How To Pickle Cauliflowers

Cut them before they are too much blown, and upon a dry day; strip off the leaves, and quarter the stalk; scald them in salt and water, but do not allow them to boil; then lay them to cool, covering them that they may not lose their color; sprinkle them with salt and water; put them on a colander for twenty-four hours to drain. When dry, cut out the thick stalk, or, if it be large, divide it, give it a boil, and split the flower into eight or ten pieces; then put them carefully into jars, and cover them with cold vinegar, which has been previously boiled with spices; or the cauliflowers may have one boil in salt and vinegar, and be taken out immediately, and put into cold vinegar previously boiled with spices - two ounces each of coriander-seed and turmeric, one ounce each of mustard-seed and ginger, with half ounce each of mace and nutmeg, or cinnamon, to every three quarts of vinegar; the spices may, however, be varied.

Brocoli and the tops of asparagus may be pickled in the same manner.

Pickled Beets

Boil your beets till tender, but not quite soft. To four large beets, boil three eggs hard, remove the shells; when the beets are done, take off the skin by laying them for a few minutes in cold water and then stripping it off; slice them a quarter of an inch thick, put the eggs at the bottom, and then put in the beets with a little salt. Pour on cold vinegar enough to cover them. The eggs imbibe the color of the beets, and look beautiful on the table.

How To Pickle Lemons

Take the finest with the thickest rind you can get, cut them deeply from end to end in more than one place, but not quite through, and fill the incisions with salt; put each on end, and lay them in a dish near the fire, or in the sun if the weather be hot, to dissolve the salt, and repeat this during three weeks; then put them into a jar, with a handful of white mustard-seed if it be large, one-quarter to one-half pound of bruised ginger, half that quantity of cloves and allspice, a few chilis, and a very little turmeric; boil in vinegar, and pour it upon the lemons when cold. It was originally prepared by the cook of the first Earl of Orford.

For limes, or very small lemons, the same method must be pursued, only they will not require above half the time.

Cucumbers

If full-grown, the small long sort are the best for pickling. Let them be fresh gathered; pull off the blossoms, but do not rub them; pour over them a strong brine of salt and water boiling hot, cover them close, and let them stand all night. The next day stir them gently to take off the sand, drain them on a sieve, and dry them on a cloth; make a pickle with the best white wine vinegar, ginger, pepper (long and round), and a little garlic. When the pickle boils, throw in the cucumbers, cover them, and make them boil as quickly as possible for three or four minutes; put them into a jar with the vinegar, and cover them closely; when cold, put in a sprig of dill, the seed downward. They will be exceedingly crisp and green, done in this manner; but if they do not appear to be of a fine color, boil up the pickle the next day, and pour it boiling on the cucumbers.

How To Pickle Gherkins

Choose nice young ones, spread them on dishes, salt them, and let them lie a week, with a small bit of alum; then drain them, and putting them in a jar, pour boiling vinegar over them. Set them near the fire, covered with plenty of vine leaves; if they do not become a tolerably good green, pour the vinegar into another jar, set it over the hot hearth, and when it becomes too hot to bear your hand, but still not to boil, pour it over them again, covering with fresh leaves; and thus do till they are of as good a color as you wish. As an additional reason for preparing them at home, it is indeed well known that the very fine green pickles are made so by the dealers using brass or bell-metal vessels, which, when vinegar is put into them, become highly poisonous.

If spices be not mixed among the pickle, put into the kettle, in a thin muslin bag, allspice, mace, and mustard-seed, to every quart of vinegar in the proportion of rather less than half an ounce each of the former, to one ounce of the seed.