Another Way.--Plums for common use are very good done in treacle. Put your plums into an earthen vessel that holds a gallon, having first slit each plum with a knife. To three quarts of plums put a pint of treacle. Cover them over, and set them on hot coals in the chimney corner. Let them stew for twelve hours or more, occasionally stirring, and next day put them up in jars. Done in this manner, they will keep till the next spring.

1640. To Preserve Lemons, Whole, for Dessert.

Take six fine, fresh, well-shaped lemons, cut a hole just round the stalk, and with a marrow-spoon scoop out the pips, and press out the juice, but leave the pulp in the lemons. Put them into a bowl with two or three quarts of spring water, to steep out the bitterness. Leave them three days, changing the water each day; or only two days if you wish them to be very bitter. Strain the juice as soon as squeezed out, boil it with one pound of loaf sugar (setting the jar into which it was strained in a pan of boiling water fifteen or twenty minutes); tie it up, _quite hot_, with bladder, and set by till wanted. Taste the water the lemons are lying in at the end of the third day; if not bitter, lift the lemons out into a china-lined pan, pour the water through a strainer upon them, boil gently one or two hours; set by in a pan. Boil again next day, until so tender that the head of a large needle will easily pierce the rind. Put in one pound of loaf sugar, make it just boil, and leave to cool. Next day boil the syrup, and pour it on the lemons; add one pound of sugar, and hot water to supply what was boiled away. Lift out the lemons, and boil the syrup and pour on them again every day for a fortnight, then every three or four days, adding gradually three pounds of sugar. When the lemons look clear and bright, boil the syrup pretty hard, add the lemon juice which had been set by, just boil, skim; put the lemons into jars, pour the syrup upon them, and tie up the jars _instantly_ with bladder.

[VICE CHEATS ITS VOTARIES.]

1641. Preserved Ginger.

Scald the young roots till they become tender, peel them, and place in cold water, frequently changing the water: then put into a thin syrup, and, in a few days, put into jars, and pour a rich syrup over them.

1642. To Preserve Eggs (1).

It has been long known to housewives, that the great secret of preserving eggs fresh is to place the small end downwards, and keep it in that position--other requisites not being neglected, such as to have the eggs perfectly fresh when deposited for keeping, not allowing them to become wet, keeping them cool in warm weather, and avoiding freezing in winter. Take an inch board of convenient size, say a foot wide, and two and a half feet long, and bore it full of holes, each about an inch and a half in diameter; a board of this size may have five dozen holes bored in it, for as many eggs. Then nail strips of thin board two inches wide round the edges to serve as a ledge. Boards such as this may now be made to const.i.tute the shelves of a cupboard in a cool cellar. The only precaution necessary is to place the eggs as fast as they are laid in these holes, with the small end downwards, and they will keep for months perfectly fresh. The great advantage of this plan is the perfect ease with which the fresh eggs are packed away, and again obtained when wanted. A carpenter would make such a board for a trifling charge.

1643. Preserving Eggs (2).

Another Method.--The several modes recommended for preserving eggs any length of time are not always successful. The egg, to be preserved well, should be kept at a temperature so low that the air and fluids within its sh.e.l.l shall not be brought into a decomposing condition; and, at the same time, the air outside of its sh.e.l.l should be excluded, in order to prevent its action in any way upon the egg.

1644. Preserving Eggs, (3) Mixture for.

The following mixture for preserving eggs was patented several years ago by Mr. Jayne, of Sheffield. He alleged that by means of it he could keep eggs two years. A part of his composition is often made use of--perhaps the whole of it would be better. Put into a tub or vessel one bushel of quicklime, two pounds of salt, half a pound of cream of tartar, and mix the same together, with as much water as will reduce the composition, or mixture, to that consistence that it will cause an egg put into it to swim with its top just above the liquid; then place the eggs therein.

1645. Preserving Eggs (4).

Eggs may be preserved by applying with a brush a solution of gum arabic to the sh.e.l.ls, and afterwards packing them in dry charcoal dust.

1646. Improving Bad b.u.t.ter.

Bad b.u.t.ter may be improved greatly by dissolving it in thoroughly hot water; let it cool, then skim it off, and churn again, adding a little good salt and sugar. A small portion can be tried and approved before doing a larger quant.i.ty. The water should be merely hot enough to melt the b.u.t.ter, or it will become oily.

1647. Rancid b.u.t.ter.

This may be restored by melting it in a water bath, with some coa.r.s.ely powdered animal charcoal, which has been thoroughly sifted from dust, and strained through flannel.

1648. Salt b.u.t.ter.

Salt b.u.t.ter may be freshened by churning it with new milk, in the proportion of a pound of b.u.t.ter to a quart of milk. Treat the b.u.t.ter in all respects in churning as fresh. Cheap earthenware churns for domestic use may be had at any hardware shop.

1649. To Preserve Milk.

Provide bottles, which must be perfectly clean, sweet, and dry; draw the milk from the cow into the bottles, and as they are filled, immediately cork them well up, and fasten the corks with pack-thread or wire. Then spread a little straw at the bottom of a boiler, on which place the bottles, with straw between them, until the boiler contains a sufficient quant.i.ty. Fill it up with cold water; heat the water, and as soon as it begins to boil, draw the fire, and let the whole gradually cool. When quite cold, take out the bottles and pack them in sawdust, in hampers, and stow them in the coolest part of the house. Milk preserved in this manner, and allowed to remain even eighteen months in bottles, will be as sweet as when first milked from the cow.

1650. Keeping Meat.

Meat may be kept several days in the height of summer, sweet and good, by lightly covering it with bran, and hanging it in some high or windy room, or in a pa.s.sage where there is a current of air.

1651. Hams, Tongues, &c., Glazing for.

Boil a shin of beef twelve hours in eight or ten quarts of water; draw the gravy from a knuckle of veal in the same manner; put the same herbs and spices as if for soup, and add the whole to the shin of beef. It must be boiled till reduced to a quart. It will keep good for a year; and when wanted for use, warm a little, and spread over the ham, tongue, &c., with a feather.

1652. Curing of Hams and Bacon.

The most simple method is to use one ounce and a half of common soda and the same quant.i.ty of saltpetre, to fourteen pounds of ham or bacon, using the usual quant.i.ty of salt. The soda prevents that hardness in the lean of the bacon which is so often found, and keeps it quite mellow all through, besides being a preventive of rust.

1653. Preserving Mackerel.

Mackerel are at certain times exceedingly plentiful, especially to those who live near the coast. They may be preserved so as to make an excellent and well-flavoured dish, weeks or months after the season is past, by the following means. Having chosen some fine fish, cleanse them perfectly, and either boil them or lightly fry them in oil. The fish should be divided, and the bones, heads, and skins removed; they should then be well rubbed over with the following seasoning:--For every dozen good-sized fish use three tablespoonfuls of salt (heaped), one ounce and a half of common black pepper, six or eight cloves, and a little mace, finely powdered, and as much nutmeg, grated, as the operator chooses to afford,--not, however, exceeding one nutmeg. Let the whole surface be well covered with the seasoning; then lay the fish in layers packed into a stone jar (not a glazed one); cover the whole with good vinegar, and if they be intended to be long kept, pour salad oil or melted fat over the top. _Caution._--The glazing on earthen jars is made from lead or a.r.s.enic, from which vinegar draws forth poison.

1654. Preserving Potatoes.

The preservation of potatoes by dipping them in boiling water is a valuable and useful discovery. Large quant.i.ties may be cured at once, by putting them into a basket as large as the vessel containing the boiling water will admit, and then just dipping them a minute or two, at the utmost. The germ, which is so near the skin, is thus destroyed without injury to the potato. In this way several tons might be cured in a few hours. They should be then dried in a warm oven, and laid up in sacks, secure from the frost, in a dry place.

1655. To Preserve Cuc.u.mbers.

Take large and fresh-gathered cuc.u.mbers; split them down and take out all the seeds, lay them in salt and water, sufficiently strong to bear an egg, for three days; set them on a fire with cold water, and a small lump of alum, and boil them a few minutes, or till tender; drain them, and pour on them a thin syrup:--let them lie two days; boil the syrup again, and put it over the cuc.u.mbers; repeat this part of the process a second and a third time; then have ready some fresh clarified sugar, boiled to a _blow_ (which may be known by dipping the skimmer into the sugar, and blowing strongly through the holes of it; if little bladders appear, it has attained that degree); put in the cuc.u.mbers, and simmer for five minutes;--set by till next day;--boil the syrup and cuc.u.mbers again, and put them in gla.s.ses for use.

1656. Pickling.

There are three methods of pickling; the most simple is merely to put the article into cold vinegar. The strongest pickling vinegar of white wine should always be used for pickles; and for white pickles, use distilled vinegar. This method may be recommended for all such vegetables as, being hot themselves, do not require the addition of spice, and such as do not require to be softened by heat, as capsic.u.m, chili, nasturtiums, b.u.t.ton-onions, radish-pods, horseradish, garlic, and shalots. Half fill the jars with best vinegar, fill them up with the vegetables, and tie down immediately with bladder and leather.

One advantage of this plan is that those who grow nasturtiums, radish-pods, and so forth, in their own gardens, may gather them from day to day, when they are exactly of the proper growth. They are very much better if pickled quite fresh, and all of a size, which can scarcely be obtained if they be pickled all at the same time. The onions should be dropped in the vinegar as fast as peeled; this secures their colour. The horseradish should be sc.r.a.ped a little outside, and cut up in rounds half an inch deep.

1657. The Second Method of Pickling.

The second method of pickling is that of heating vinegar and spice, and pouring them hot over the vegetables to be pickled, which are previously prepared by sprinkling with salt, or immersing in brine. Do not boil the vinegar, for if so its strength will evaporate. Put the vinegar and spice into a jar, bung it down tightly, tie a bladder over, and let it stand on the hob or on a trivet by the side of the fire for three or four days; shake it well three or four times a day.

This method may be applied to gherkins, French beans, cabbage, brocoli, cauliflowers, onions, and so forth.

1658. The Third Method of Pickling.