PICKLED VEGETABLES, NUTS, AND FRUITS To Pickle Tomatoes.—Slice I peck green tomatoes, bring to a boil gal lon of any good spiced pickling liq uid, and put the tomatoes to boil in this for a quarter of an hour. When cold pack away in tubs or jars and seal.
Or slice 1 peck of green tomatoes; sprinkle with salt. Let stand two days. Slice and salt separately 12 medium-sized onions. Mix in a bowl 4 ounces of mustard, ounce of mus tard seed, 1 ounce of cloves, 2 ounces of turmeric, and add garlic, capsi cum, or paprika to flavor if desired. Put in a preserving kettle a layer of onions, sprinkle with mixed spice, then a layer of tomatoes and spice, and so on. When all are paaed pour over them boiling vinegar and sim mer for about two hours until the color is satisfactory.
Or slice green pickles and place them in a colander. Steam in a ket tle of boiling water until they are soft, place in jars, cover with any good pickling liquid cold. Let stand twenty-four hours, draw off the liq uor, bring it to a boil and pour over the pickles scalding hot.
Or gather the tomatoes when they are turning red, but before they are dead ripe. Pack them in jars whole and without peeling, sprinkle mixed spices with a little bay salt at the rate of about a cupful to a gallon. Pour over them cold cider vinegar and seal.
Or pour over 1 bushel of whole to matoes a quantity of boiling water. Let stand until cold, pour off the water, skin the tomatoes, place them in Et preserving kettle and boil until they are soft. Stir in mixed spices. Lay down the tomatoes in jars and seal to exclude the air.
Pickled Onions.—To prepare onions for pickling, " top and tail " them, remove the outer skins and steep them in brine for a period of two or three days, to two weeks or more. Afterwards freshen them in clear water for a period of one to three days.
Or if preferred, boil them in clear water or brine for ten or fifteen min utes. Afterwards pack them in wide mouthed glass bottles or jars, and cover with pure vinegar or spiced pickling liquid scalding hot or cold. When cold seal for use. The addition
of a spoonful of olive oil to each bot tle is said to keep the onions white. Cork tightly and cover the corks with bottle wax or melted paraffin. Seal with cotton batting.
To Select Pickling Onions.—Choose for pickling small silver-skin button onions, preferably of uniform size. Gather them when they are quite dry and ripe and pick them over care fully, rejecting any that are soft, un ripe, or spotted.
To Pickle Onions Cold.—Place the onions in a clean, dry glass bottle or jar, cover them with cold vinegar and add mixed spices as preferred. Add a little mustard seed, mace, and cap sicum, or allspice and black pepper unground or grated, or sliced horse radish or garlic, capsicum and pa prika, if desired. Seal the bottle and let stand two or three weeks before using. Onions are very easily pickled in this way and have an exquisite flavor, but will not keep more than about six or eight months.
To Pickle Onions with Brine.— Cover the onions with cold brine and let stand two weeks or more, or steep in strong brine for one week, then heat the brine and pour it over them scalding hot.
Or pour over them at once strong and hot brine and let stand two or three days. After steeping in brine drain through a colander, freshen in clear water for tvventy-four hours, pour off the water and lay them on a dry cloth to drain. Pack them in jars or bottles and cover with spiced pickling liquid boiling hot. Cork tightly and seal.
Or pour over them cold pickling liquid or cold vinegar and seal.
Pickled Cabbage.—Select firm, ripe heads of either white or red cabbage, or mix the two. Quarter them, re move the outside leaves, and let them dry. Shred them as for cold slaw and lay them down in a suitable jar between layers of salt. Cover with strong spiced pickling liquid and seal.
Or shred the cabbage, place it in a preserving kettle or suitable j ars, and cover with boiling water. Let stand until cold. Drain. Add mixed spices and cover with cold vinegar, or cover with spiced picklirig liquid.