1S75.]' 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



US 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



' Hints on Making Pickles. 



Care slwuld be taken to procure unailiiltcratod 

 viiu'jrar. It is very inisatisraetory Ut inake piekles 

 niili'ss you are stire your vine^^ar is perfei-tly pure. It 

 is lietter to (to souu^ dislanee from lioiue to procure 

 ivlialile vineirar tliaii to use tliat wliieli is not war- 

 i.inlcil free Iruni forcif;ii aciil. Tlic ipianlity of salt 

 \'. ;iU'r used in scaldini^ tlic ve^etalilcs will indicate 

 t lie quantity of vinegar required. .\l»oiit a pound 

 :iiiii a lialf of Bait to a j;allt)n of water is the usual 

 allowance for tliis operation. All vcy:etal)Ics, cxcci)t 

 onions, make lu'ttci- pickles, If youncf and tender. I 

 know a liiily wiio pickled a peck of ycllt)w luittcr 

 heauB, full-i;ro\vn, and lK)U;;ht at the jc^rocery at a 

 fancy price. They were hitflily and cx|iensivcly 

 spiced, tiut when lirouslit to tlu' talile were so toufrli 

 and striiiiry tliat. it was f<mnd iinpossil)le to eat them. 

 Beans are not lit t.o pickle after tlie seed has i-om- 

 meuced to absorb the juices of the pod. Tlie snuilli-r 

 and j;reener bean-pods are, tlic nicer the pickle. Wlien 

 the conditions are riffht, they make as delicious a 

 pickle as can be nuide. 



Very early and t;reen melons make a fine pickle. 

 If they will not snaji otT, rind and all, without 

 ell'ort, tlicy are unfit for use. 



Most liousckecpers differ in their makine: pickles; 

 but if flood vinciiar is used, the spices the same, and 

 the vegetables tender, tlic results will lie nearly the 

 same. It is only a question of time. What I mean 

 is this ; In the lonj^ run it does not matter so mueli 

 what the saltiui; process has been, whether they have 

 been in salt tlirce days, twenty-four hours, or only a 

 few minutes. Very excellent pickles can be made 

 without puttinsT the vegetable in salt at all, but it will 

 take a lonj^er time for the vinefi:ar to penetrate it. 

 The object of putting: vei^etables desij;ned for present 

 vine<;ar-pickliny; in salt and water, is tti extract or re- 

 duce the natural juices of the fruit in order to make 

 room lor tlie vincirar to enter readily. A very little 

 alum dissolved in the vincfjar restores the crispucss 

 lost thniu^h the action of the salt. All young:, tender 

 and green vegetables are adapted to acid pickling, to 

 which sugar would be inappropriate ; but ripe vege- 

 tables, which have lost their snap, such as yellow 

 cucumbers, are better when the acid used receives a 

 due proportion of sugar. Pickled fruits are better 

 when tlie sugar predominates over the aeid of the 

 vinegar. Cloves, cinnamon and cassia-buds arc, in 

 my opinion, only adapted to those pickles in which 

 sugar is used. Mace, mustard-seed, capsicums or 

 red pepjiers, green jieppers, garlic, black pepper- 

 corns, ginger-root, ami bay-leaves are best adapted 

 to a purely acid pickle. 



India Pickle. — After peeling and slicing a root of 

 horseradish, chop it fine; also, a half dozen medium- 

 sized onions, three or ftiur green peppers, removing 

 the seeds, and a cabbage. Pour over tiie wiiole, after 

 mixing, a weak brine, and allow it to stand over night. 

 Spice some vinegar with allspice and mace, adding 

 cloves and cinnamon, if you like. Heat the vinegar 

 and spice to boiling, with a small quantity of alum, 

 and tuni it over the pickle. It will be tit to eat in 

 three weeks. 



Young Beans. — Gather them when quite small and 

 tender. Pour over them a brine matlc in the jiropor- 

 tiou of an ounce of salt to a quart of water. It should 

 be scalded. Let them stand over night. Drain oQ' 

 the brine, and pour over hot spiced vinegar, with a 

 trilie of alum. 



Nastcrtiums. — Let them stand in salt and water 

 a few days, when they should be well drained, and 

 ■scalding hot vinegar poured over them. No spice. 

 Put into a uarrow-moutlicd bottle and cork well. 



Pei'Teks, (.tkeen. — Take out the seeds. Soak 

 them for a few days in salt and water. Then pour 

 over them hot vinegar. They are good when opcncil 

 carefully on the side, stufled with cabbage, and then 

 put into vinegar. 



Manooes arc made of young and tender melons 

 gathered late in the season. Cut out a small slice, 

 reniove the' seedy portion. Stuff with small cucum- 

 ber, radish-jKids, nasturtiums, young cauliflower, or 

 anything you Mice, using mustard seed as a spice; 

 alxlut a teaspoonful put inside of each melon ; replace 

 the piece and tie it on. Tlic melons and stulling in- 

 gredients should be soaked in brine lor two days be- 

 fore fixing them for the vinegar. Pour the vinegar 

 over them scalding hot, with a piece of alum as large 

 as a hickory nut to a gallon. 



Peaciies, scalded in salt and water, thoroughly 

 wiped, and hot spiced vinegar poured over llicin, make 

 a good pickle. 



PnKi'i,E,oRRED Cabbage. — Takeoff all the tough 

 outside leaves, slice them thinly and evenly, put them 

 in layers, and sprinkle salt freely over each layer, and 

 let them remain twenty-four hours. Drain the cab- 

 bage well. Boil up some vinegar and add alum, and 

 spice to your taste, and pour hot over it. Repeat this 

 process for three or four days. 



Ghehkins.— Scald in salt and water. Drain and 

 pour hot spiced vinegar over them. 



CutuMBEits. — There are many different methods 

 for putting up this fine pickle ; almost all arc good. 

 From two to four inches long, and as thick as the 



finger, is the best size. The qulckergrown the belter. 

 One way is to give them a good scald-up In brine, 

 wipe, and jiour over spiced hot vinegar. Another is 

 to soak them in hot salt ami water twenty-four hours, 

 and then pickle them. You may put them in salt and 

 water as you pick tlicni, and finish tlictii when they 

 are all collected from the vines. .Scalding several 

 tiinCBwill make them grcenand brittle. I'cp|iers and 

 onions improve the flavor. Horseradish and green 

 grapes arc excellent, added to cucumbers, and. In 

 fact, improve pickles generally. 



AiiTiiiioKES, .Jeiutsai.em.— Soak In salt and water 

 for a few days, or until the skin can be removed. Hub 

 off the skin, and pour boiling spiced vinegar fiver 

 them. Let them stand in the vinegar four or five 

 days, scald up again, and repeal this until the arti- 

 chokes arc thoroughly [lickled. 



Onions. — The best time to pickle onions Is in Octo- 

 ber. Small button (niions arc the best. Cut off the 

 end smoothly with a sharp knife. Pour a strong, hot 

 lye ovir them. Let them stand until the skin is loose. 

 Pour off the lye, and wash tlicin in dear water before 

 ]>utting in the hands. The skin may now he readily 

 remtived. When skinned, pour over tlicin a good 

 brine, and let them stand a week, or until they are 

 transparent. Drain and iiour boiling vinegar over 

 thcin. They need very little, if any spice. Ifnoteon- 

 vcnient to use lye, the roots and lops may tic <'Ul off 

 smoollil}', and the salt and water put over them be- 

 fore the skin is taken olf. In that ease they will not 

 alfect the eyes in the usual uiqilcasant manner. 



Cauliploweus should be ])arlioiled,cut ititosmall 

 pieces, and allowed to stand in a brine a few days. 

 They may then be drained, and spiced vinegar poured 

 over. They may be colored with beet-root, vinegar, 

 or, if added to the red cabbage, they will turn of the 

 samecolor as the cabbage. 



PEAf'ii Mangoes. — Cut off a slice from the slalk- 

 cnd large enough to allow the stone to tjc removed. 

 They may then be filled with a few esculents, a little 

 horseradish, or chillies, ailding spice. Keplace the 

 piece, and jiour over scalding-hol vinegar. — Aincriam 

 Agriculturist. 



• 



Getting Up a Relish. 



AtJNT Prudence, in the American Grocer, says 

 there is one branch of cookery which is rather apt to 

 be overlooked, and that is the preparation and sup- 

 ply of some one nice, semi-hearty dish for tea — some 

 relish, as it is very rightly called, some dish which 

 may be either hot or cold, but which must be either 

 salt or sour, and which will give tone to the bread 

 and butter and cake which are ordinary staples of 

 the tea table. Salads come as near satisfying all 

 tastes as it is possible to do, and are by no means as 

 tinwholesome as is generally supposed. Sweet oil, 

 which is the only ingredient which can be called rich, 

 is rather wholesome than otherwise, and a properly 

 made salad should not disagree with any one. Cream 

 is a very good stibstitute for oil in the preparation of 

 a salad dressing, and fresh, sweet butter is even bet- 

 ter — neither of which disagree witli dyspctirs, and 

 both of which are easily procured in country places 

 where good sweet oil is scarce and dear. There is 

 always something left in the cupboard which will dti 

 for a salad, if it is only a dish of cold potatoes. If 

 there is a slice or two of cold meat, or a bit of cold 

 fish, or a iilate of cold string beans, cold beets, a few 

 leaves of lettuce, a dish of cold greens ; in short, the 

 list is so long of things which make a good salad, 

 that it is ditlicult to go amiss among the usual house- 

 hold supplies. 



We will suppose that you have only cold potatoes. 

 In that case chop them finelj' and heap them in the 

 centre of a platter. Take an even teaspoonful of 

 ground mustard and a saltsjioon of salt, and mix 

 them to a paste with vinegar. It is best to use a 

 fiirk for this, and to mix in a soup plate. Now add 

 a yelk of one egg, being careful not to allow the 

 white of the egg to follow ; that you can reserve for 

 your coffee the next- lime you brown it. Stir the yelk 

 throughly through the mustard, and begin to add 

 sweet oil in small portions, not more than a teaspoon- 

 ful at once, but add constantly as you mix. If the 

 dressing ticcomes to<i hard or looks stringy, aild a 

 spoonful of vinegar from time to time, but not often. 

 It should become a light, creamy mass, and it will If 

 it is properly stirreil ; and you go on ailding oil and 

 vinegar until j'ou have the necessary quantity, when 

 you taste to see If it is suflicicntly salt or sour, and 

 if not, add either salt or vinegar as 30U wish. Pour 

 this mixture over the potatoes, smoothing It with a 

 knife blade. 



Now, if jou wish to Impress your family with the 

 idea that this is something very fine, you had better 

 make a Inmler of crisp lettuce leaves around the salad 

 by pushing the stems of the leaves undcrnealh, and 

 if you can find a stray radish in the ganlen, cut it in 

 thin slices and lay them in figures over tlie surface. 

 The half of on onion, minced very fine and mixed 

 with the potatoes, is to the masculine palate a great 

 addition to the above dish. A herring split Into fibres 

 and ailded will also meet with general favor. And, 

 in short, dear housewives, this plain potato salad is 

 the canvas, the groundwork for embroidery, the 

 field u|Hm w hieh you may exercise your fancy and 

 your genius. 



If you have a slice of cold corned beef or ham, or 

 cold lamb or mutton, chop them and add to I lie po- 

 tatoes. If you have a cucumber, slice that and put 

 it In the dish. If you have cold beans, use them 

 alone with bread crumbs; and, in short, make your 

 salad of what you please, but make II w ell, and when 

 your masculines enjoy it, [loint out to them that It Is 

 only one of the tlrucer'n benefits to them. 



We shall treat of this subject of tea dishes in sev- 

 eral of our future iiumberH, and if any of our readers 

 have any new or favorite dishes of thisclass, we ho|«3 

 tliey wlil give us and the community the beucflt of 

 their knowledge. 



The Borgias of our Kitchens. 



Oh, woman ! heaven's last, best gift to the kitchen, 

 must you and your dHUghlers still continue to mar- 

 shal faniilicK the salcratUH way to dyspepsia? Can 

 you never learn that th<' gridiron and the clear, glow- 

 ing bi lis ofcoals, whereon St. Lawrence himself would 

 have di cmi-d it a luxury to be broiled, better benefit 

 the lordly steak nnriiaceratc<l with the brutal |K'Stlc, 

 uneontaminaled with factory lanl, and will B<Kiiicr 

 woo it to turn to'palc pink, delicate anilHT ami len- 

 der brown (with a sensitive elevation at llie corners, 

 forming a lent ral chalice for the reception and pre- 

 servation of its own juices) than the frying pan, ac- 

 cursed of (itxl and ulihorred of men? Know you not 

 that by thinly slicing potatoes — not left over from 

 yest<rday's noon-ilay dinner — into cold water, wiping 

 the same dry in a towel, dusting them with |)ep|H'r and 

 salt, frying them In iKiIling lard, and as soon as they 

 put on the rich golden brown hue of a Cuban belle, 

 removing and draining them, you can compa.ss that 

 which, at Saratoga, has brought fame and fortune to 

 the artistic restaurateur? Is it not in you to pour 

 boiling water on your coffee, and set the |>ot over a 

 shovelful of embers in the heart h-lxix, where It will 

 just simmer and not boil ? Can your finer female 

 sense not ap|)rcliend the dilTerence between fanning a 

 smokeless lire with a generous slice of bread till the 

 surface of the latter turns delicately goMen, then 

 brushing the same with fresh butter, ami burning 

 bread 011 the top of a dirty stove, then swatibing It In 

 melted, rancid olcti-margarine ? Alas! if ex|H;rience 

 can be relied on, we fear not. Priseilla is joined to 

 her saleratus and frying-pan; let her alone. — A^ew 

 York World. 



Canning Peaches. 



People's tastes differ so widely in respect to the 

 quality of fruit, especially after it is canneil, that to 

 state iKisltively which are the best varieties would be 

 pleasing a few and disap|iointing many others. 

 Among whlte-fiesheil peaches, liowever, one of the 

 most attractive and highest flavored is undoubtedly 

 Stumivthe-WorM, and it seems to combine all the re- 

 quisites for canning as well. Wanl's Late Is, next In 

 our judgment ; and for a cling-stone to preserve whole 

 nothing can surpass the old Late Heath. Among 

 yellow-fleshed varieties, (and by the way these are far 

 richer than the others) the Crawford's Late is ilecld- 

 edly the best we have tested, (lossessing size, quality, 

 appearance, and the lateness of the season to recom- 

 mend it . Crawforil's Karly may come next , hut it is not 

 c(|ual to its namesake. .\ go<Ki reei|K' foreanning is as 

 follows : Use quart cans; place the [x-aches in lioiling 

 water, sulHcicnt to fill a jar at one time, and let them 

 come to a boil ; have a sirup ready, boiling hot, made 

 of two pounds of sugar to a half pint of water ; take 

 the peaches out with a skimmer, draining them as dry 

 as [xissible ; when c<ioked slightly put them into the 

 jars, fill the interstices with simp, and fasten at once. 

 Then^ is entirely tiKi much work generally bestowed 

 niKin the operation. The simpler it is to be effective, 

 the better for the fruit when canned. — N. Y. Trib. 



CooKiNO Rice : Beckt, writing to the German- 

 town Telegraph, says: " You askeil me the otherday 

 something about cooking rice so as to preserve the 

 grains separately and at the sametime to lie perfectly 

 done. I have no diflienlty In doing this, and rleo 

 ought to becooked in no other way. I wash the rice 

 thoroughly in cold water, then put intolMiiling water, 

 and allow it to Uiil from fifteen tti twenty minutes. 

 To ascertain wfien projH'rly d*)ne, a grain rulibetl l>e- 

 tween thumb and linger should disappear. Put the 

 rice ill a colan<ler to drain, followeil by a cup of cold 

 water. After draining, n-turn the rice to the sauce- 

 pan, keep covered mar the fire, and you will find it 

 whole and ready for the talile. 



"I make a very palatable rice-dumpling after the 

 following receipt : Pick and wash in colil water as 

 mucli rice as may be needed, and boil it gently In 

 water that intist be boiling when the rice is put In, 

 until the water is ab.sorbni. There shouM be two 

 quarts of water to a ]>ound of rice. Keep the pot 

 covered, but do not stir it . When done, take off and 

 spread the rice on an inverted sieve, loosening the 

 grains lightly with a fork so that all the moisture 

 may eva|Hirate. Pare and core as many soliil, juicy 

 apples — a dozen for a |iound of rice — as you may de- 

 sire; fill the cavity with marmalade or jam; then 

 cover each apple over with rice, lie up in a cloth and 

 put into a [Kit of cold water. After the water IkiIIs, 

 let boil for from an hour to an hour and a quarter." 



