Home and Farm Food Preservation

A great many products may be grouped under the heading of pickles and relishes. Directions for the home manufacture of the most important of these are given in the following recipes. The principles involved will be found in Chap. XVI, pars. 98-102, inclusive.

(105) Cucumber Pickles in Vinegar.

1. Choose small cucumbers.

2. Prepare a brine of 2 lbs. of salt per gallon of water. Place the cucumbers in this and keep them submerged with a wooden float. Store in this brine for about 4 weeks. Fermentation will take place and a scum will form. If the pickles become soft, add more salt.

3. After about 4 weeks remove the cucumbers and heat them in a large amount of water to the simmering point for about 20 min. Discard this water and cover with fresh water. Heat to the simmering point; remove from fire and let stand about 2 hours to soak out the excess salt. If the pickles tend to be soft or "flabby," add a tablespoonful of alum per gallon of water. This will harden them and not injure health.

4. Rinse in cold water. Drain. Store in strong cider vinegar of good quality until ready for use. If at any time the pickles soften or mold, place them in fresh vinegar. Pack in wide mouth corked bottles or in jars with glass tops. Do not use metal.

(106) Onion, Green Tomatoes, and Cauliflower Pickles in Vinegar.

1. Place the vegetables in a brine of 3 1/2 lbs. of salt per gallon of water. Store for 4 to 6 weeks or longer keeping them submerged in the brine.

2. Remove and treat as directed for cucumbers in preceding recipes (1), (2), and (3).

(107) Sweet Vegetable Pickles.

1. Prepare the cucumbers, green tomatoes, etc., as directed in Recipes 105 and 106 to the point where they are ready to be placed in the vinegar. Prick the prepared vegetables through and through in several places with silver fork. This will permit the sweet vinegar to penetrate without shrivelling the vegetables. If they are soft, heat them a short time in water containing 1 tablespoonful of alum per gallon.

2. Prepare a sirup as follows:

3 cups of vinegar (1 1/2 pints).
5 cups of sugar (2 1/2 pints), brown sugar is preferred.
1 tablespoonful mace
1 tablespoonful ginger root
2 tablespoonful stick cinnamon
1 tablespoonful whole cloves

Boil the vinegar and spices together slowly for about 5 min.

3. Heat the pickles in the spiced vinegar to boiling and boil about 10 min. Pack boiling hot into glass top jars and seal.

(108) Sweet Fruit Pickles.

1. Peel peaches. They may be left whole or cut in half as desired. Clingstone peaches are the best. Peel pears and cut in half and remove cores. Cherries, plums, and figs should be pricked with a silver fork to permit sirup to penetrate without shrivelling them. Whole Muscat, Tokay or other large grapes may be used. They should be left on the bunch.

2. Prepare a sirup of the following:

3 lbs. of sugar
I pint of water
1 pint of vinegar
1 tablespoonful of ginger root
1 1/2 tablespoonfuls of whole cloves
2 tablespoonful stick cinnamon

3. Place the fruit in this sirup and cook till tender. Allow to stand in the sirup overnight. On the next day pour off the sirup and boil it down until it forms a heavy sirup. If the sirup is thick after standing overnight it will not be necessary to boil it down further. Heat the fruit to boiling in this sirup and pack boiling hot in glass top jars and seal at once.

(109) Sweet Pickled Watermelon Rind.

1. Remove outer peel and cut in pieces of desired size. Boil in salt water (4 tablespoonfuls salt per quart), for 15 min. Rinse in water till the flavor of salt is gone.

2. Place in sirup made according to preceding recipe. Boil till clear, pack hot in jars and seal.

(110) Spiced Green Tomatoes.

1. Prepare a sirup of the following:
4 lbs. of sugar
1 pint of vinegar
1 tablespoonful of cinnamon
1 tablespoonful cloves
1 teaspoonful allspice
1 teaspoonful mace

2. Drop 6 lbs. whole small tomatoes into this sirup and cook until they are clear. Pack boiling hot in jars and seal.

(111) Chowchow.

1. Take and cut in moderate sized pieces:

2 qts. of small cucumbers
2 qts of small onions
2 qts of small green tomatoes
1 cup salt
1/4 lb. ground mustard
3 cups of sugar
2 cups of flour
2 qts. of string beans
2 large cauliflowers
6 green peppers
3 red peppers
2 tablespoonfuls ground turmeric
4 qts. of cider vinegar
1 bunch of celery

2. Remove seeds from peppers. Sprinkle with 1 cupful of salt and add water to cover. Let stand 24 hours. Place onions in separate salt water to stand likewise.

3. Drain water from onions and scald all vegetables in the water in which the peppers have stood and allow to drain.

4. Make a paste of mixing the mustard, turmeric, sugar and flour with a little cold vinegar, afterwards adding the balance of the vinegar which has come to a boil.

5. Stir for a few minutes to a smooth consistency, then pour over the drained vegetables and cook slowly on the back of the stove for 20 min. Pack hot in jars and seal.

(112) Mustard Pickles.

1. Place in a brine of 1/2 cup of salt per quart of water the following vegetables and let stand overnight:

1 pint whole small cucumbers
1 pint sliced cucumbers
1 pint whole small onions
1 cup of string beans broken into lengths
3 green sweet peppers (chopped)
3 red sweet peppers (chopped)
1 pint small green tomatoes cut in half
1 pint of cauliflower

2. Freshen in clear water. Allow to stand in a mixture of water and vinegar equal parts. Then scald in the same liquid.

3. Prepare a mustard dressing of 1 qt. of vinegar, 4 tablespoonfuls of flour, 1 cup of sugar, 3 tablespoonfuls of powdered mustard, 1/2 tablespoonful of celery seed. Rub all the dry ingredients together first; heat the vinegar to boiling and add slowly to the dry ingredients, working them into a fine paste. Cook in a double boiler until the sauce thickens.

4. Add the hot sauce to the pickles and heat to simmering. Pack hot in jars. Place the jars in a washboiler sterilizer. Sterilize 15 min, at 212° F. and seal.

(113) Piccalilli.

1. Use 8 qts. green tomatoes, 2 or 3 green sweet peppers and 2 hot peppers. The tomatoes may be chopped or sliced in 1/2 in. pieces. Soak the tomatoes and chopped peppers overnight in 1 pint of salt and water to cover. Drain thoroughly.

2. Heat until tender in the following mixture:

3 qts. vinegar
4 cups of sugar
1 teaspoonful ginger (ground)
1 teaspoonful cinnamon (ground)
2 tablespoonfuls mustard (ground or whole).

3. Add 1 cup of grated horseradish. Heat to boiling and seal. Allspice, cloves, and 1 qt. of chopped onions may be added before cooking.

(114) Chili Sauce.

1. Take the following ingredients.

2 qts. of ripe tomatoes (peeled)
4 green sweet peppers
4 tablespoonfuls brown sugar
1 hot pepper
4 onions
1 tablespoonful ginger
1/2 teaspoonful nutmeg
2 tablespoonfuls salt
1 teaspoonful cinnamon

2. Chop the vegetables, add the other ingredients and cook till tender (1 1/2 hours). Then add 3 cups of vinegar, boil 5 min. and seal hot in jars.

(115) Dixie Relish.

1. Take:

1 qt. chopped cabbage
1 pint of chopped white onions
1 pint of chopped sweet red peppers
1 pint of chopped sweet green peppers
4 tablespoonfuls mustard seed
2 tablespoonfuls celery seed (crushed)
1/2 cup of sugar
1 qt. of vinegar
5 tablespoonfuls salt

2. Soak the peppers in brine (1 cup of salt to 1 gal. of water), for 24 hours. Freshen in clear cold water for 1 to 2 hours. Drain well. Remove seeds and coarse white sections. Chop separately and measure chopped cabbage, peppers, and onions before mixing. Add spices, sugar and vinegar. Let stand overnight covered in a crock or enameled vessel. Pack in small sterilized jars as follows. First drain off the vinegar so jar may be well packed. Pack the relish in the jars, pressing it carefully; then pour over it the vinegar which was drained off. Paddle the jar thoroughly to get every bubble out and allow the vinegar to displace all air spaces. Garnish each jar with two quarter-inch pointed strips of red pepper 3 inches long, placing these strips vertically on opposite sides of the seams of the jar.

3. Place in a washboiler sterilizer with caps and rubbers on loosely. Heat the water to boiling and boil 10 mm. Remove and seal. (See Fig. 15 for diagram of the washboiler sterilizer.)

(116) Chutney.

1. Mix the following ingredients:

12 apples finely chopped
6 green tomatoes finely chopped
6 small red peppers finely chopped
2 small onions finely chopped
1/2 cup mint leaves
4 tablespoonfuls salt
1 tablespoonful white mustard seed
2 cups of sugar
2 cups raisins finely chopped
2 cups vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice

2. Seal cold or let stand in a cool place in earthen or glass jar. No sterilization is necessary.

(117) Pickled Sweet Peppers.

1. 12 green or ripe sweet peppers (whole)
2 qts. cabbage
4 tablespoonfuls white mustard seed
3 tablespoonfuls celery seed
4 sweet peppers chopped
1 hot pepper
1/2 cup of sugar

2. Remove stems and seeds from sweet peppers. Soak overnight in brine (1 cup of salt to 1 gal. of water).

3. Chop the cabbage and the 4 sweet peppers separately, add 1 tablespoonful of salt to each and let stand overnight. Drain. Mix with the other ingredients and stuff the peppers.

4. Place the stuffed peppers in jars, cover with hot vinegar and seal.

(118) Green Tomato Pickle.

1. 1 gal. green tomatoes
1/2 doz. large onions
3 cups of brown sugar
1/2 lemon
3 pods of red peppers
3 cups of vinegar
1 tablespoonful whole black pepper
1 tablespoonful whole cloves
1 tablespoonful whole allspice
1 tablespoonful celery seed crushed
1 mustard seed
1 ground mustard

2. Slice the tomatoes and onions very thin. Sprinkle over them 1/2 cup of salt and let stand overnight in a crock or enameled vessel. Drain well.

3. Tie the pepper, cloves, allspice, and celery seed in a cheesecloth bag. Slice the lemon and chop 2 pepper pods very fine. Add all seasoning except one pepper pod to the vinegar, then add the drained tomato and onions.

4. Cook for 1/2 hour, stirring gently at intervals to prevent burning. Remove spice bag to prevent darkening of the product. Pack hot in small jars and garnish with slender strips of the red pepper, placing them vertically on opposite sides of the jar.

5. Place covers and rubbers on jars loosely and process 15 min. at 212° and seal. (See Fig. 15.)

(119) Tomato Ketchup.

1. Select ripe tomatoes of deep red color. Cook the tomatoes thoroughly and put through a colander or sieve to remove seeds and skins.

2. For each gallon of the pulp so obtained use:

2 tablespoonfuls of salt
4 tablespoonfuls of sugar
1 tablespoonfuls powdered mustard
1 tablespoonfuls whole cloves
1 tablespoonfuls allspice
1 tablespoonfuls cinnamon
1 tablespoonfuls pepper
2 small red peppers cut finely
1 pint of vinegar (preferably cider vinegar)
4 tablespoonfuls ground paprika (not essential but desirable)

Tie the whole spices in a bag of cheseclotii and add the other ingredients, except the vinegar. The paprika gives a bright red color and flavor, but may be omitted.

3. Cook until almost thick enough (usually 1 1/2 hours), and add the vinegar. Continue cooking till thick.

4. Pour hot into scalded bottles and cork with corks sterilized in boiling water 10 min. The corks are not pressed in at first but left loosely in the necks of the bottles.

5. Put the bottles upright in a washboiler sterilizer with hot water one-half way up the bottles. heat water to boiling and boil 1 hour with cover on the boiler. Drive corks into the bottles. Allow to cool. Seal with paraffin or wax.

(120) Tomato Paste.

No vinegar is used for this product but it is given here in conjunction with tomato ketchup.

1. Boil ripe red tomatoes until soft. Pass through a screen to remove seeds and skins.

2. Boil down quickly on a stove to about the consistency of thick ketchup. Then place it on the back of the stove or better in a double boiler and cook down until it is as thick as thick peanut butter.

3. Pack hot in jars or cans.

4. Sterilize 1 hour at 212° F. in a washboiler sterilizer and seal. This product can be used as a flavoring for various dishes, that is, macaroni, stews, rice, beans, etc., in the same way that canned tomatoes are used. It may be flavored by adding a button of garlic, a tablespoonful of cayenne pepper and two sweet red peppers and salt to taste per gallon of pulp before cooking. Then when thick, a little olive oil may be beaten in before packing in jars or cans. This product is also known as tomato "conserve" by the Italians. It is used by them in great quantities.

(121) Ripe Olives.

1. Varieties. Olives for pickling are grown extensively in California and to a slight extent in Arizona. These are the only two states of the United States that grow them. The most popular variety is the Mission olive and the next popular the Manzanillo. Practically no others are used for ripe pickles.

2. Choose olives that have become red to black in color. Underripe fruit gives a tough, inferior product; overripe fruit may be soft. Olives are exceedingly bitter and must be treated with lye to remove this.

3. Prepare a lye of 3 oz. of soda lye per gallon of water. This is 1 lb. per 5 gals. or about 3 tablespoonfuls per gallon.

4. Place the olives in a stoneware crock or glass jar or wooden vessel. Do not use metal. Cover thoroughly with the lye. Stir frequently.

5. Once every hour remove two or three olives and cut in half. Note whether the lye has penetrated through the skin. This can be determined by the fact that the lye will change the color of the skin and flesh of the olive.

6. When the cutting test shows that the lye has penetrated the skins and a little way into the flesh of the olives, pour off the lye into another vessel (usually the lye will penetrate in 3 to 4 hours).

7. The olives are now exposed to the air in the vessel in which they were treated. Stir twice daily and leave exposed until they are black or dark in color. This will take from 1 to 5 days. The exposure is to bring back the color removed by the lye treatment.

8. Return the used lye to the olives and leave until the lye has reached the pits of the olives, as indicated by cutting a sample to the pit with a sharp knife. Eight to 12 hours' time will usually be required.

9. Pour off the lye. Cover the olives with water. Change the water twice daily until there is no longer any taste of lye. This will usually require 1 week.

10. Make a brine of 5 oz. (5 tablespoonfuls), of salt per gallon of water. Cover the olives with this and heat to boiling. Pack hot in jars or cans. Sterilize 1 hour at 212° F. and seal (see Fig. 15 for appearance of a wash- boiler sterilizer).

(122) Green Olive Pickles.
1. Varieties. The Sevillano and Ascolano olive are usually employed because of their large size. Mission and Manzanillo may also be used.

2. Pick the olives when full size but hard green.

3. Prepare a lye of 3 oz. of soda lye per gallon of water. (1 lb. per 5 gals.). Place the green olives in this and leave until the lye reaches the pits; as indicated by cutting a sample to the pit. It will take the lye about 24 hours to reach the pit.

4. Pour off and discard the lye. Cover the olives with water. Change this twice daily until the lye is all removed; about 1 week.

5. Prepare a brine of 9 oz. of salt per gallon of water (a little more than 1/2 lb. per gallon). Pack the olives in a keg or barrel or glass jar. Fill completely with the brine and drive bung into keg or barrel or seal the jar. Leave in a quiet place until the proper flavor develops. This will be in about 2 months.

6. Pour off the brine and strain it. Pack the olives in jars. Heat the brine to boiling and fill the jars with the boiling hot brine. Seal. No further treatment is necessary.

(123) Ripe Olive Paste.

1. Pickle ripe olives as in Recipe 121. Pit the olives with a cherry pitter. Grind them to a paste in a food grinder or sausage grinder. Flavor with salt, red pepper, chopped green chili and paprika to taste.

2. Pack the paste in small jars. Sterilize 1 1/2 hours at 212° F. in a washboiler or similar sterilizer and seal.

(124) Ripe Olives Cured by the Salt Process.

1. Choose black ripe olives. Weigh. For each 4 lbs. of olives weigh 1 lb. of salt.

2. Mix the olives and salt thoroughly in crock or wooden vessel. Cover with a layer of salt. Leave until the olives have lost most of their bitterness; about a month or six weeks. They will be shrivelled in appearance. Brush off the salt and dip in olive oil. Pack in jars. Do not sterilize. These olives will have a slight bitter flavor and more "olive" flavor than olives pickled by the lye process. They are used extensively in Europe and in America by Italians and Greeks. This process was used by the ancient Romans and Jews.

(125) Dessicated Olives.

1. Pickle ripe olives as directed in Recipe 121.

2. Place in a slow oven and dry. The olives will first shrivel and become hard. Heat them until they swell again to their original size. These olives will be dry and very light and porous. They are an excellent "between meal" morsel.