PICKLED ONIONS.

From MRS. HARRIET A. LUCAS, of Pennsylvania, Lady Manager

Peel carefully, by scalding, small onions; drain; place in salt and water, not too strong, for forty-eight hours; then drain again till dry. Put together one-half pint of milk and one-half pint water; place the small onions in it and allow them to scald, _not_ boil, or they will be softened. Remove, rinse in cold water and drain. Place in a jar and pour over them white wine vinegar, with a little mace and small red peppers; no dark spice. You will have a beautifully white, mild pickled onion if this is carried out.

OIL PICKLES. From MRS. IDA. M. BALL, of Delaware, Lady Manager.

Two dozen large cuc.u.mbers, sliced without paring; sprinkle with salt; place in a colander to drain for two or three hours. One dozen onions prepared in the same way, separately. Put in a stone jar, in alternate layers, sprinkling between with ground black pepper and a mixture of mustard and oil, the mixture to be made in the proportion of a small box of mustard to one-half pint of salad oil. When the jar is full, pour in enough cold vinegar to cover.

MIXED PICKLES.

From MRS. SAM. S. FIFIELD, of Wisconsin, Lady Manager.

Take small cuc.u.mbers, onions, beans, cauliflower, broken up, and pour over boiling hot brine made of one teacup of coa.r.s.e salt to a gallon of water, for three mornings. The fourth morning drain well. (I put into a flour sack and hang out doors until dry.) To one gallon of good cider vinegar put a teaspoon of pulverized alum, four of white mustard seed, two of celery seed, five or six tiny red peppers, a handful of cloves and as much of stick cinnamon; pour over the pickles when real hot; add a good quant.i.ty of horseradish root to keep pickles from moulding.

CUc.u.mBER PICKLES.

From MRS. PARTHENIA P. RUE, of California, Lady Manager.

For two gallons of pickles, place the cuc.u.mbers in salt and water for three days; then rinse in fresh water. One teacupful of whole white mustard; one handful of whole cloves; allspice and black pepper; a teacupful of broken cinnamon. Put all into a large thin bag and boil in one quart vinegar. Put two or three red pepper pods and a few sprigs of horseradish root among the cuc.u.mbers, in a keg or jar. Take sufficient vinegar to cover them and put into it one pound of brown sugar; let it scald and cool a little; then pour over the pickles; then the spices and vinegar, allowing the spices to remain on top. The spices and vinegar must be poured off and scalded for five mornings, and, when cool, poured over the pickles; the last day pour over a cup of mola.s.ses. Use good cider vinegar. If desired sweeter, sugar to vinegar when heating. Cuc.u.mbers used late in the season make better pickles than the earlier ones. Put cuc.u.mbers in salt water when freshly picked.

GREEN CUc.u.mBER PICKLE.

From MRS. CORA PAYNE JACKSON, of Kentucky, Lady Manager.

One gallon of cider vinegar; one pound of brown sugar; one tablespoon of allspice; one tablespoon of cloves; one tablespoon of black pepper; one tablespoon of mace; two tablespoons of root ginger; two tablespoons of celery; two tablespoons of white mustard; one handful of horseradish. After it begins to boil add cold cuc.u.mbers, well soaked, and boil until tender enough to pierce with a fork.

RIPE CUc.u.mBER PICKLE.

From MISS MARY ELLIOTT MCCANDLESS, of Pennsylvania, Lady Manager.

Slice twenty-five large cuc.u.mbers in pieces between one and two inches thick; lay in salt water two days; wash out the salt. Boil in alum water half an hour, alum size of a walnut (English); take out and boil in ginger water an hour; one ounce of ginger and water to cover. Make a syrup of five pounds of light brown sugar, three quarts of vinegar, one pint of water, two ounces of whole cloves, two ounces of stick cinnamon, half an ounce of whole allspice, half an ounce of mace (put spices in bags). Let all boil until a rich syrup, then put in the cuc.u.mbers and boil between one and two hours.

GOOSEBERRY CATSUP.

From MRS. AMEY M. STARKWEATHER, of Rhode Island, Superintendent State Work and Lady Manager.

Nine pounds of gooseberries; add five pounds of sugar, one quart of vinegar, three tablespoonfuls of cinnamon, one and one-half each of allspice and cloves. The gooseberries should be nearly or quite ripe.

Take off the blossoms, wash, and put them into a porcelain kettle, scald, then put through a colander, add the sugar and spices; boil fifteen minutes; then add the vinegar; bottle immediately before it cools. Almost any recipe for spiced gooseberries makes a good recipe when the gooseberries are put through a colander or coa.r.s.e sieve, and the vinegar added, cooled in this way.

If you wish a smaller recipe, use the following: To four quarts of fruit, take three pounds of sugar, one pint of vinegar, one tablespoonful each of ground cloves, allspice and cinnamon. Make as in the above recipe.

CABBAGE PICKLE.

From MRS. CARRINGTON MASON, of Tennessee, Alternate Lady Manager.

Quarter small, hard heads of cabbage, removing the outer leaves; put in a brine for three days, then let it soak in fresh water six hours.

Wipe perfectly dry, squeezing the water out. Scald the cabbage in weak vinegar and water, to which add turmeric in a thin muslin bag. Then put into a stone jar alternate layers of cabbage and seasoning as follows: Mace, ginger, cinnamon, white mustard seeds, onions, red pepper, and horse radish. Bring to a boil enough good cider vinegar to cover the whole, and pour into the jar hot.

PICALILLY.

From MRS. ELLA RAY MILLER, of Idaho, Alternate Lady Manager.

One peck green tomatoes; twelve large onions; one ounce each of allspice, cloves, cinnamon, whole pepper and white mustard seed; two ounces flour of mustard, one and one-half pound sugar. Slice and salt tomatoes, drain over night. Put spices in bags, cover all with vinegar, and boil till tender. Seal in gla.s.s jars.

SWEET PICKLED PEACHES.

From MRS. NELLIE B. PLUMER, of Pennsylvania, Alternate Lady Manager.

Ten pounds peaches--pared; five pounds sugar; one quart best cider vinegar; one tablespoonful allspice; one tablespoonful mace; one tablespoonful cinnamon; one teaspoonful cloves. Put the spices in thin muslin bags. Boil all together half hour; then put in the peaches, and boil twenty minutes. Take out the fruit with a skimmer, and spread upon dishes to cool. Boil the syrup until thick, pack the peaches in gla.s.s jars, and pour syrup over them scalding hot.

CHOW-CHOW PICKLES.

From MRS. H.K. INGRAM, of Florida, Alternate Lady Manager.

One-half peck green tomatoes; one dozen peppers; two heads cabbage (medium size); one-half peck onions; one-fourth peck cuc.u.mbers. Chop fine (or, better still, run through a sausage grinder), and mix thoroughly with three handfuls of salt. Pour all into a thin bag to drain for twelve hours, or over night. At the end of this time put sufficient vinegar to cover into a large iron, tin or porcelain vessel, and add two ounces black pepper grains, two ounces allspice grains, two ounces celery seed, one-fourth pound mustard, one pound sugar. Scald the vinegar and pour contents of bag into it; add the spices, mix well, and let all come to a boil, and remove instantly.

This will be found equal to the best imported bottled chow-chow.

MUSTARD CHOW-CHOW.

From MRS. ALICE B. CASTLEMAN, of Kentucky, Alternate Lady Manager.

Two dozen cuc.u.mbers, cut in chunks about an inch thick; two heads of cabbage, chopped fine. Sprinkle with salt and let stand all night. One dozen large green peppers, chopped up; five dozen small seed onions.

Soak the onions and peppers separately in salt water all night; next morning squeeze all the salt water from them. Then place in a kettle a layer of pickle and a layer of seasoning composed of two ounces of white mustard seed; two ounces celery seed; one ounce turmeric; one- half pound box of Coleman's mustard, mixed smooth with vinegar, adding two and one-half pounds brown sugar. After putting all in the kettle, cover with vinegar and boil thirty minutes, This recipe makes two gallons of pickles, and one and one half gallons of vinegar covers it.

Use best cider vinegar.

CHOW-CHOW.

From MISS MARY ELLIOTT MCCANDLESS, of Pennsylvania, Lady Manager.

One peck green tomatoes; two large heads of cabbage; two good sized onions; three small red peppers; one-fourth pound yellow mustard seed; one-fourth pound ground mustard; one and one-half ounces celery seed; one tablespoonful cayenne pepper, three quarts best vinegar; one quart granulated sugar. Slice tomatoes, salt them, then chop very fine, and drain all green water off; put the chopped tomatoes on in a preserving kettle, with some good vinegar, bring them to the scald, then pour in colander to drain and cool. Chop cabbage, onions and peppers fine, and _when the tomatoes are cold_, mix all together. Bring to boil vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, celery seed, red pepper and more salt.

Mix ground mustard with chopped tomatoes, cabbage, etc. When the vinegar, sugar, etc., is cold, pour on the chopped mixture; stir thoroughly and put in wide-mouthed bottles.

CHEESE