PREPARATION OF PICKLES AND MUSTARD. 421 



strong brine. They are then laid upon fruit hurdles to com- 

 pletely dry in the air, and finally brought into the bottles which 

 must be nearly filled. The interspaces are then filled up with 

 hot-spiced vinegar, and the bottles immediately corked, and, when 

 cold, sealed. Strong vinegar must be used, the manufacturers gen- 

 erally employing wine-vinegar, known in commerce as No. 24. 

 Fruit-vinegar, clarified and spiced and evaporated to three- 

 fourths its volume, also answers very well. Pickles for immediate 

 use are soaked in hot brine, but as a commercial article they must 

 be treated with cold brine only. Moreover, hot brine must not be 

 used for fruits of a soft and juicy nature such as cabbage and cauli- 

 flower ; and besides cold or only slightly heated vinegar should be 

 poured over such articles. Soft and delicate fruits must, as a rule, 

 not remain as long in the brine as hard and coarse-fibred ones ; and 

 the softest are most advantageously pickled by pouring cold spiced 

 vinegar over them. The same may be said of red beets and other 

 roots which are cut into strips. Sometimes the spice is put whole 

 into the bottle, but it is better and more economical to bring it 

 powdered into the vinegar while heating the latter, or if the 

 vinegar is to be used cold, to previously boil the powdered spice 

 in a small portion of the vinegar, and when cold add it to the 

 rest. The spiced vinegar is prepared as follows : 



To 1 quart of vinegar add 2-J ounces of salt, J ounce of black 

 pepper, and 2J ounces of ginger. Let the mixture boil up once 

 or twice in an enamelled iron pot, filter through a flannel cloth, 

 and pour the liquid, hot or cold, over the fruits. 



For a more strongly spiced vinegar reduce in a mortar 2 ounces 

 of black pepper, 1 ounce of ginger, and J drachm of cayenne 

 pepper, and for walnuts, 1 ounce of eschalots, and add to the mix- 

 ture in a stoneware pot 1 pint of vinegar, and tie up the pot with 

 a bladder. Place the pot for three days near the fire, shaking it 

 several times, and then pour the contents upon the fruits by al- 

 lowing it to run through a filtering cloth. 



In the preparation of pickles the use of metallic vessels must be 

 avoided, the vinegar as well as the brine dissolving copper, brass, 

 and zinc, and becoming thereby poisonous. Ordinary earthen 

 pots should also be mistrusted. Stoneware pots, which can be 

 heated in a water-bath or upon a stove, are best for the purpose. 



