear, but not till it
breaks. Large fruit that is done whole, should first be boiled tender
in a very thin syrup that it may not shrink. Small fruit, such as
raspberries, strawberries, grapes, currants, gooseberries, &c. may, if
perfectly ripe, be put raw into strong cold sugar syrup; they will thus
retain their form and colour, and their freshness and natural taste.
They must be put into small glass jars, and kept well covered with the
syrup. This, however, is an experiment which sometimes fails, and had
best be tried on a small scale, or only for immediate use.

TO PRESERVE GINGER.

Take root of green ginger, and pare it neatly with a sharp knife,
throwing it into a pan of cold water as you pare it. Then boil it till
tender all through, changing the water three times. Each time put on
the ginger in quite cold water to take out the excessive heat. When
it is perfectly tender, throw it again into a pan of cold water, and
let it lie an hour or more; this will make it crisp. In the mean time
prepare the syrup.

For every six pounds of ginger root, clarify eight pounds of the best
double-refined loaf-sugar. Break up the sugar, put it into a preserving
kettle, and melt it in spring or pump water, (into which you have
stirred gradually the beaten whites of four eggs,) and half a pint
of water to each pound of sugar. Boil and skim it well. Then let the
syrup stand till it is cold; and having drained the ginger, pour the
syrup over it, cover it, and do not disturb it for two days. Then,
having poured it from the ginger, boil the syrup over again. As soon
as it is cold, pour it again on the ginger, and let it stand at least
three days. Afterwards boil the syrup again, and pour it _hot_ over
the ginger. Proceed in this manner till you find that the syrup has
thoroughly penetrated the ginger, (which you may ascertain by its taste
and appearance when you cut a piece off,) and till the syrup becomes
very thick and rich. Then put it all into jars, and cover it closely.

If you put the syrup hot to the ginger at first, it will shrink and
shrivel. After the first time, you have only to boil and reboil
the syrup; as it is not probable that it will require any further
clarifying if carefully skimmed. It will be greatly improved by adding
some lemon-juice at the close of the last boiling.

TO PRESERVE CITRONS.

Pare off the outer skin of some fine citrons, and cut them into
quarters. Take out the middle. You may divide each quarter into
several pieces. Lay them for four or five hours in salt and water.
Take them out, and then soak them in spring or pump water (changing
it frequently) till all the saltness is extracted, and till the last
water tastes perfectly fresh. Boil a small lump of alum, and scald them
in the alum-water. It must be very weak, or it will communicate an
unpleasant taste to the citrons; a lump the size of a hickory nut will
suffice for six pounds. Afterwards simmer them two hours with layers of
green vine leaves. Then make a syrup, with half a pint of water to each
pound of loaf-sugar; boil and skim it well. When it is quite clear,
put in the citrons, and boil them slowly, till they are so soft that a
straw will pierce through them without breaking. Afterwards put them
into a large dish, and set them in the sun to harden.

Prepare some lemons, by paring off the yellow rind very thin, and
cutting it into slips of uniform size and shape. Lay the lemon-rind in
scalding water, to extract the bitterness. Then take the pared lemons,
cut them into quarters, measure a half pint of water to each lemon,
and boil them to a mash. Strain the boiled lemon through a sieve,
and to each pint of liquid allow a pound of the best double-refined
loaf-sugar, for the second syrup. Melt the sugar in the liquid, and
stir into it gradually some beaten white of egg; allowing one white to
four pounds of sugar. Then set it over the fire; put the lemon-peel
into the syrup, and let it boil in it till quite soft.

Put the citrons cold into a glass jar, and pour the hot syrup over
them. Let the lemon remain with the citrons, as it will improve their
flavour.

If you wish the citrons to be candied, boil down the second syrup to
candy height, (that is, till it hangs in strings from the spoon,) and
pour it over the citrons. Keep them well covered.

You may, if you choose, after you take the citrons from the alum-water,
give them a boil in very weak ginger tea, made of the roots of green
ginger if you can procure it; if not, of race ginger. Powdered ginger
will not do at all. This ginger tea will completely eradicate any
remaining taste of the salt or the alum. Afterwards cover the sides and
bottom of the pan with vine leaves, put a layer of leaves between each
layer of citron, and cover the top with leaves. Simmer the citrons in
this two hours to green them.

In the same manner you may preserve water-melon rind, or the rind of
cantelopes. Cut these rinds into stars, diamonds, crescents, circles,
or into any fanciful shape you choose. Be sure to pare off the outside
skin before you put the rinds into the salt and water.

Pumpkin cut into slips, may be preserved according to the above
receipt.

CANTELOPES OR MUSK-MELONS.--Take very small cantelopes before they are
ripe. Shave a thin paring off the whole outside. Cut out a small piece
or plug about an inch square, and through it extract all the seeds, &c.
from the middle. Then return the plugs to the hole from whence you took
them, and secure them with a needle and thread, or by tying a small
string round the cantelope.

Lay the cantelopes for four or five hours in salt and water. Then put
them into spring water to extract the salt, changing the water till you
find it salt no longer. Scald them in weak alum-water. Make a syrup in
the proportion of a pint of water to a pound of loaf-sugar, and boil
the cantelopes in it till a straw will go through them. Then take them
out, and set them in the sun to harden.

Prepare some fine ripe oranges, paring off the yellow rind very thin,
and cutting it into slips, and then laying it in scalding water to
extract the bitterness. Cut the oranges into pieces; allow a pint of
water to each orange, and boil them to a pulp. Afterwards strain them,
and allow to each pint of the liquid, a pound of the best loaf-sugar,
and stir in a little beaten white of egg; one white to two pounds of
sugar. This is for the second syrup. Boil the peel in it, skimming it
well. When the peel is soft, take it all out; for if left among the
cantelopes, it will communicate to it too strong a taste of the orange.

Put the cantelopes into your jars, and pour over them the hot syrup.
Cover them closely, and keep them in a dry cool place.

Large cantelopes may be prepared for preserving (after you have taken
off the outer rind) by cutting them into pieces according to the
natural divisions with which they are fluted.

This receipt for preserving cantelopes whole, will do very well for
green lemons or limes, substituting lemon-peel and lemon-juice for that
of oranges in the second syrup.

You may use some of the first syrup to boil up the pulp of the orange
or lemons that has been left. It will make a sort of marmalade, that is
very good for colds.

PRESERVED WATER-MELON RIND.--Having pared off the green skin, cut the
rind of a water-melon into pieces of any shape you please; stars,
diamonds, circles, crescents or leaves, using for the purpose a sharp
penknife. Weigh the pieces, and allow to each pound a pound and a half
of loaf sugar. Set the sugar aside, and put the pieces of melon-rind
into a preserving kettle, the bottom and sides of which you have lined
with green vine leaves. Put a layer of vine leaves between each layer
of melon-rind, and cover the top with leaves. Disperse among the pieces
some very small bits of alum, each about the bigness of a grain of
corn, and allowing one bit to every pound of the melon-rind. Pour in
just water enough to cover the whole, and place a thick double cloth
(or some other covering) over the top of the kettle to keep in the
steam, which will improve the greening. Let it simmer (but not boil)
for two hours. Then take out the pieces of melon-rind and spread them
on dishes to cool. Afterwards if you find that they taste of the alum,
simmer them in very weak ginger tea for about three hours. Then proceed
to make your syrup. Melt the sugar in clear spring or pump water,
allowing a pint of water to a pound and a half of sugar, and mixing in
with it some white of egg beaten to a stiff froth. The white of one egg
will be enough for two pounds of sugar. Boil and skim it; and when the
scum ceases to rise, put in the melon-rind, and let it simmer an hour.
Take it out and spread it to cool on dishes, return it to the syrup,
and simmer it another hour. After this take it out, and put it into a
tureen. Boil up the syrup again, and pour it over the melon-rind. Cover
it, and let it stand all night. Next morning give the syrup another
boil; adding to it some lemon-juice, allowing the juice of one lemon to
a quart of the syrup. When you find it so thick as to hang in a drop on
the point of the spoon, it is sufficiently done. Then put the rind into
glass jars, pour in the syrup, and secure the sweetmeats closely from
the air with paper dipped in brandy, and a leather outer cover.

This, if carefully done and well greened, is a very nice sweetmeat, and
may be used to ornament the top of creams, jellies, jams. &c. laying it
round in rings or wreaths.

Citrons may be preserved green in the same manner, first paring off the
outer skin and cutting them into quarters. Also green limes.

PRESERVED PEPPERS.--For this purpose take the small round peppers while
they are green. With a sharp penknife extract the seeds and cores; and
then put the outsides into a kettle with vine leaves, and a little
alum to give them firmness, and assist in keeping them green. Proceed
precisely as directed for the water-melon rind, in the above receipt.

PUMPKIN CHIPS.--It is best to defer making this sweetmeat (which will
be found very fine) till late in the season when lemons are ripe and
are to be had in plenty. Pumpkins (as they keep well) can generally be
procured at any time through the winter.

Take a fine pumpkin of a rich deep colour, pare off the outer rind;
remove the seeds; and having sliced the best part, cut it into chips
of equal size, and as thin as you can do them. They should be in long
narrow pieces, two inches in breadth, and four in length. It is best
to prepare the pumpkin the day before; and having weighed the chips,
allow to each pound of them a pound of the best loaf-sugar. You must
have several dozen of fine ripe lemons, sufficient to furnish a jill
of lemon-juice to each pound of pumpkin. Having rolled them under
your hand on a table, to make them yield as much juice as possible,
pare off the yellow rind and put it away for some other purpose. Then
having cut the lemons, squeeze out all the juice into a pitcher. Lay
the pumpkin chips in a large pan or tureen, strewing the sugar among
them. Then having measured the lemon-juice in a wine-glass, (two common
wine-glasses making one jill,) pour it over the pumpkin and sugar,
cover the vessel, and let it stand all night.

Next day transfer the pumpkin, sugar, and lemon-juice to a preserving
kettle, and boil it slowly for an hour or more, or till the pumpkin
becomes all through tender, crisp, and transparent; but it must not be
over the fire long enough to break and lose its form. You must skim it
thoroughly. Some very small pieces of the lemon-paring may be boiled
with it. When you think it is done, take up the pumpkin chips in a
perforated skimmer that the syrup may drain through the holes back into
the kettle. Spread the chips to cool on large dishes, and pass the
syrup through a flannel bag that has been first dipped in hot water.
When the chips are cold, put them into glass jars or tumblers, pour in
the syrup, and lay on the top white paper dipped in brandy. Then tie up
the jars with leather, or with covers of thick white paper.

If you find that when cold the chips are not perfectly clear, crisp,
and tender, give them another boil in the syrup before you put them up.

This, if well made, is a handsome and excellent sweetmeat. It need not
be eaten with cream, the syrup being so delicious as to require nothing
to improve it. Shells of puff-paste first baked empty, and then filled
with pumpkin chips, will be found very nice.

Musk-melon chips may be done in the same manner.

TO PRESERVE PINE-APPLES.--Take fine large pine-apples; pare them, and
cut off a small round piece from the bottom of each; let the freshest
and best of the top leaves remain on. Have ready on a slow fire, a
large preserving kettle with a thin syrup barely sufficient to cover
the fruit. In making this syrup allow a pound of fine loaf-sugar to
every quart of water, and half the white of a beaten egg; all to be
mixed before it goes on the fire. Then boil and skim it, and when the
scum ceases to rise, put in the pine-apples, and simmer them slowly an
hour. Then take them out to cool, cover them carefully and put them
away till next day; saving the syrup in another vessel. Next day, put
them into the same syrup, and simmer them again an hour. On the third
day, repeat the process. The fourth day, make a strong fresh syrup,
allowing but a pint of water to each pound of sugar, and to every two
pounds the beaten white of one egg. When this syrup has boiled, and is
completely skimmed, put in the pine-apples, and simmer them half an
hour. Then take them out to cool, and set them aside till next morning.
Boil them again half an hour in the same syrup, and repeat this for
seven or eight days, or till you can pierce through the pine-apple with
a straw from a corn-broom. At the last of these boilings enrich the
syrup by allowing to each pound of sugar a quarter of a pound more;
and, having boiled and skimmed it, put in the pine apples for half an
hour. Then take them out, and when quite cold put each into a separate
glass jar, and fill up with the syrup.

Pine apples may be preserved in slices by a very simple process. Pare
them, and cut them into round pieces near an inch thick, and take out
the core from the centre of each slice. Allow a pound of loaf-sugar to
every pound of the sliced pine-apple. Powder the sugar, and strew it in
layers between the slices of pine-apple. Cover it and let it set all
night. Next morning measure some clear spring or pump water, allowing
half a pint to each pound of sugar. Beat some white of egg, (one white
to two pounds of sugar,) and when it is a very stiff froth, stir it
gradually into the water. Then mix with it the pine-apple and sugar,
and put the whole into a preserving kettle. Boil and skim it well, till
the pine-apple is tender and bright all through. Then take it out, and
when cold, put it up in wide-mouthed glass jars, or in large tumblers.

TO PREPARE FRESH PINE-APPLES.--Cut off the top and bottom and pare off
the rind. Then cut the pine-apples in round slices half an inch thick,
and put them into a deep dish, sprinkling every slice with powdered
loaf-sugar. Cover them, and let them lie in the sugar for an hour or
two, before they are to be eaten.

PRESERVED LEMONS.--Take large fine ripe lemons, that have no blemishes.
Choose those with thin, smooth rinds. With a sharp knife scoop a
hole in the stalk end of each, large enough to admit the handle of a
tea-spoon. This hole is to enable the syrup to penetrate the inside
of the lemons. Put them into a preserving kettle with clear water,
and boil them gently till you find them tender, keeping the kettle
uncovered. Then take them out, drain, and cool them, and put them into
a small tub. Prepare a thin syrup of a pound of loaf-sugar to a quart
of water. When you have boiled and skimmed it, pour it over the lemons
and cover them. Let them stand in the syrup till next day. Then pour
the syrup from the lemons, and spread them on a large dish. Boil it a
quarter of an hour, and pour it over them again, having first returned
them to the tub. Cover them, and let them again stand till next day,
when you must again boil the syrup and pour it over them. Repeat this
process every day till you find that the lemons are quite clear, and
that the syrup has penetrated them thoroughly. If you find the syrup
becoming too weak, add a little more sugar to it. Finally, make a
strong syrup in the proportion of half a pint of water to a pound of
sugar, adding a jill of raw lemon-juice squeezed from fresh lemons,
and allowing to every two pounds of sugar the beaten white of an egg.
Mix all well together in the kettle. Boil and skim it, and when the
scum ceases to rise, pour the syrup boiling hot over the lemons; and
covering them closely, let them stand undisturbed for four days. Then
look at them, and if you find that they have not sucked in enough of
the syrup to make the inside very sweet, boil them gently in the syrup
for a quarter of an hour. When they are cold, put them up in glass jars.

You may green lemons by burying them in a kettle of vine leaves when
you give them the first boiling in the clear water.

Limes may be preserved by this receipt; also oranges.

To prepare fresh oranges for eating, peel and cut them in round slices
and remove the seeds. Strew powdered loaf-sugar over them. Cover them
and let them stand an hour before they are eaten.

ORANGE MARMALADE.--Take fine large ripe oranges, with thin
deep-coloured skins. Weigh them, and allow to each pound of oranges a
pound of loaf-sugar. Pare off the yellow outside of the rind from half
the oranges, as thin as possible; and putting it into a pan with plenty
of cold water, cover it closely (placing a double cloth beneath the tin
cover) to keep in the steam, and boil it slowly till it is so soft that
the head of a pin will pierce it. In the mean time grate the rind from
the remaining oranges, and put it aside; quarter the oranges, and take
out all the pulp and the juice; removing the seeds and core. Put the
sugar into a preserving kettle, with a half pint of clear water to each
pound, and mix it with some beaten white of egg, allowing one white of
egg, to every two pounds of sugar. When the sugar is all dissolved, put
it on the fire, and boil and skim it till it is quite clear and thick.
Next take the boiled parings, and pound them to a paste in a mortar;
put this paste into the sugar, and boil and stir it ten minutes. Then
put it in the pulp and juice of the oranges, and the grated rind,
(which will much improve the colour,) and boil all together for about
half an hour, till it is a transparent mass. When cold, put it up in
glass jars, laying brandy paper on the top.

Lemon marmalade may be made in a similar manner, but you must allow a
pound and a half of sugar to each pound of lemons.

ORANGE JELLY.--Take twenty large ripe oranges, and grate the yellow
rind from seven of them. Dissolve an ounce of isinglass in as much warm
water as will cover it. Mix the juice with a pound of loaf-sugar broken
up, and add the grated rind and the isinglass. Put it into a porcelain
pan over hot coals, and stir it till it boils. Then skim it well.
Boil it ten minutes, and strain it (but do not squeeze it) through a
jelly-bag till it is quite clear. Put it into a mould to congeal, and
when you want to turn it out dip the mould into luke-warm water. Or you
may put it into glasses at once.

You must have a pint of juice to a pound of sugar.

A few grains of saffron boiled with the jelly will improve the colour
without affecting the taste.

PRESERVED PEACHES.

Take large juicy ripe peaches; free-stones are the best, as they have
a finer flavour than the cling-stones, and are much more manageable
both to preserve, and to eat. Pare them, and cut them in half, or in
quarters, leaving out the stones, the half of which you must save. To
every pound of the peaches allow a pound of loaf-sugar. Powder the
sugar, and strew it among your peaches. Cover them and let them stand
all night. Crack half the peach-stones, break them up, put them into
a small sauce-pan and boil them slowly in as much water as will cover
them. Then when the water is well flavoured with the peach-kernels,
strain them out, and set the water aside. Take care not to use too much
of the kernel-water; a very little will suffice. Put the peaches into
a preserving kettle, and boil them in their juice over a quick fire,
(adding the kernel-water,) and skimming them all the time. When they
are quite clear, which should be in half an hour, take them off, and
put them into a tureen. Boil the syrup five minutes longer, and pour it
hot over the peaches. When they are cool, put them into glass jars, and
tie them up with paper dipped in brandy laid next to them.

Apricots, nectarines, and large plums may be preserved in the same
manner.

PEACHES FOR COMMON USE.--Take ripe free-stone peaches; pare, stone, and
quarter them. To six pounds of the cut peaches allow three pounds of
the best brown sugar. Strew the sugar among the peaches, and set them
away. Next morning add a handful of the kernels, put the whole into a
preserving kettle, and boil it slowly about an hour and three quarters,
or two hours, skimming it well. When cold, put it up in jars, and keep
it for pies, or for any common purpose.

BRANDY PEACHES.--Take large white or yellow free-stone peaches, the
finest you can procure. They must not be too ripe. Rub off the down
with a flannel, score them down the seam with a large needle, and prick
every peach to the stone in several places. Scald them with boiling
water, and let them remain in the water till it becomes cold, keeping
them well covered. Repeat the scalding three times: it is to make them
white. Then wipe them, and spread them on a soft table-cloth, covering
them over with several folds. Let them remain in the cloth to dry.
Afterwards put them into a tureen, or a large jar, and pour on as much
white French brandy as will cover them well. Carefully keep the air
from them, and let them remain in the brandy for a week. Then make a
syrup in the usual manner, allowing to each pound of peaches a pound
of loaf-sugar and half a pint of water mixed with a very little beaten
white of egg; one white to every two pounds of sugar.

When the syrup has boiled, and been well skimmed, put in the peaches
and boil them slowly till they look clear: but do not keep them boiling
more than half an hour. Then take them out, drain them, and put
them into large glass jars. Mix the syrup, when it is cold, with the
brandy in which you had the peaches, and pour it over them. Instead of
scalding the peaches to whiten them, you may lay them for an hour in
sufficient cold weak lye to cover them well. Turn them frequently while
in the lye, and wipe them dry afterwards.

Pears and apricots may be preserved in brandy, according to the above
receipt. The skin of the pears should be taken off, but the stems left
on.

Large egg plums may be preserved in the same manner.

Another way of preparing brandy peaches is, after rubbing off the
down and pricking them, to put them into a preserving kettle with
cold water, and simmer them slowly till they become hot all through;
but they must not be allowed to boil. Then dry them in a cloth, and
let them lie till they are cold, covering them closely from the air.
Dissolve loaf-sugar in the best white brandy, (a pound of sugar to a
quart of brandy.) and having put the peaches into large glass jars,
pour the brandy and sugar over them (without boiling) and cover the
jars well with leather.

Pears, apricots, and egg plums may also be done in this manner.

PEACH MARMALADE.--Take ripe yellow free-stone peaches; pare, stone,
and quarter them. To each pound of peaches, allow three quarters of
a pound of powdered loaf sugar, and half an ounce of bitter almonds,
or peach-kernels blanched in scalding water, and pounded smooth in a
mortar. Scald the peaches in a very little water, mash them to a pulp,
mix them with the sugar and pounded almonds, and put the whole into
a preserving kettle. Let it boil to a smooth thick jam, skimming and
stirring it well, and keeping the pan covered as much as possible.
Fifteen minutes will generally suffice for boiling it. When cold, put
it up in glass jars.

Plum marmalade may be made in this manner, flavouring it with pounded
plum-kernels.

PEACH JELLY.--Take fine juicy free-stone peaches, and pare and quarter
them. Scald them in a very little water, drain and mash them, and
squeeze the juice through a jelly-bag. To every pint of juice allow a
pound of loaf-sugar, and a few of the peach-kernels. Having broken up
the kernels and boiled them by themselves for a quarter of an hour in
just as much water as will cover them, strain off the kernel-water,
and add it to the juice. Mix the juice with the sugar, and when it is
melted, boil them together fifteen minutes, till it becomes a thick
jelly. Skim it well when it boils. Try the jelly by taking a little in
a spoon and holding it in the open air to see if it congeals. If you
find, that after sufficient boiling, it still continues thin, you can
make it congeal by stirring in an ounce or more of isinglass, dissolved
and strained. When the jelly is done, put it into tumblers, and lay on
the top double tissue paper cut exactly to fit the inside of the glass;
pressing it down with your fingers.

You may make plum jelly in the same manner, allowing a pound and a half
of sugar to a pint of juice.

TO PRESERVE APRICOTS.--Take ripe apricots; scald them, peel them, cut
them in half, and extract the stones. Then weigh the apricots, and to
each pound allow a pound of loaf-sugar. Put them into a tureen or large
pan, in alternate layers of apricots and sugar; cover them, and let
them stand all night. Next morning put all together into a preserving
kettle, and boil them moderately a quarter of an hour. Then take them
out, spread them on dishes, and let them stand till next day. Then boil
them again in the same syrup another quarter of an hour. Afterwards,
spread them out to cool, put them into glass jars, and pour the syrup
over them.

Peaches may be preserved in the same manner. Also large plums or green
gages; but to the plums you must allow additional sugar.

TO DRY PEACHES.--The best peaches for drying are juicy free-stones.
They must be quite ripe. Cut them in half, and take out the stones.
It is best not to pare them; as dried peaches are much richer with
the skin on, and it dissolves and becomes imperceptible when they are
cooked. Spread them out in a sunny balcony or on a scaffold, and let
them dry gradually till they become somewhat like leather; always
bringing them in at sunset, and not putting them out if the weather is
damp or cloudy. They may also be dried in kilns or large ovens.

Apples are dried in the same manner, except that they must be pared and
quartered.

Cherries also may be dried in the sun, first taking out all the stones.
None but the largest and best cherries should be used for drying.

TO PRESERVE QUINCES.

Take large, yellow, ripe quinces, and having washed and wiped them,
pare them, and extract the cores. Quarter the quinces, or cut them into
slices half an inch thick, and lay them in scalding water (closely
covered) and boil them till tender--lest they harden in the sugar. Put
the parings, cores, and seeds into a preserving kettle, cover them
with the water in which you coddled the quinces, and boil them an hour,
keeping them closely covered all the time. To every pint of this liquor
allow a pound of loaf-sugar; and having dissolved the sugar in it, put
it over the fire in the preserving kettle. Boil it up and skim it, and
when the scum has ceased rising, put in the quinces, and boil them
till they are red, tender, and clear all through, but not till they
break. Keep the kettle closely covered while the quinces are in it, if
you wish to have them bright coloured. You may improve the colour by
boiling with them a little cochineal sifted through a muslin rag.

When they are done, take them out, spread them on large dishes to cool,
and then put them into glasses. Give the syrup another boil up, and it
will be like a fine jelly. Pour it hot over the quinces, and when cold,
cover the jars, pasting paper round the covers.

TO PRESERVE QUINCES WHOLE.--Take those that are large, smooth, and
yellow; pare them and extract the cores, carefully removing all the
blemishes. Boil the quinces in a close kettle with the cores and
parings, in sufficient water to cover them. In half an hour take them
out, spread them to cool, and add to the cores and parings some small
inferior quinces cut in quarters, but not pared or cored; and pour in
some more water, just enough to boil them. Cover the pan, and let them
simmer for an hour. Then take it off, strain the liquid, measure it,
and to each quart allow a pound of loaf-sugar. Put the sugar to melt in
the liquid, and let it set all night. Next day boil the quinces in it
for a quarter of an hour, and then take them out and cool them, saving
the syrup. On the following day repeat the same; and the fourth day
add a quarter of a pound more sugar to each pint of the syrup, and boil
the quinces in it twelve minutes. If by this time they are not tender,
bright, and transparent all through, repeat the boiling.

When they are quite done, put quince jelly or marmalade into the holes
from whence you took the cores; put the quinces into glass jars and
pour the syrup over them. If convenient, it is a very nice way to put
up each quince in a separate tumbler.

QUINCE JELLY.--Take fine ripe yellow quinces, wash them and remove all
the blemishes. Cut them in pieces, but do not pare or core them. Put
them into a preserving-pan with clear spring water. If you are obliged
to use river water, filter it first; allowing one pint to twelve
large quinces. Boil them gently till they are all soft and broken.
Then put them into a jelly-bag, and do not squeeze it till after the
clear liquid has ceased running. Of this you must make the best jelly,
allowing to each pint a pound of loaf-sugar. Having dissolved the sugar
in the liquid, boil them together about twenty minutes, or till you
have a thick jelly.

In the mean time squeeze out all that is left in the bag. It will not
be clear, but you can make of it a very good jelly for common purposes.

QUINCE MARMALADE.--Take ten pounds of ripe yellow quinces; and having
washed them clean, pare and core them, and cut them into small pieces.
To each pound of the cut quinces allow half a pound of powdered
loaf-sugar. Put the parings and cores into a kettle with water enough
to cover them, and boil them slowly till they are all to pieces,
and quite soft. Then having put the quinces with the sugar into a
porcelain preserving kettle, strain over them, through a cloth, the
liquid from the parings and cores. Add a little cochineal powdered,
and sifted through thin muslin. Boil the whole over a quick fire till
it becomes a thick smooth mass, keeping it covered except when you are
skimming it; and always after skimming, stir it up well from the bottom.

When cold, put it up in glass jars. If you wish to use it soon, put
it warm into moulds, and when it is cold, set the moulds in luke-warm
water, and the marmalade will turn out easily.

QUINCE CHEESE.--Have fine ripe quinces, and pare and core them. Cut
them into pieces, and weigh them; and to each pound of the cut quinces,
allow half a pound of the best brown sugar. Put the cores and parings
into a kettle with water enough to cover them, keeping the lid of
the kettle closed. When you find that they are all boiled to pieces
and quite soft, strain off the water over the sugar, and when it is
entirely dissolved, put it over the fire and boil it to a thick syrup,
skimming it well. When no more scum rises, put in the quinces, cover
them closely, and boil them all day over a slow fire, stirring them and
mashing them down with a spoon till they are a thick smooth paste. Then
take it out, and put it into buttered tin pans or deep dishes. Let it
set to get cold. It will then turn out so firm that you may cut it into
slices like cheese. Keep it in a dry place in broad stone pots. It is
intended for the tea-table.

PRESERVED APPLES.

Take fine ripe pippin or bell-flower apples. Pare and core them, and
either leave them whole, or cut them into quarters. Weigh them, and to
each pound of apples allow a pound of loaf-sugar. Put the apples into a
stew-pan with just water enough to cover them, and let them boil slowly
for about half an hour. They must be only parboiled. Then strain the
apple water over the sugar into a preserving kettle, and when the sugar
is melted put it on the fire with the yellow rind of some lemons pared
thin, allowing two lemons to a dozen apples. Boil the syrup till clear
and thick, skimming it carefully; then put in the apples, and after
they have boiled slowly a quarter of an hour, add the juice of the
lemons. Let it boil about fifteen minutes longer, or till the apples
are tender and clear, but not till they break. When they are cold, put
them into jars, and covering them closely, let them set a week. At the
end of that time give them another boil in the same syrup; apples being
more difficult to keep than any other fruit.

You may colour them red by adding, when you boil them in the syrup, a
little cochineal.

BAKED APPLES.--Take a dozen fine large juicy apples, and pare and core
them, but do not cut them in pieces. Put them side by side into a
large baking-pan, and fill up with white sugar the holes from whence
you have extracted the cores. Pour into each a little lemon-juice, or
a few drops of essence of lemon, and stick in every one a long piece
of lemon-peel evenly cut. Into the bottom of the pan put a very little
water, just enough to prevent the apples from burning. Bake them about
an hour, or till they are tender all through, but not till they break.
When done, set them away to get cold.

If closely covered they will keep two days. They may be eaten at tea
with cream. Or at dinner with a boiled custard poured over them. Or
you may cover them with sweetened cream flavoured with a little essence
of lemon, and whipped to a froth. Heap the froth over every apple so as
to conceal them entirely.

APPLE JELLY.--Take twenty large ripe juicy pippins. Pare, core, and
chop them to pieces. Put them into a jar with the yellow rind of four
lemons, pared thin and cut into little bits. Cover the jar closely, and
set it into a pot of hot water. Keep the water boiling hard all round
it till the apples are dissolved. Then strain them through a jelly-bag,
and mix with the liquid the juice of the lemons. To each pint of the
mixed juice allow a pound of loaf-sugar. Put them into a porcelain
kettle, and when the sugar is melted, set it on the fire, and boil and
skim it for about twenty minutes, or till it becomes a thick jelly. Put
it into tumblers, and cover it with double tissue paper nicely fitted
to the inside of the top.

The red or Siberian crab apple makes a delicious jelly, prepared in the
above manner.

APPLE BUTTER.--This is a compound of apples and cider boiled together
till of the consistence of soft butter. It is a very good article on
the tea-table, or at luncheon. It can only be made of sweet new cider
fresh from the press, and not yet fermented.

Fill a very large kettle with cider, and boil it till reduced to one
half the original quantity. Then have ready some fine juicy apples,
pared, cored, and quartered; and put as many into the kettle as can be
kept moist by the cider. Stir it frequently, and when the apples are
stewed quite soft, take them out with a skimmer that has holes in it,
and put them into a tub. Then add more apples to the cider, and stew
them soft in the same manner, stirring them nearly all the time with
a stick. Have at hand some more cider ready boiled, to thin the apple
butter in case you should find it too thick in the kettle.

If you make a large quantity, (and it is not worth while to prepare
apple butter on a small scale,) it will take a day to stew the apples.
At night leave them to cool in the tubs, (which must be covered with
cloths,) and finish next day by boiling the apple and cider again till
the consistence is that of soft marmalade, and the colour a very dark
brown.

Twenty minutes or half an hour before you finally take it from the
fire, add powdered cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg to your taste. If the
spice is boiled too long, it will lose its flavour.

When it is cold, put it into stone jars, and cover it closely. If it
has been well made, and sufficiently boiled, it will keep a year or
more.

It must not be boiled in a brass or bell-metal kettle, on account of
the verdigris which the acid will collect in it, and which will render
the apple butter extremely unwholesome, not to say poisonous.

TO PRESERVE GREEN CRAB APPLES.--Having washed your crab apples, (which
should be full grown,) cover the bottom and sides of your preserving
kettle with vine leaves, and put them in; spreading a thick layer of
vine leaves over them. Fill up the kettle with cold water, and hang it
over a slow fire early in the morning; simmer them slowly, but do not
allow them to boil. When they are quite yellow, take them out, peel off
the skin with a penknife, and extract the cores very neatly. Put them
again into the kettle with fresh vine leaves and fresh water, and hang
them again over a slow fire to simmer, but not to boil. When they have
remained long enough in the second vine leaves to become green, take
them out, weigh them, and allow a pound and a half of loaf-sugar to
each pound of crab apples. Then after the kettle has been well washed
and wiped, put them into it with a thick layer of sugar between each
layer of apples, and about half a pint of water, for each pound and a
half of sugar. You may add the juice and yellow peel of some lemons.
Boil them gently till they are quite clear and tender throughout. Skim
them well, and keep the kettle covered when you are not skimming. When
done, spread them on large dishes to cool, and then tie them up in
glass jars with brandy papers.

TO PRESERVE RED CRAB APPLES.--Take red or Siberian crab apples when
they are quite ripe and the seeds are black. Wash and wipe them, and
put them into a kettle with sufficient water to cover them. Simmer them
very slowly till you find that the skin will come off easily. Then
take them out and peel and core them; extract the cores carefully with
a small knife, so as not to break the apples. Then weigh them, and
to every pound of crab apples allow a pound and a half of loaf-sugar
and a half pint of water. Put the sugar and water into a preserving
kettle, and when they are melted together, set it over the fire and
let it boil. After skimming it once, put in the crab apples, adding a
little cochineal powder rubbed with a knife into a very small quantity
of white brandy till it has dissolved. This will greatly improve the
colour of the apples. Cover them and let them boil till clear and
tender, skimming the syrup when necessary. Then spread them out on
dishes, and when they are cold, put them into glass jars and pour the
syrup over them.

The flavour will be greatly improved by boiling with them in the
syrup, a due proportion of lemon-juice and the peel of the lemons pared
thin so as to have the yellow part only. If you use lemon-juice put a
smaller quantity of water to the sugar. Allow one large lemon or two
smaller ones to two pounds of crab apples.

If you find that after they have been kept awhile, the syrup inclines
to become dry or candied, give it another boil with the crab apples in
it, adding a tea-cup full of water to about three or four pounds of the
sweetmeat.

TO PRESERVE GREEN GAGES.

Take large fine green gages that are all perfectly ripe. Weigh them,
and to each pound of fruit allow a pound and a half of loaf-sugar. Put
a layer of fresh vine leaves at the bottom of a porcelain preserving
kettle, place on it a layer of gages, then cover them with a layer of
vine leaves, and so on alternately, finishing with a layer of leaves
at the top. Fill up the kettle with hard water, and set it over a slow
fire. When the gages rise to the top, take them out and peel them,
putting them on a sieve as you do so. Then replace them in the kettle
with fresh vine leaves and water; cover them very closely, so that no
steam can escape, and hang them up at some distance above the fire to
green slowly for six hours. They should be warm all the time, but must
not boil. When they are a fine green, take them carefully out, spread
them on a hair sieve to drain, and make a syrup of the sugar, allowing
a half pint of water to each pound and a half of sugar. When it has
boiled and been skimmed, put in the green gages and boil them gently
for a quarter of an hour. Then take them out and spread them to cool.
Next day boil them in the same syrup for another quarter of an hour.
When cold, put them into glass jars with the syrup, and tie them up
with brandy paper.

You may green these, or any other sweetmeats, by substituting for the
vine-leaves, layers of the fresh green husks that inclose the ears of
young indian corn.

TO PRESERVE PLUMS.--Take fine ripe plums: weigh them, and to each
pound allow a pound and a half of loaf-sugar. Put them into a pan, and
scald them in boiling water to make the skins come off easily. Peel
them, and throw them as you do so into a large china pitcher. Let them
set for an hour or two, and then take them out, saving all the juice
that has exuded from them while in the pitcher. Spread the plums out
on large dishes, and cover them with half the sugar you have allotted
to them, (it must be previously powdered,) and let them lie in it all
night. Next morning pour the juice out of the pitcher into a porcelain
preserving kettle, add the last half of the sugar to it, and let it
melt over the fire. When it has boiled skim it, and then put in the
plums. Boil them over a moderate fire, for about half an hour. Then
take them out one by one with a spoon, and spread them on large dishes
to cool. If the syrup is not sufficiently thick and clear, boil and
skim it a little longer till it is. Put the plums into glass jars and
pour the syrup warm over them.

The flavour will be much improved by boiling in the syrup with the
fruit a handful or more of the kernels of plums, blanched in scalding