Tomato Catsup

One peck of ripe tomatoes; four onions; half a teaspoonful of garlic, grated; twelve sprigs of parsley; two bay leaves; one tablespoonful, each, of salt, sugar, ground cloves, mace, black pepper, and whole celery-seed - tie the last up in a bit of thin muslin; one scant teaspoonful of cayenne; one pint of vinegar.

Boil the tomatoes and onions together until soft, press through a colander, and then strain the liquid through a fine sieve. Put this over the fire with the seasoning and boil five hours, stirring well from the bottom from time to time. When the liquid is reduced nearly one-half and is quite thick, add the vinegar, removing the bag of celery-seed. When the catsup is cold, bottle it and seal the corks. Keep in a cellar or cool, dark closet.

Tomato Paste

Proceed as in the preceding recipe, adding to the tomatoes two good-sized carrots, peeled and sliced, and omitting the vinegar altogether. Cook the ingredients as for catsup until they reach the stage where a little of the pulp will jelly in a saucer. Spread on shallow pie-plates and let the paste dry thoroughly in the sun or in an open oven. It can be packed in layers in wooden boxes, with waxed paper between the layers, and is useful for seasoning macaroni, soups, stews, etc. A piece a couple of inches square melted in a half pint of butter (see Sauce) makes an excellent tomato sauce.

Walnut Catsup

The walnuts should be young, and tender enough to be readily pierced with a large needle. Prick each in three or four places, allow salt in the proportion of two tablespoonfuls to twenty-five walnuts, and lay salt and nuts in a jar with enough water to cover them. Leave them in this for a fortnight, pounding them every day with a wooden mallet or potato beetle. At the end of that time strain off the liquor into a preserving kettle, cover the nuts with boiling vinegar, pound them in this thoroughly, and strain this liquid into the other. Measure it, and for every quart add a tablespoonful, each, of ginger and black pepper, a dessert-spoonful, each, of cloves and mace, a teaspoon-ful, each, of finely minced onion and grated horse-radish, and a pinch of cayenne. Boil for an hour, cool, bottle, and seal. Good in two months.

BUTTERNUT CATSUP. This may be made by the recipe given for Walnut Catsup.