The record-union., 1893-08-16
PICKLES.
How to Put Up the Different Vari-
cites.

CucumberS are usually the first pickles
put up in summer. So common is the
cucumber pickle that to most people
pickle is always one of cucumbers. Old
fashioned people were accustomed TO
take the large and small cucumbers of
the time indiscriminately for picking,
but this is no longer done by good house
keepers. Only the tiny green cucum-
Ders, Which are about two or two and
half inches lorg, are now considered de-
slrable for this purpose. The best
gardeners raise special varieties ofcucum-
bers, which are small in growth and COM
pact, ana make firm, crisp pickles. The
most desirable salad varieties are not
usually good for picking. The West
India gherkln or burr cucum Der is also
raised for our markets. This is tiny
oval cucumber, rough and full of spines.
1t makes very good pickle 'for vari-
oty's sake" but it does not take the place
in any way of the small cucumber.
When the housewife lives in the country
and can gather the cucumbers from her
own vines it is easier and better to put
them down in salt from time to time as
they ripen on the vines.
Twenty-Five or thirty may be freshened
any time throughout the fall and winter
and put in pickle. When the housewife
lives in the city and must purchase her
supplies from the market, ii is better for
her 10 put them in brine for a short time
and then pickle the entire quantity at
once. The first process, by which the
cucumbers are packed in salt, is very
simple. Have on hand a quantity of the
best Liverpool salt, and each morning,
alter gathering the cucum berS pack them
in layers in a stout wooden keg kept for
the purpose. Put a layer OF salt at least
half an inch thick in the bottom OF the
keg, and then a layer of the cucumbers.
Put layer OF salt about quarter of an
inch thick over these and when twenty
live or thirty cucumberS have been
packed in this way add large cup of
water. This water will dissolve the salt
and make brine enough to cover the
cucum berS. Lay stout board and stone
over the cucumbers to keep them under
the brine. Pick the cucumbers each
morning before the dew is off them, aud
put them in keg with salt and add water
when necessary.
When the keg is filled cover it up close
and keep it in cold cellar until winter,
when the pickles are wanted. Be careful
that they are kept continually under the
brine by weighting them down with a
board and stone. When the pickles are
wanted, take out as many as you need
and soak them for three DAYS in cold
water, changing the water each day. At
the end of this time put them in porce-
lain kettle and cover them with vinegar.
Add to every two quarts of vinegar a tea
spoonful OF mustard seed, half dozen
small red peppers, a teaSpoOnful of black
pepper, teaspoonful of mace and half a
cup OF sugar. Let the mixture boil M
for two or three minutes, and the pickles
are done and ready for use when thew are
cold. Or you may simply scaId the vine
gar with the spices and sugar and throw
it boiling hot over the cucumbers, with
out cooking them at all. A piece OF alum
the size OF pea dissolved in the vinegar
makes the pickles crisp, but they are not
quite as wholesome for this addition. and
il is not necessary if firm cucumbers are
used. Where cucumbers are purchased
by the quantity in market and put up in
vinegar they must be soaked in brine
three days. Some housekeepers soak
them only twenty-iour hours, but this is
hardly sufficient TO draw out the strong.
rank juices which exist in all crude fruits
and make it necessary to soak them in
brine TO render them palatable enough
ior HSe.
In the case of cabbage, green tomatoes.
and many other vegetables used for
pickles, a press is used to draw out these
rank juices, but this is not necessary in
the case of cucumbers if the brine is made
strong enough to bear up potato. 1t
will require about one pound of salt to a
gallon of cold water. Let the pickle
stand in the brine for three days. Some
housekeepers heat the brine and throw it
sealding hot over the pickles, and this
tends to soften them and is of no special
advantage, as the raukness is fully taken
out by a strong cold brine. After the
pickles have soaked in the brine for three
days, wash them and test them by tasting
them, and If they seem too salt freshen
them in cold water for one or two hours. In
any event, wash the pickles very thor
oughly in clear water 30 remove all traces
of brine. Prepare spiced vinegar by add
ing TO two quarts of vinegar teaspoonful
of whole mustard seed, teaspoonful OF
whole black peppers, a teaspoonful of
mace and half dozen small red peppers.
The red peppers used in cucumber
pickles are small capsicums, which may
be purchased at any drug store. An
ounce OF ginger-root is sometimes added
to this spiced vinegar. Boil all the spices
in the vinegar for at least ten minutes, let
the vinegar boil up once and put them
away. They are ready for use in two or
three days, but they are better in a month.
They will keep all winter.-New York
Tribune.