Mother's Remedies by Thomas Jefferson Ritter (positive books to read txt) 📕

cup salt. The cucumbers are to be soaked in salt and water over night and drained in the morning, put in the vinegar and let come to a boil, then add your onions and cauliflower. Take the flour, mustard and tumeric powder, work to a cream with a little vinegar, then gradually stir into the boiling vinegar to thicken it. Boil this all about fifteen minutes. Watch every minute as this scorches very easily.

49. Spiced Currants.—Steam and wash the fruit carefully, and for every four pounds of currants take two pounds of brown sugar, one pint cider vinegar, one tablespoon each of ground cinnamon, cloves, mace, nutmeg and allspice. Put in the fruit and boil all together for a half hour. Fill into wide mouthed bottles, lay a paper wet with vinegar over the currants and tie up the mouth of the bottle with paper.

50. Spiced Grapes.—Five pounds of grapes, three pounds of granulated sugar, half pint of vinegar, two teaspoonfuls each of cinnamon, allspice and cloves. Pulp the grapes, boil skins until tender. Cook the pulp soft and strain through a sieve, add to skins. Put in spices, sugar and vinegar and boil thoroughly. Seal.

51. Ginger Pears.—Peel a dozen large pears which are not quite ripe and cut into long, thin strips. Add two-thirds as much sugar as you have fruit, the juice of a lemon, two-thirds cupful of water and a desertspoonful of ginger. Boil all together until the fruit is transparent, and serve as a relish.

52. Tomato Soye.—One peck of ripe tomatoes, one dozen large onions, three large red peppers, one gallon best vinegar, twenty-four tablespoonfuls brown sugar, twelve teaspoonfuls ground cinnamon, twelve teaspoonfuls of salt, six teaspoonfuls of ground ginger and six teaspoonfuls of ground cloves. Chop the tomatoes, onions and peppers fine and add the other ingredients. Let simmer for three hours.

53. Spanish Pickles.—One peck of green tomatoes, one dozen onions, sprinkle with salt and let stand over night and strain off the juice. Allow one pound of sugar, one-fourth pound whole white mustard seed, one ounce ground black pepper, one teaspoonful ginger and one of cinnamon. Mix dry. Put a layer of tomatoes and onions in a kettle and sprinkle with spices, then tomatoes and so on until all are used. Cover with vinegar and let boil two hours, after which pack in jars and set in cool place.

54. Chili Sauce.—Take five large onions, eight green peppers, and chop fine with thirty ripe tomatoes. Add five tablespoonfuls of brown sugar, three tablespoonfuls of salt and eight cupfuls of vinegar. Boil all together two and a half hours and bottle for use.

55. Green Tomato Pickles.—Half bushel green tomatoes, six large onions, six large peppers, one-fourth pound white mustard seed, and three tablespoonfuls celery seed. Chop all fine together, put in layers, one of tomatoes and onions and one of salt, using in all a half cupful of salt. Let stand over night. In the morning squeeze dry and put on to boil in two quarts of vinegar. Cook until tender, when nearly done, add one pound of sugar, put in cans and seal.

Green Beans Pickles.—"Green beans with the strings taken off and placed in a kettle, salted and cooked until tender, then place in jars, fill with good cider vinegar and seal tightly."

[CANNING, PICKLING AND PRESERVING 841] PRESERVES.

1. Rhubarb Preserve.—1/4 lb. almond or walnut meats, chopped, 3 lbs. rhubarb, 3 lbs. sugar, rind and juice of 2 lemons, boil until thick. Serve with meats.

2. Preserved Pears.—Pare the fruit and drop into a bowl of cold water to preserve the color. When all are pared, put into a pan of clear, cold water, and boil until almost tender. Make a syrup of the water in which the pears were boiled, allowing one pound of sugar to each half pint of water. Drop the pears into the syrup and cook them slowly until they can be pierced with a silver fork. Put the fruit into hot jars and cover with boiling syrup. Seal.

3. Fig and Rhubarb Preserve.—Wash dry and cut up three pounds of figs and seven pounds of rhubarb, put them into a basin, add six pounds of sugar, one cupful of water, two heaping teaspoonfuls of ground ginger and the juice of two large lemons. Cover and leave for twelve hours. Boil for half an hour. Divide into jars and cover. This is an excellent preserve and keeps well.

4. Preserved Cherries.—Select large, rich, red cherries; stone and weigh them, adding three-fourths of a pound of sugar for each pound of fruit. After the stones have been taken out, allow them to stand in a stone jar over night; in the morning put them in a preserving kettle and cook until clear. Put in glass tumblers and cover the tops when cool with melted paraffin, before putting on covers.

5. Strawberry Preserves.—The fruit for this must be solid, and must be used as soon as they are gotten ready, and not sugared down. To one pound of sugar add one pound of fruit. Use just enough water to keep them from sticking, and put fruit, sugar and water all on at the same time, and let them cook twenty minutes. Then spread on flat dishes and set in sun for three or four days, and then put in glass jars. They will need no more heating or cooking. These are considered fine.

6. Lemon Butter.—Take two nice large lemons, grate the rind and use the juice, two eggs, two cups of sugar, small lump of butter. Boil ten minutes in double boiler.

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7. Apple Preserves.—Make a syrup of three-fourths pound of sugar to each pound of apples. Add a little lemon juice or sliced lemon; keep skimming this as it boils, and put in only a few apples at a time into the syrup, and boil until they are transparent; skim out and put in a jar. When the apples are done, boil the syrup down thick, then pour boiling hot over the apples and cover closely. Well flavored fruit, not easily broken, should be selected.

8. Apricot Preserves.—Pare the fruit very thin and stone it. Place the fruit in a porcelain or granite kettle, first a layer of fruit, then a layer of sugar, using pound for pound of sugar. Let this stand in the kettle for a day. The next day boil very gently until they are clear. Then place the fruit in a large pan or bowl and pour the liquor over them. The following day pour the liquor into a quart of codlin liquor, this being made by boiling and straining a pound of fine sugar with just enough water to make a syrup. Let the whole boil quickly until it will jelly. Put the fruit into it and bring to a boil, being careful to remove all the scum. Then put up in small jars.

9. Citron Preserves.—Select sound fruit, pare it and divide into quarters, (carefully take out the seeds) and cut in very small pieces, any shape you desire, and weigh it. To every pound of fruit allow a half pound of loaf sugar; put the citron on to cook until it is quite clear, then remove it from the kettle where it can drain, and pour out the water it was cooked in. Then put on the sugar you have weighed, with water enough to wet it through; let it boil until very clear, and before putting in the citron again add to the syrup two large lemons sliced, and a small piece of ginger root, to give it a fine flavor; then add the citron and let all cook together about fifteen minutes; fill the jars with citron and pour over the hot syrup, then seal up.

10. Citron and Quince Preserves.—Pare and cut the citron into inch pieces; boil hard in a medium strong alum water thirty minutes; drain and boil in fresh water till the color is changed and they are tender; wash the quinces carefully, pare, quarter, core and halve the quarters; boil the cores and parings in water to cover them, an hour and a half; remove them and add the prepared juice to the liquid; boil, and when they begin to be tender, add the citron and three-fourths of a pound of white sugar to every pound of the fruit. These are delicious.

11. Preserved Pears.—Have a pan of cold water ready to drop pears into after they are pared, halved and the cores removed. This will prevent them from turning black. Select smooth, sweet pears of a kind which will not break when cooked. Put a little over one quart of granulated sugar into your preserving kettle; add just water enough to moisten the sugar; when warm put into this two quarts of pears; let them cook very slowly several hours; when the syrup is thick put your fruit in jars.

12. Pineapple Preserves.—Pare and slice the pineapple. Then weigh the fruit and allow a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit; then put a layer of the slices in a jar and cover them with a layer of sugar; do this until the apples and sugar are used up; let them stand over night. The next morning take the apples out of the syrup, cook the syrup until it thickens, replace the apples and boil fifteen minutes; remove the pineapple from the syrup and let them cool, then put in jars and pour the syrup over them. A few pieces of ginger root boiled in the syrup will improve it.

[CANNING, PICKLING AND PRESERVING 843]

13. Tomato Preserves.—Select small, pear-shaped tomatoes, not too ripe. Prick with a needle to prevent bursting, and put their weight in sugar over them. Let this stand over night, then pour off the juice into a preserving kettle and boil until it is a thick syrup, clarifying it with the white of an egg; add the tomatoes and boil until they look transparent. One lemon to a pound of fruit, sliced thin and cooked with the fruit, together with a piece of ginger root, will improve it.

14. Preserved Strawberries. No. 1.—Take a couple of quarts of berries at a time, remove the stems, and place in a colander. Pour water over them to cleanse them. Make a syrup of two pounds of white sugar and a half cup of water. Drop the berries into this and allow them to boil rapidly for twenty minutes, removing all scum that rises, but do not stir the fruit. Pour into tumblers, and when you are done cook your syrup and juice to a jelly and fill up your jelly glasses. Keep in a dry place.

15. Preserved Strawberries. No. 2.—To one pound of berries use three-fourths of a pound of sugar,—in layers (no water). Place in a kettle on the back of the stove until the sugar is dissolved into syrup; then let it come to a boil, stirring from the bottom. Spread on platters, not too thickly and set out in the hot sun till the syrup thickens—it may take two or three days. Keep in tumblers or bowls like jelly. Strawberries done in this way retain their color and flavor.

16. Spiced Currants.—Three pounds white sugar, five pounds ripe currants, one tablespoonful each of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. Boil currants one hour, then add sugar, spices and a half pint vinegar, boil a half hour longer.

17. Spiced Gooseberries.—Six quarts gooseberries, nine pounds sugar, cook one and a half hours, then add one pint vinegar, one tablespoonful each cloves, cinnamon and allspice. Boil a few minutes. When cold they should be like jam. Boil longer if not thick enough.

18. Tomato Preserves.—Peel the tomatoes and to each pound add a pound of sugar and let stand over night. Take the tomatoes out of the sugar and boil the syrup, removing the scum. Put the tomatoes in and boil gently twenty minutes; remove fruit again and boil until the syrup thickens. On cooling put the fruit into jars and pour the syrup over. The round yellow variety of tomato should be used and as soon as ripe.

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19. Preserved Pears.—Peel the fruit which should not be overripe, cut into halves, extract cores and throw at once into a dish of cold water. From the water put into jars, arranging the pieces as compactly as possible, cover with cold water and then drain off. Make a syrup of sugar and water, allowing a teacupful of sugar to a