Mother's Remedies Part 215

34. Gooseberry Catsup.--To one pound of gooseberries, use three-fourths pound sugar and spices to taste. One pint of vinegar to ten pounds of the fruit. Boil two hours. This is delicious.

35. Spiced Vinegar for Pickles.--(This can be used generally for pickles.) 1 gallon of vinegar, 1 pound of sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls of allspice, 2 tablespoonfuls mustard seed, 2 tablespoonfuls celery seed, 2 tablespoonfuls salt, 1 tablespoonful of tumeric powder, 1 tablespoonful of black pepper, 1 tablespoonful mace, 2 nutmegs, grated, 3 onions, 1 handful grated horseradish. This can always be relied upon as good.

36. Tomato Catsup No. 2.--1 gallon tomatoes (strained), 6 tablespoons salt, three tablespoons black pepper, 1 tablespoon cloves, 2 tablespoons cinnamon, 2 tablespoons allspice, 10 pints vinegar, boil down to half. One peck tomatoes will make one gallon strained.

37. Bottled Pickles.--Wash the pickles and pour boiling water over them, letting them stand for four hours; to every gallon of vinegar take 1 teacup of sugar, 1 teacup of salt, 1 teaspoonful of pulverized alum, one ounce of cinnamon bark, 1/4 of an ounce of whole cloves. Boil spice and vinegar and pour over the pickles. Seal while hot.

38. Sliced Cuc.u.mbers.--Peel and slice one gallon of cuc.u.mbers and soak them over night in weak salt water. Drain and put them in weak vinegar on the stove and let them get hot; drain and pack in gla.s.s jars. Then bring to a boil, one quart vinegar, a few slices of onions, sugar and spices to taste. Then pour this over the cuc.u.mbers, while hot, and seal.

39. Grandmother's Dill Pickles.--Fill a stone jar with alternate layers of grape leaves, fresh cuc.u.mbers, dill and salt. Cover with water and an inverted plate; place a brick on the plate to keep all under water. The cuc.u.mbers will be ready for use in about two weeks.

40. Mustard Pickles.--Wash the pickles and put in fruit jars, then cover with the following dressing, do not cook the pickles or dressing: 1 cup salt, 2 cups dark brown sugar, 1 cup Colman's mustard, 1 gallon vinegar, mix together and put over pickles.

[CANNING, PICKLING AND PRESERVING 839]

41. Green Tomato Pickles.--One bushel tomatoes, slice and put in salt water over night. The next morning put tomatoes in kettle after draining them, with five pounds of brown sugar, 1/4 cup cloves, ten cents worth cinnamon stick, two quarts vinegar. Boil until the tomatoes are tender.

42. Oyster Catsup.--Squeeze through a sieve 1 pint of oysters with the juice, then add 1 pint of sherry or white wine and salt to taste. Flavor with garlic, celery, etc., if desired. Add two or three ounces of mixed spices. Simmer fifteen or twenty minutes, strain and bottle when cold.

43. Pepper Catsup.--Select about twenty-five red bell peppers without removing the seeds. Add 1 pint of vinegar and boil until tender, stirring constantly. Rub it all through a sieve. Set aside the juice. Pour over the pulp another pint of vinegar with two tablespoonfuls brown sugar, 2 or 3 ounces mixed spices. Stir altogether and boil down one-half. Strain through cheese-cloth and bottle when cold.

44. Grape Catsup.--Select grapes that are ripe, but not soft. Pick them over carefully and add to five pounds of grapes, half as much sugar (by weight), 1 pint vinegar, two or three ounces of mixed spices, and salt to taste. Boil until it thickens. Bottle when cold.

45. Pickled Cherries.--Select firm and medium ripe cherries. Fill a wide-mouthed gla.s.s bottle or jar with them, then add two tablespoons of salt, and fill the jars with cold vinegar. Seal and let stand six or eight weeks before using. These are very good.

46. Sweet Mixed Pickles.--For sweet mixed pickles, sc.r.a.pe and wash half a dozen young carrots, and parboil in salted water for three or four minutes, then drain and set aside to cool; meanwhile cut into strips. Then take six green tomatoes, three large white onions, one large red pepper, (taking out the seeds) three sour apples, one small cupful of tender string beans, and finally the carrots treated in the same manner; place all these ingredients together in the preserving kettle in which they are to be cooked, adding salt and a very little paprika and allow them to stand for twelve hours. When ready to cook drain off the water that will have formed, adding sufficient vinegar to well moisten, one cupful of sugar, a tablespoon olive oil and two teaspoonfuls of celery seed tied in a piece of muslin, for about five minutes. Remove from the fire and mix in quickly half a teaspoonful ground English mustard blended with a little vinegar; seal immediately in small well-closed jars.

47. Corn Relish.--One dozen ears of corn, one large cabbage, one large red pepper, chop all these up fine together, mix thoroughly and add one pound of brown sugar and one quart of vinegar, salt to suit taste. Let this all come to a boil.

[840 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]

48. Mustard Pickles.--One hundred small cuc.u.mbers (if you get the larger ones cut them in two), one-half peck of the tiny white onions, large head of cauliflower, one pound brown sugar, 1-1/2 cups flour, 1/2 pound mustard, five cents worth of tumeric powder, one cup salt. The cuc.u.mbers are to be soaked in salt and water over night and drained in the morning, put in the vinegar and let come to a boil, then add your onions and cauliflower. Take the flour, mustard and tumeric powder, work to a cream with a little vinegar, then gradually stir into the boiling vinegar to thicken it. Boil this all about fifteen minutes. Watch every minute as this scorches very easily.

49. Spiced Currants.--Steam and wash the fruit carefully, and for every four pounds of currants take two pounds of brown sugar, one pint cider vinegar, one tablespoon each of ground cinnamon, cloves, mace, nutmeg and allspice. Put in the fruit and boil all together for a half hour. Fill into wide mouthed bottles, lay a paper wet with vinegar over the currants and tie up the mouth of the bottle with paper.

50. Spiced Grapes.--Five pounds of grapes, three pounds of granulated sugar, half pint of vinegar, two teaspoonfuls each of cinnamon, allspice and cloves. Pulp the grapes, boil skins until tender. Cook the pulp soft and strain through a sieve, add to skins. Put in spices, sugar and vinegar and boil thoroughly. Seal.

51. Ginger Pears.--Peel a dozen large pears which are not quite ripe and cut into long, thin strips. Add two-thirds as much sugar as you have fruit, the juice of a lemon, two-thirds cupful of water and a desertspoonful of ginger. Boil all together until the fruit is transparent, and serve as a relish.

52. Tomato Soye.--One peck of ripe tomatoes, one dozen large onions, three large red peppers, one gallon best vinegar, twenty-four tablespoonfuls brown sugar, twelve teaspoonfuls ground cinnamon, twelve teaspoonfuls of salt, six teaspoonfuls of ground ginger and six teaspoonfuls of ground cloves. Chop the tomatoes, onions and peppers fine and add the other ingredients. Let simmer for three hours.

53. Spanish Pickles.--One peck of green tomatoes, one dozen onions, sprinkle with salt and let stand over night and strain off the juice.

Allow one pound of sugar, one-fourth pound whole white mustard seed, one ounce ground black pepper, one teaspoonful ginger and one of cinnamon. Mix dry. Put a layer of tomatoes and onions in a kettle and sprinkle with spices, then tomatoes and so on until all are used. Cover with vinegar and let boil two hours, after which pack in jars and set in cool place.

54. Chili Sauce.--Take five large onions, eight green peppers, and chop fine with thirty ripe tomatoes. Add five tablespoonfuls of brown sugar, three tablespoonfuls of salt and eight cupfuls of vinegar. Boil all together two and a half hours and bottle for use.

55. Green Tomato Pickles.--Half bushel green tomatoes, six large onions, six large peppers, one-fourth pound white mustard seed, and three tablespoonfuls celery seed. Chop all fine together, put in layers, one of tomatoes and onions and one of salt, using in all a half cupful of salt.

Let stand over night. In the morning squeeze dry and put on to boil in two quarts of vinegar. Cook until tender, when nearly done, add one pound of sugar, put in cans and seal.

Green Beans Pickles.--"Green beans with the strings taken off and placed in a kettle, salted and cooked until tender, then place in jars, fill with good cider vinegar and seal tightly."

[CANNING, PICKLING AND PRESERVING 841]

PRESERVES.

1. Rhubarb Preserve.--1/4 lb. almond or walnut meats, chopped, 3 lbs.

rhubarb, 3 lbs. sugar, rind and juice of 2 lemons, boil until thick. Serve with meats.

2. Preserved Pears.--Pare the fruit and drop into a bowl of cold water to preserve the color. When all are pared, put into a pan of clear, cold water, and boil until almost tender. Make a syrup of the water in which the pears were boiled, allowing one pound of sugar to each half pint of water. Drop the pears into the syrup and cook them slowly until they can be pierced with a silver fork. Put the fruit into hot jars and cover with boiling syrup. Seal.

3. Fig and Rhubarb Preserve.--Wash dry and cut up three pounds of figs and seven pounds of rhubarb, put them into a basin, add six pounds of sugar, one cupful of water, two heaping teaspoonfuls of ground ginger and the juice of two large lemons. Cover and leave for twelve hours. Boil for half an hour. Divide into jars and cover. This is an excellent preserve and keeps well.

4. Preserved Cherries.--Select large, rich, red cherries; stone and weigh them, adding three-fourths of a pound of sugar for each pound of fruit.

After the stones have been taken out, allow them to stand in a stone jar over night; in the morning put them in a preserving kettle and cook until clear. Put in gla.s.s tumblers and cover the tops when cool with melted paraffin, before putting on covers.

5. Strawberry Preserves.--The fruit for this must be solid, and must be used as soon as they are gotten ready, and not sugared down. To one pound of sugar add one pound of fruit. Use just enough water to keep them from sticking, and put fruit, sugar and water all on at the same time, and let them cook twenty minutes. Then spread on flat dishes and set in sun for three or four days, and then put in gla.s.s jars. They will need no more heating or cooking. These are considered fine.

6. Lemon b.u.t.ter.--Take two nice large lemons, grate the rind and use the juice, two eggs, two cups of sugar, small lump of b.u.t.ter. Boil ten minutes in double boiler.

[842 MOTHERS' REMEDIES]

7. Apple Preserves.--Make a syrup of three-fourths pound of sugar to each pound of apples. Add a little lemon juice or sliced lemon; keep skimming this as it boils, and put in only a few apples at a time into the syrup, and boil until they are transparent; skim out and put in a jar. When the apples are done, boil the syrup down thick, then pour boiling hot over the apples and cover closely. Well flavored fruit, not easily broken, should be selected.

8. Apricot Preserves.--Pare the fruit very thin and stone it. Place the fruit in a porcelain or granite kettle, first a layer of fruit, then a layer of sugar, using pound for pound of sugar. Let this stand in the kettle for a day. The next day boil very gently until they are clear. Then place the fruit in a large pan or bowl and pour the liquor over them. The following day pour the liquor into a quart of codlin liquor, this being made by boiling and straining a pound of fine sugar with just enough water to make a syrup. Let the whole boil quickly until it will jelly. Put the fruit into it and bring to a boil, being careful to remove all the sc.u.m.