PICKLES. Although the term pickled is applied to animal substances, such as beef, pork, fish, etc., preserved in salt, yet pickles are generally understood to be the various parts of vegetables preserved in vinegar. The process employed is first to wash the articles intended for pickles in clean cold water, and afterwards to soak them for a few days in a strong solution of salt in water. They are next taken out, and if fruits or roots, dried in a cloth; but if vegetables, such as cauliflower, etc., they must he well drained, and then placed in the vessels intended to hold them, a few peppercorns, or any other spice which is suitable, being sprinkled in from time to time. When the ves sel is so far filled that it will hold no more, boiling vinegar is poured in until it is quite full, and tightly covered up. Many persons prefer to boil the spices, of whatever kind used, in the vinegar; and, some add the vinegar cold to such vegetables or fruit as are of a naturally soft substabe, because, except in the case of green walnuts, and one or two other fruits, extreme softness is objectionable in pickles. When the materials to be pickled are naturally green, as in the case of gherkins or small cucumbers, French beans, etc., it is considered very desirable to preserve their color as much as possible; and it is sometimes very successfully accomplished by steeping vine, cabbage, spinach, or parsley leaves in the vinegar, by which their color is imparted through the vinegar to the pickles, But this requires great care and patience, more, indeed, than is generally thought worth applying to it, and dealers consequently resort to very reprehensible methods of coloring their pickles, such as boiling the vinegar in copper vessels, and thereby forming an acetate of copper, which is green; or even directly adding that salt to the pickles. Many serious accidents have resulted from the presence of this poison.
The principal pickles made in this country are cabbage, almost always made fn m the red variety; to this is frequently added slices of 'beet-root, which are an agreeable addi tion, and improve the color. The celebrated Spanish pickle is a mixture of the red cabbage and slices of the large Spanish onion. Some housewives, in their efforts to out rival their neighbors, add a little cochineal to improve the color. The spices eensidered most suitable for pickled cabbage are white and black peppercorns. ginger, and mace.— Cauliflowers. Only the flower portion, with its white branches, is used. and in other respects they are treated as cabbage.—Gherkins, or very young cucumbers. These require the same spicds as the cabbage; but much care is required to keep as well as pos sible their green color. This pickle is the one which British cooks and housewives most upon making well; and almost every one has sonic particuiar plan for tts preparation. A very much approved method is to soak the gherkins in a brine, com
posed of six ounces of salt to the quart of water for 24 hours, then drain or dry in a cloth, place them in jars, and pour in the pickle, composed of vinegar, with an addition to each quart of one ounce salt, black peppercorns a quarter of an ounce, one ounce of ginger slightly bruised, tone or two blades of mace, and a dozen bay-leaves. After soaking two days, they are set on the fire until they simmer, and then replaced in the jars, which must be well corked, and covered with skin, to exclude the air.—French beans. Time young green pods are prepared in the same way as gherkins.—Onions and eschalots are carefully peeled, and, after two days steeping in brine, covered with boiling vinegar, to which the spice, usually black peppercorns, has been added. A small variety of onion, called the silver-skin, is generally used.— Walnuts. These arc gathered green, and so tender that a pin can easily be pushed through them: they are useless when the shell has begun to form. They require at least a week's steeping in the brine. The vinegar must be poured on them boiling hot. The spices used are peppercorns, mace, ginger, and sometimes a little garlic and are sometimes pickled only in brine, and are very useful for gravies, etc., in wintertime. They are also preserved in vinegar, and must be washed in salt and water quickly, and then boiled in the vine gar, to which, besides the spices, a small quantity of salt is added.—Eadurtiums. The young green fruit or seeds of the nasturtium plant, or greater Indian cress (Tropccoleum nasturtium), make a most excellent pickle, which is an admirable substitute for the for eign capers in sauces for various dishes, and alone is an agreeable pickle.—Several kinds of mixed pickles are made, the chief of which is one called picalilly or "Indian pickle," which consists of a mixture of cucumber, cauliflowers, etc., with a considerable quantity of mustard-seed, and flour of mustard used as a spice, which gives it a bright yellow, color.
Of the foreign pickles imported from other countries, we have the unopened buds of the beautiful plant eapparis spinosa, called capers; olives, pickled both in brine and vin egar, but chiefly in the former —both from southern Europe. From tropical countries every variety of the capsicum—green shoots of bamboo—and the fruit of the mango, which is in lunch esteem wherever it is known, notwithstanding a turpentine flavor, which is not agreeable at first. Besides these, there are numerous other pickles of less importance, almost every soft part of wholesome vegetables being adapted to this mode of preparation. Pickles generally are considered provocatives to appetite, and if used judiciously, and made properly, are wholesome and agreeable additions to our food.