CUCUMBERS 257 



proportioned to the acreage of cucumbers grown. Small tanks or 

 large casks can be used instead of 1 5oo-bushel tanks. The brine 

 will not freeze readily, and for that reason the shelter of any clean, 

 fairly tight storage building will afford sufficient protection. Those 

 engaged in the production of cucumbers for slicing purposes should 

 provide an equipment sufficient to enable them to care for the prod- 

 uct of their own fields when the shipment of slicing fruits becomes 

 unremunerative. Such stock has a market value and would prob- 

 ably find a ready sale if the practice of salting were to become an 

 established custom among growers. 



Dill pickles. There is another alternative open to growers of 

 cucumbers either for pickling or slicing purposes the preparation 

 of dill pickles, which are much prized and command the highest 

 price among pickles. These can be made from fresh cucumbers as 

 they come from the vines, or from vat stock which has been carried 

 for some time at the salting station. 



Dill pickles from fresh cucumbers are of high quality, but do 

 not keep quite so well as those made from salt stock. In preparing 

 fresh stock for dill purposes, fresh cucumbers as they come from 

 the field are placed in wine casks from which one head has been 

 removed. A layer of pickled dill and I quart of dill spice is placed 

 in the bottom of the barrel. The cucumbers should be assorted 

 carefully as to size, one grade of about 4 inches in length being 

 placed in one receptacle and another grade of approximately 5 

 inches in length in another. After a cask has been filled, a layer of 

 dill is placed over the fruits before the head is replaced. After the 

 cask has been reheaded, the commercial practice is to remove the 

 bung and fill the cask with a 4 5 -degree Baume test brine, adding 

 i pound of porous alum 1 to each 45 gallons of brine. The cucum- 

 bers are left in this brine five days. The first brine is then replaced 

 by a 3O-degree brine, to each 40 gallons of which J- pound of por- 

 ous alum and 4 gallons of 8o-grain vinegar are added, the whole 

 heated to a temperature of 160 degrees before being placed in casks. 



1 Many hygienists and physiological chemists who are charged with the testing 

 of foods to determine their purity and healthfulness discourage the use of alum 

 in any form in food products, regarding it as deleterious to health. Some of the 

 best manufacturers of pickles in this country state that they do not use alum in 

 their preparations. 



