I. VEGETABLES. 5 



and kept entirely covered with it. French beans, artichokes, 

 olives, and the different sorts of samphire are thus preserved. 



Some sweet-scented flowers, as rose or elder flowers, are pre- 

 served by dry salt. Two pounds of brown or bay salt are added 

 to each eight gallons of flowers, and the whole beaten to a paste, 

 which is kept in a close vessel. By this means, the chemists and 

 perfumers are not only enabled to distil rose or elder flower- 

 water at any time of the year, but the scent is also much im- 

 proved. 



Many vegetables are pickled in vinegar, and kept in the shops. 

 The vegetables are usually soaked in salt and water for some 

 hours, then drained, spices added to counteract the coldness of the 

 vmegar, and boiling vinegar poured upon them ; in a few days 

 the vinegar is poured off*, boiled a little with the spices, and then 

 poured on again : if the vinegar is good, and the substances are 

 not too moist, it is sufficient to pour it cold upon them, and keep 

 the vessel closely covered. The white vinegar, or pyroligneous 

 acid, much diluted, may be used still more advantageously. 



In preserving fruits in si/?'up, it is necessary to consider the 

 manner in which the several degrees of strength in syrup is judged 

 of in boiling. If moist sugar is used, the syrup must be clarified 

 with white of eggs ; but if refined sugar is used, it need only be 

 melted over the fire in a quarter, or at most one third its weight 

 of water, and as the water evaporates, the syrup must be taken 

 up with a large slice, and let to fall into the pan again. If, 

 during this manipulation, it forms a broad sheet as it falls, it is 

 said to be boiled to a candy height, and will exhibit when taken 

 from the fire, but still warm, 36 deg. of Baume's hydrometer : if 

 it has not been boiled quite so far, the sheet is formed but imper- 

 fectly, and it exhibits a smaller number of degrees ; it is then said 

 to be boiled to a weak candy height. In shaking the slice of syrup, 

 when in this state, it runs over in the form of the feathers of a 

 quill, or drops in the manner of pearls, which being received in a 

 glass of water, ought to fall to the bottom in solid and brittle 

 globules. If the boiling is continued a little longer, these effects 

 are produced in a more perfect manner, and the syrup exhibits 

 37 aeg. by the hydrometer ; it is then said to be boiled to a full 

 candy height : if it be now stirred until it is cold, it forms a dry 

 powdery mass. As all the water is now evaporated, if the sugar 

 IS continued on the fire, it will turn red, and acquire a burnt 

 taste. The powdering of the sugar renders the syrup made from 

 it thick and turbid ; it should therefore be put into the water in 

 a single lump. 



To preserve fruits, then, the syrup is boiled to a weak candy 

 height, and poured hot upon the fruit so as to cover it ; the juice 

 of the fruit of course weakens the syrup, which must, therefore, 



