Page:Art of Cookery 1774 edition.djvu/301

Rh you have filled your dish, with a handful of salt between every row: then cover them with another pewter-dish, and let them stand twenty-flour hours, then put them in a cullender, and let them drain very well; put them in a jar, cover them over with white wine vinegar, and let them stand flour hours; pour the vinegar from them into a copper sauce-pan, and boil it with a little salt; put to the cucumbers a little mace, a little whole pepper, a large race of ginger sliced, and then pour the boiling vinegar on. Cover them close, and when they are cold, tie them down. They will be fit to eat in two or three days.

TAKE the largest asparagus you can get, cut off the white ends, and wash the green ends in spring-water, then put them in another clean water, and let them lie tow or three hours in it; then have a large broad stew-pan full of spring water, with a good large handful of salt; set it on the fire, and when it boils put in the grass, not tied up, but loose, and not too many at a time, for fear you break the heads. Just scald them, and no more, take them out with a broad skimmer, and lay them on a cloth to coo. Then for your pickle: to a gallon of vinegar put one quart of spring-water, and a handful of bay-salt; let them boil, and put your asparagus in your jar; to a gallon of pickle, two nutmegs, a quarter of an ounce of mace, the same of whole white pepper, and pour the pickle hot over them. Cover them with a linen cloth three or four times double, let them stand a week, and boil the pickle. Let them stand a week longer, boil the pickle again, and pour it on hot as before. When they are cold, cover them up close with a bladder and leather.

TAKE your peaches when they are at their full growth, just before they turn to be ripe; be sure they are not bruised; then take spring-water, as much as you think will cover them, make it salt enough to bear an egg, with bay and common salt, an equal quantity each; then put in your peaches and lay a thin board over them to keep them under the water. Let them stand three days, and then take them out and wipe them very carefully with a fine soft cloth, and lay them in your glass or jar: to every gallon put one pint of the best well-made mustard, two or three heads of garlick, a good deal of ginger sliced, half an ounce of cloves, mace, and nutmeg; mix your pickle well