Page:Art of Cookery 1774 edition.djvu/300

262. Cover it close, and let them stand a fortnight; then pour them out of the pot, wipe them in the jar with the pickle, as above. If you have the best sugar vinegar of your own making, you need to boil it the first year, but pour it on cold; and the next year, if any remains, boil it up again, skim it, put fresh spice to it, and it will do again.

TAKE what quantity of cucumbers you think fit, and put them in a stone jar, then take as much spring-water as you think will cover them: to every gallon of water put as much salt as will make it bear and egg; set it on the fire, and let it boil two or three minutes, then pour it on the cucumbers and cover them with a woollen cloth, and over that a pewter dish; tie them down close, and let them stand twenty-four hours; then take them out, lay them in a cloth, and another over them to dry them. When they are pretty dry, wipe your jar out with a dry cloth, put your cucumbers, and with them a little dill and fennel, a very small quantity. For the pickle, to every three quarts of vinegar one quart of spring-water, till you think you have enough to cover them; put in a little bay-salt, and a little white, but not too much. To every gallon of pickle put one nutmeg cut in quarters, a quarter of an ounce of cloves, a quarter of an ounce of mace, a quarter of an ounce of whole pepper, and a large race of ginger sliced; boil all these together in a bell-metal or copper pot, pour it boiling hot on your cucumbers, and cover them as before. Let them stand two days, then boil your pickle again, and pour it on as before; do so a third time; when they are cold cover them with a bladder and then a leather. Mind always to keep your pickles close covered, and never take them out with any thing your pickles close covered, and never take them out with any thing but a wooden spoon, or one for the purpose. This pickle will do the next year, only boiling it up again.

You are to observe to put the spice in the jar with the cucumbers, and only boil the vinegar, water, and salt, and pour over them. The boiling of your spice in all pickles spoils them, and loses the flavour of the spice.

TAKE the large cucumbers before they are too ripe, slice them the thickness of crown pieces in a pewter-dish; to every dozen of cucumbers slice two large onions thin, and so on till