Pickles should never be kept in potter's ware, as arsenic and other poisonous substances are used in the glazing; and this is sometimes decomposed by vinegar. Whole families have been poisoned in this way; and where fatal effects do not follow, a deleterious influence may be operating upon the health, from this cause, when it is not suspected. Pickles should be made with cider vinegar.

Cucumbers.

Wash and drain them in a sieve, but take care not to break the little prickles upon them, as the effect will be to make them soft. Lay them in a jar, pour boiling vinegar upon them and cover them close. The next time you gather any, take those from the jar, and put them into that in which they are to be kept, in fresh vinegar having a very little salt in it, and a small bag of spices. Take the vinegar from the first jar, boil it again, pour it upon the fresh cucumbers, and transfer them like the first to the larger jar, the next time you have a new quantity to boil. When you have gathered all you wish for, put a brass or bell-metal kettle[14] over the fire, with the vinegar in it which you have so often boiled, and add a little more to it,—no matter if it is not sharp. Lay in your pickles and scald them a few minutes. Take them out with a large skimmer, draining them, and lay them back into the jar of spiced vinegar. Look at them occasionally; they may need a little more vinegar. Keep them covered close.

Mangoes.

Select small musk-melons (the common kind are much better for this purpose than cantelopes); cut an oval piece out of one side. You must have a sharp knife, and be careful to make a smooth incision. Take out the seeds with a teaspoon. Fill the melons with a stuffing made of cloves, mustard-seed, pepper-corns, scrapings of horseradish, and chopped onion if you like it. Sew on the piece with a needle and coarse thread, or bind a strip of old cotton around each one and sew it. Lay them in a jar, and pour boiling vinegar on them with a little salt in it. Do it two or three times, then lay them in fresh vinegar and cover them close.

Peaches.

Select peaches that are ripe, yet not quite soft enough to eat; push a clove into each one at the end opposite the stem. Put two pounds of brown sugar to a gallon of vinegar, and boil it up; skim off the top, boil it up once more, and pour it, hot, upon the peaches. Cover them close.

It may be necessary to scald the vinegar again in a week or two; after that, they will keep any length of time. They retain much of the flavor of a fresh peach.

Nasturtiums.

Gather the seeds while green, let them lie a few days, then throw them into vinegar. They need no spice except a little salt, being themselves sufficiently spicy. Boil the vinegar and pour on them. They are considered by many persons better than capers, and are much like them. They should be kept six months, covered close, before they are used.

Eggs.

Boil them twelve minutes, and throw them immediately into cold water, which will cause the shell to come off easily. Boil some red beets till very soft, peel and mash them fine, and put them into cold vinegar enough to cover the eggs; add salt, pepper, cloves, and nutmeg. Put the eggs into a jar and pour the mixture over them.

Peppers.

Take fresh, hard peppers, soak them in salt and water nine days, changing the brine each day. Let them stand in a warm place. Then put them into cold vinegar. If you wish them very hot, leave in the seeds. If not, take out the seeds of the greatest part of them. If peppers are put into the same jar with cucumbers, the entire strength of them will go into the cucumbers, and they themselves will become nearly tasteless. Half a dozen peppers will improve a jar of cucumbers.

Butternuts.

Gather them between the twenty-fifth and thirtieth of June. Make a brine of boiled salt and water, strong enough to bear up an egg after it is cold. Skim it while it boils. Pour it on the nuts, and let them lie in it twelve days. Then drain them; lay them in a jar, and pour over them the best of cider vinegar, boiled with pepper-corns, cloves, allspice, mustard, ginger, mace, and horseradish. This should be cooled before it is poured on. Cover close, and keep them a year before using them. Walnuts are done in the same way. The vinegar becomes an excellent catsup, by many persons preferred to any other.

Martinias.

Gather them when they are rather small, and so tender that you can run the head of a pin into them. Wipe off the down and put them into a cold, weak brine. Keep them in brine nine days, changing it every other day. Make a pickle of vinegar, allspice, cloves, mace, nutmegs, and cinnamon. Take the martinias out of the brine, wipe them, and lay them into a stone jar; pour the mixture of vinegar and spice, boiling hot, over them; cover them close, and let them stand one month, and they will be fit for use. There can be no finer pickle than this, and the plant is so prolific, that half a dozen seeds will produce enough to fill a large jar.

Tomatoes.

See page 170.

Plums, Peaches, Cherries, or Tomatoes.

Four quarts of cider vinegar, five pounds of sugar, a quarter of a pound of cinnamon, and two ounces of clove, to seven pounds of fruit. Scald the vinegar and sugar together, and take off the scum; add the spices and boil it up again, and pour it immediately upon the fruit. Scald the vinegar twice more at intervals of three or four days, and cover the jar close after it is poured in.

A less expensive way is found to be very good. Put four pounds of sugar to eight of fruit, half the quantity of spice, a spoonful of salt, and one also of powdered allspice.