Chapter II: Part 2

_To make an Aromatic Table Vinegar (Recipe 1)._—Chop up one ounce each of bay leaves, leaves of rosemary, and leaves of sage, and place them in a fireproof earthenware pan; add thereto a quarter of an ounce each of cloves, zedoary root, and chillis. Pour on the mixture a quart of heated strong vinegar, and let it digest in a warm place for a week. Strain, filter, and bottle.

_To make an Aromatic Table Vinegar (Recipe 2)._—Chop up one ounce each of thyme leaves, basil leaves, leaves of marjoram, leaves of tarragon, and bean leaves. Add thereto half an ounce each of chopped shallots and celery. Pour on the mixture a quart of heated strong vinegar, and treat as in the last recipe.

_To make an Aromatic Table Vinegar (Recipe 3)._—Chop up and mix half a pound of tarragon leaves, and a quarter of a pound each of rocambole, shallots, anchovies, capers, and bay leaves. Pour over them three quarts of heated strong vinegar, and treat as in the first recipe.

_To make Aromatic Table Vinegar (Recipe 4)._—The leaves of any sweet herb, having been dried, may be lightly placed—not pressed—in a bottle till it is full, and vinegar poured over them and allowed to stand for six weeks. It may then be strained off and bottled.

_To make Aromatic Wines._—The leaves of any sweet herb are to be treated as above, but sherry is to take the place of the vinegar.

_To make Curry Powder._—Pound to a fine powder and mix thoroughly together a quarter of a pound each of coriander seed and turmeric, an ounce each of mustard, ginger, and black pepper, and half an ounce each of cardamom, cumin, and pimento.

_To make Mushroom Catsup._—Wipe, but do not wash or skin, some freshly gathered, fully ripe mushrooms, and place them in a jar with layers of salt between the several layers of mushrooms and over the whole, allowing six ounces of salt to a gallon of mushrooms. Cover the jar loosely with a cloth, and place it in a warm room until the next day. Crush the mushrooms, place the whole in a cool oven for half an hour, and strain through coarse muslin. Boil the liquid with peppercorns, half an ounce to the quart; mace, a dram to the quart; cloves, a dozen to the quart; and bruised ginger, half an ounce to the quart. When the liquid has boiled down to a half, take it off the fire, allow it to cool, strain through very coarse straining cloth, and bottle in small, well-corked bottles. If these bottles are treated as the bottles of fruit in fruit-bottling are treated, the catsup will keep the better.

_To make Tomato Catsup._—Boil a quart of perfectly ripe tomatoes with a table-spoonful of black pepper, a salt-spoonful of salt, a tea-spoonful each of ground cloves and allspice, and half a tea-spoonful of mustard in a pint of vinegar for three hours. Strain, and, when the mixture is cold, bottle and seal.

_To make Walnut Catsup._—Boil a gross of soft, young walnuts, crushed, two ounces each of ground nutmeg and black pepper, half an ounce each of ground mace and ginger, and fifty cloves, ground, in two quarts of vinegar for forty minutes. Strain, and, when the mixture is cold, bottle and seal.

_To make a Piquant Sauce (Recipe 1)._—Boil half an ounce of cayenne, half an ounce of cochineal, half an ounce of mixed garlic, and half a dozen cloves in a quart of vinegar for twenty minutes. Strain, and, when the liquor is cool, add two ounces of essence of anchovies, half a pint of an equal mixture of walnut and mushroom catsup, and half a pint of good port. Thoroughly mix and bottle.

_To make a Piquant Sauce (Recipe 2)._—Boil a quarter of a pound of bruised cloves, a quarter of a pound of minced shallots, and half an ounce of cayenne pepper in half a gallon of vinegar for twenty minutes. Strain, and, when the liquor is cool, add half a pint of an equal mixture of walnut catsup and soy. Thoroughly mix and bottle.

_To make a Piquant Sauce (Recipe 3)._—Boil a quarter of a pound each of allspice, minced shallots, and minced garlic, and two ounces of salt in a quart of vinegar for twenty minutes. Strain, and, when the mixture is cool, add a gallon each of walnut catsup and mushroom catsup. Thoroughly mix and bottle.

_To make Anchovy Sauce._—Heat, until it thickens, a mixture of a pint of vinegar, a pint and a quarter of water, two pounds and a half of butter, three-quarters of a pound of flour, and thirty minced anchovies. Rub the mixture through a coarse hair sieve and bottle.

_To make a Salad Dressing to be stored._—Salad dressings should be mixed freshly as required; but it is sometimes thought desirable to keep a stock dressing bottled and ready for all emergencies. Thoroughly beat the yolks of three eggs, and gradually stir in half a tea-cupful of olive oil, together with a table-spoonful of mustard, a little pepper, two table-spoonfuls of salt, and half a tea-cupful of vinegar; adding, last of all, the well-beaten whites of the three eggs. Bottle in well-stoppered bottles.

PRESERVES

IT is easy to make good jam at home if a few simple rules are followed. Excellent jams can, it is true, be bought, but they are generally too sweet, a large proportion of sugar being used in order to make the jam keep for a considerable time.

RULE 1.—Use only fresh fruit which has been gathered in dry weather.

2. Allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar to one pound of all fruit, except stone fruit. Stone fruit requires an extra quarter of a pound of sugar. Break the sugar small, but do not pound it; if the sugar is pounded the syrup will not be clear. Use the best sugar, as the inferior kinds produce much more scum.

3. Never set the preserving-pan flat on the fire. If you do, the fruit will stick to it, and burn. Raise the pan on a trivet a little above the fire, and not exactly over the hottest part. Stir the jam with a wooden spoon all the time that the sugar and fruit are boiling together. An iron spoon ruins both the flavour and the colour of jam. Stir gently at first, more quickly as the boiling of the jam proceeds. Skim off all scum as it rises.

4. Put the fruit into the preserving-pan, sprinkle in some of the sugar, and as the fruit juices, add the rest of the sugar by degrees. When the sugar is all dissolved bring the jam to the boil.

5. Never boil jam longer than twenty minutes. If it is boiled too long the jam will be sticky, but if not boiled enough it will not keep. When the scum ceases to rise, put a few drops of the jam on a cold plate, watch it for a minute, and if it sets, and does not flow freely, the jam is done.

6. Warm the jam-pots before you pour the hot jam into them; if you do not they may crack. Fill the pots to within half an inch of the top, and wipe off any drops spilt with a cloth wrung out in hot water. If this is not attended to, there will be great difficulty in scraping off the drops when the jam has cooled.

7. The day after the jam is made, and when it has become quite cold, lay a round of thin paper on the top of each pot. Then take a sufficient number of the vegetable parchment covers which are sold for tying over jam-pots, soak them for a minute or two in cold water, wipe them dry, stretch one over each pot, and tie it round with string. The parchment tightens as it dries, and excludes the air from the jam. When the covers are dry, write in ink on each the name of the jam and the date.

8. Always keep jam in a cool, dry place. Damp makes it mouldy, heat makes it ferment.

9. Never put one pot of jam exactly on the top of another, but set one row of pots on the edges of the row beneath, leaving a clear space in the centre of each pot.

Different fruits require different treatment when made into jam. Thus, strawberries must be carefully stirred, raspberries must be mashed with a wooden spoon; and both these fruits, being soft and juicy, require less boiling than the drier kinds. Dry fruits, such as apples, should always be put first into a covered jar set in a pan of boiling water, and kept there until they are thoroughly softened. Fruit, with the exception of the very juicy kinds, takes longer to boil than sugar, so that it is well to cook the fruit partially before adding the sugar. Over-boiled sugar spoils the texture of jam.

Rhubarb jam requires the addition of a little root-ginger and a few strips of lemon-peel.

_Orange Marmalade._—Allow for every pound of oranges one pint of water and three-quarters of a pound of sugar.

Pare Seville oranges very thin, and boil the rind till tender. Boil it in plenty of water for about three-quarters of an hour. At the end of this time the orange rind should be so tender that a straw will pierce it. Then cut it into very thin strips about half an inch long. Take off the tough white coat of each orange, and throw it away. Then scrape out the pulp and juice very carefully, and throw the pips into cold water. When they have remained in the water for a short time, squeeze them through a cloth, and add a pint of the water in which the pips have been soaked to every three-quarters of a pound of the sugar. The reason for steeping the pips is that they yield a glutinous substance, which adds richness to the marmalade. Boil the syrup for twenty minutes, allowing three-quarters of a pound of sugar and one pint of water to every pound of orange pulp. Put the pulp and juice into the syrup, and boil for half an hour, carefully skimming off the scum as it rises. During the last five minutes add the shreds of orange-peel. Put the marmalade into pots, and tie them down next day.

_Clear Orange Marmalade._—In this marmalade there are no shreds of orange-peel. Cut the oranges in half after they are peeled and freed from the white skin. Boil them for three-quarters of an hour, allowing one pint of water to twelve oranges. Strain off the juice, and boil it up sharp for ten minutes. Allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar to every pint of juice. Boil for twenty or five-and-twenty minutes till it jellies. Four oranges make a pound pot of marmalade. It is an improvement if half the peel taken from the oranges is grated finely, and boiled with the oranges.

_Quince Marmalade._—Scald the quinces, pare, core, and quarter them. To four pounds of fruit add three pounds and a half of sugar. Take three pints of the water the quinces were scalded in, and boil in it both the parings and the cores. Strain the water, and add it to the quinces and the sugar. Let it stand all night. Next day set the quinces over a slow fire, and bring them very gradually to the boil, skimming and stirring them all the time they are cooking.

Crab-apples, Siberian crab-apples, and the fruit of the Pyrus Japonica, or Japanese quince, all make excellent preserve.

_Crab-apple Marmalade._—Parboil the crab-apples, and pulp them through a sieve or colander. Pare six large common apples, boil them till quite soft, and pass them through the sieve, when they will yield all the liquid they contain. To every quart of crab-apple pulp add one gill of the liquid from the common apples; and allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar to every pound of pulp. Boil all together for fifteen minutes, stirring the whole time.

_Fruit Jellies._—In making fruit jellies only the clear juice extracted from the fruit is used. The fruit must be softened by being placed in a jar set in boiling water, after which the juice must be allowed to drip through a hair sieve or a piece of canvas. The fruit must on no account be squeezed or rubbed with the hand or spoon, but it may be pressed down by a plate with a weight set upon it. Boil the juice for ten minutes, weigh it, and when it boils up again, add half a pound of sugar to every pint of juice. Then boil the whole sharp for five or ten minutes more, skimming off all scum.

_Clear Apple Jelly._—Pare and core half a peck of green apples, cut them up, and drop them as you cut them into two quarts of water. Pare two small lemons, cut them up, removing the pips, and add them to the apples, reserving the lemon-peel. Put the apple-parings and the cores with the apples, and boil all together very slowly till the fruit is quite a pulp. Then strain it through a jelly-bag, and to every pint of liquid add half a pound of lump sugar. Boil the whole very fast with the peel of the two lemons, skimming thoroughly all the time. It ought to jelly in three-quarters of an hour; try it by dropping a few drops on a cold plate. When sufficiently done take out all the lemon-peel, and pour the jelly into moulds or small pots.

_Cranberry Jelly_ can be made in this way from the Russian and Swedish cranberries now sold, but cranberries will require a pound of sugar to the pint of juice. Cranberries should not be boiled longer than twenty minutes.

_Medlar Jelly._—Gather the medlars when quite sound, wipe them well, and let them stew in the preserving-pan with just enough boiling water to cover them till they are in a pulp. Drain the fruit through a piece of canvas, but do not press the pulp. Weigh the juice, and allow half a pound of sugar to every pint. Boil it till quite clear, stirring and skimming well. When it jellies, pour it into small moulds, and let it set.

_Currant Jelly (No. 1)._—Strip red currants from their stalks, and put them into the oven. When quite juicy, pass them through a hair sieve or a coarse cloth. To every pint of juice allow a pound of loaf sugar well beaten and sifted. Heat the sugar on a dish in the oven, putting it between two sheets of foolscap paper, and when the currant juice has boiled for a couple of minutes, strew the sugar into it by degrees whilst the juice is boiling hot. It will jelly immediately, and gain flavour by keeping. Put it at once into pots.

_Currant Jelly (No. 2)._—To six pounds of red, white, or black currants add four pounds of sugar and half a pint of currant juice extracted from additional currants. Stir the fruit well together in a preserving-pan, set it on a brisk fire, and when it boils up, pass it through a cloth into a basin with a lip. Pour the jelly from the basin at once into pots. Let the pots remain uncovered for nine days, and then tie them up.

_Blackberry Jelly._—Take six pounds of blackberries before they are quite ripe, pick them from the stalks, and put them into a jar. Tie the jar up closely, set it in a pan of water on the fire till the blackberries become pulp. Then strain the fruit through a cloth, and to one pint of juice add one pound of sifted sugar. Boil it to a jelly, and pour it into pots for use. Blackberry jelly is much improved if half the quantity of blackberries is used and the other half made up of bullaces or wild plums. But bullaces are now rare.

_Scotch “Jam Jelly.”_—This preserve is made from the berries of the mountain ash, gathered when they have become nearly (but not quite) ripe. Take off the stalks, and stew the berries in a jar set in boiling water. They take many hours’ stewing before they become tender, but in the end they make excellent jelly. For the mountain-ash berries allow a pound of sugar to a pound of pulp.

_Damson Cheese._—Stew the damsons till tender in a jar set in boiling water. Rub them through a coarse sieve to take off the skins. Take out the stones, crack them, and blanch the kernels. Boil the cheese for one hour. Then weigh it, and add one pound of sugar to two quarts of the damson pulp. Boil it, stirring it well till it is thick. Keep the fire low, and boil the pulp very slowly. After the cheese has thickened well, leave off stirring; but it must boil quite to a candy, and may take seven hours. Put in the kernels a few minutes before the damson cheese is taken off the fire. The cheese will be done when it leaves the sides of the pan. A peck and a half of damsons will make ten pints of cheese. Cover the moulds when cold with paper dipped in brandy.

_Brandy Cherries._—To every pound of Morello cherries, stalked but not stoned, add three-quarters of a pound of best loaf sugar. Take a few cherries, bruise them, and take as much juice from them as will make the sugar into a very thick syrup. Fill wide-mouthed bottles with the cherries, and prick each cherry all over with a fine needle. Let the syrup get quite cold, then pour it on the cherries, and fill up the bottles with good brandy.

_Brandy Peaches._—Peel the peaches carefully with a silver dessert-knife, and as you do so put each peach into cold water. Choose a deep stone jar, put into it one pound of peaches covered with three-quarters of a pound of sifted sugar. Fill up the jar with good brandy. Set the jar in a pan of cold water on the fire, and let it gradually heat till the brandy is nearly boiling. Then let it get cold and tie up the jar closely.

THE STORING OF FRUIT AND HERBS

A STORE-ROOM for apples and pears should be cool, though frost-proof, slightly moist, and well ventilated, though free from draughts. Adjacent apples should not be in contact with each other. If very choice, it is wise to wrap each apple in tissue paper. The fruit should be hand-picked, and placed in the store-room when quite dry, and any specimens that show signs of rottenness should be removed directly they are recognized.

Messrs. Bunyard, of Maidstone, have built some fruit-houses which admirably fulfil the desired conditions. The following instructions for erecting a similar storehouse are given by Mr. George Bunyard.

First level the soil and dig out holes for the corners large enough to admit brick piers 14 inches by 14 inches, or stones about 1 foot square; fix an iron dowel in the centre to receive the corner posts of the structure. Some provision for air (air-bricks), or an aperture covered outside and inside with perforated zinc, should be provided just above the ground line, and if over 20 feet long an extra foundation should be put in at the half distance to hold another support.

Make the main posts 6 feet long, 6 inches square, and prepare a hole in the foot to receive the dowel mentioned above. This will keep the framework firm. The main ground plate should be 4½ inches by 3 inches, and the top plate of the same size. Support and steady in the usual way with quartering 4½ inches by 3 inches, and when this is fixed, choose a dry day, and pitch, tar, or cold creosote the lower plates and all the woodwork 2 feet from the ground to protect from damp: this quartering should show an even outside face to secure the matchboard.

The cheapest material for the outside covering will be ¾-inch matchboard, and it may as well be fixed outside the rafters as well. Pitchboard 4½ inches by 1 inch, rafters 3 inches by 2 inches.

_Inside Bonds_ from one side to the other, 4½ inches by 3 inches. If stout they are useful to hold planks, on which baskets can be placed overhead in the roof, space. In order to receive the side thatch, a board is attached round the door-plates and at the corners, 6 inches wide, from the ground to eaves, in which the thatch is placed upright, and it is kept in position by lateral splines of wood 3 inches by 1 inch.

_The Roof Thatch_ may be 18 inches thick on the roof and 6 inches at the sides, and where it can be procured, carex or reed is strongest and most lasting, but it may be of wheat straw or heather. The thatch at the sides should be 6 inches thick.

Both an inside and outside door should be provided, and they must be made to fit closely to exclude draughts.

In order that one may readily inspect the fruit, windows of 21-ounce glass are inserted, and this saves the use of a candle at storing time; but outside shutters must be provided to keep the place as dark as possible, and a fruit-house is perhaps better without windows.

_Ventilation_ is provided by an opening under the apex of roof at each end, 18 inches by 8 inches, a small opening being left between the dairy shutters, which can be stopped by hay or moss in severe weather, and inside opening should be protected by perforated zinc, fine enough to keep out wasps and flies; another ventilator should be inserted about midway under the lowest shelf, to open from outside by a shutter, being covered inside by perforated zinc.

To protect the contents from rats, a ½-inch stout wire netting should be fastened to the matchboard outside beneath the thatch, so that an entry would be difficult.

_Inside Shelves_ on which to lay the fruit are readily fixed at the sides. First place uprights 2 inches by 1½ inch from the ground to the rafters, and then attach bearers 2 inches by ¾ inch on this to the quartering; 1 foot between the shelves is a very convenient distance, the lowest shelf being placed 6 inches from the ground, making six all up to the eaves. The shelves are made of ¾-inch matchboard, should not quite meet each other by ¼ inch, so as to gain a slight circulation of air; upon this place lengths of clean wheat straw, so that the fruit shall not touch the wooden shelves. In the centre of the fruit-house a narrow table with a raised edge made of lengths of matchboard, set on trestles, is useful to set up exhibition collections or to show special samples. Baskets of fruit can be set under this for early use.

_Floor._—The best possible floor is the natural earth—paved surfaces are apt to become too dry. The latest sorts should be stored on the lowest shelf.

_Names._—Provide slips of zinc 4 inches long, turn up one end 1 inch, at an angle of 45°, and then slit this angle three times, and bend it so that it will hold a neat card; the other end can be slipped under the straw.

From their fruit-house, constructed on these lines, Messrs. Bunyard have put up 80 dishes of fresh clean apples at the Temple Shows at the end of May.

_Pears._—If pears constitute the bulk of the store, the fruit-house should be rather drier and rather warmer than in the case of apples. In either case, the winter temperature should not fall below 40° F., and the summer temperature should not rise above 60° F.

A very convenient method of storing apples and pears is in flat trays, such as those known as Orr’s, of which Mr. White, of Bedford, holds the patent rights. The fruit is placed direct in these as picked from the tree, and the trays are carried to the fruit-house as fast as they are filled.

_Medlars_ should be picked in November, preferably after the frost has touched them. Their stalks should be dipped in strong lime, and the fruits buried in boxes of wet bran, no two medlars touching, and placed in the fruit-house.

_Walnuts_ should be removed from their outer rinds, and at once placed in an earthen jar. Cover them with three inches of sawdust, and place them in a cool cellar or fruit-house.

_Filberts, Cobs and Hedge Nuts_, for storing, should be gathered just before they slip their husks—though they must be so ripe as to do so at the slightest force. They should be dried before storing, or the husks will become mouldy. They may then be treated as advised for walnuts, or they may be placed in a jar and sprinkled over with salt.

_Gathering and Drying Herbs._—Herbs should usually be picked just before they flower, and, their roots having been cut off, they should be tied into bundles and quickly sun-dried. These bundles may then be tied in paper bags and hung in a dry room, or they may be powdered and bottled. Lavender should be cut as soon as the flowers are fully open. It should then be dried in the shade, and stored in a dry room.

THE BOTTLING OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

_Empress._ _Climax._ _May Queen._
]

THE value of fruits bottled whole in such a way that they retain their natural form as well as their natural flavour is becoming more and more recognized, and fortunately science has kept space with the spread of this recognition, so that it is a perfectly simple matter for the owner of the smallest garden to bottle his fruit at the most trifling cost and trouble. The methods adopted have for their object the destruction of the germs present in the fruit, through whose activity fermentation and decomposition usually result, and the subsequent exclusion of germs from the vessels in which the fruit is being preserved. Glass bottles with air-tight stoppers are usually employed for this purpose, and several excellent varieties are in the market. In practically all of them, the top fits on the wide open mouth of the bottle and presses on a rubber ring. The tops are usually either held down by a metal screw ring or by a spring clip or wire bail. Of the bottles here illustrated, the Climax, May Queen, and Empress are manufactured by the Rylands Glass Company, of Barnsby; whilst the others are dealt in by Messrs. E. Lee and Company, of Maidstone. Messrs. Lee are also responsible for an admirable apparatus or boiling pan for sterilizing the fruit or other product. This apparatus serves not only for the purposes of fruit bottling, but is also serviceable for sterilizing milk and for certain other culinary purposes. Select ripe fruit, removing any that are unsound, and, having washed the bottles, place the fruit therein—packing the bottles full to the shoulder. Pour in cold water or cold syrup (from a table-spoonful to half a pound of sugar to the pint of water) so as to fill the bottles to the brim. Place the indiarubber ring round the ledge on the neck of the bottle, place the disc upon it, and loosely arrange the screw-top, if that method be adopted, as free outlet must be left for steam to escape. Take a pan, such as Lee’s sterilizing apparatus includes, and place cold water in it of such a depth as shall reach the shoulders of the bottles which are now to be placed in the pan. Heat until the water in the pan has a temperature of between 155° and 160° F., and this temperature is to be maintained until the bottles are removed. The bottles are to be lifted out singly and the covers at once screwed down, or locked by the spring or lever, according to the make of bottle. They should be cooled as quickly as possible. Apples and pears should be peeled, cut, and cored, and placed in cold water directly they are cored. All stone fruit should be stoned before bottling. The time for which the bottles should remain in the pan, at a temperature of 155° to 160° F., varies. Cherries, rhubarb, small plums, gooseberries and currants require about twenty minutes; tomatoes, half an hour; apricots, three-quarters of an hour; and pears, an hour.

Mushrooms and carrots may be bottled in the same way as fruit, but the bottles containing them should be left in the pan of heated water for an hour and a half. Green peas, asparagus and French beans, if first placed in boiling water for five minutes, may be bottled in like way, the bottles remaining in the pan for an hour.

_To make Fruit Syrups._—Mash the fruit (raspberries, currants, strawberries, blackberries, etc.), and allow it to remain, loosely covered, in a warm place for three days. Then pass the juice through a muslin strainer, and add a pound of sugar to every half-pound of juice. Boil until the sugar is dissolved. Cool and bottle, corking securely.

THE DRYING OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

BY means of an evaporator, or drier, a number of fruit and vegetables may be preserved by the removal of the moisture which they contain. Quite cheap evaporators are now to be obtained, such as the _Quorn_, of Messrs. Lumley, of the Minories, London. As the makers of the various evaporating appliances supply full instructions for their use, it is not necessary here to give more than the briefest summary of the treatment to be adopted in drying one or two typical fruits and vegetables.

The method of preparing apples to be evaporated is as follows:—

After the apples have been pared, cored, and sliced, they are placed in a tub of perfectly clean water, containing a small quantity of salt, which prevents oxidation and discoloration. They are then cut once vertically, and all bruises, specks, and parings trimmed away to produce the well-known apple-rings of commerce. These are placed thinly on one of the trays of the evaporator and entered at the lower end of the upper flue. Sometimes a little sulphur may be sprinkled on the furnace with great advantage for the purpose of bleaching the rings. The first tray remains in the position just mentioned until the second tray is ready to be placed under the first tray which will be in four or five minutes; the third tray is then filled in the usual manner, and placed under the second tray, and when the fourth tray is ready the first three trays are pushed forward in the flue, and the fourth tray takes the place of No. 1, and so on until the top flue is full. On the arrival of the first tray at the upper end of the flue, the contents are examined, and those that are sufficiently dried are removed, and the remainder turned over and returned down the lower and cooler flue. In many cases, one tray will hold the whole of the contents (which are nearly dried) of two or three trays, the empty ones being taken away to be again filled with fresh fruit. The degree of heat used for drying apples is from 175° to 240° F.; and the time occupied varies from two to four hours, according to the variety of the apple, but from two to two and a half hours is the usual time. Whole apples require a much longer time, eight to ten hours, according to size and variety.

Plums are dried in the same manner, except that they are placed in the evaporator at once. They should be graded according to size, and be uniformly ripe. During the process of evaporation plums ought to be removed from the evaporator once or twice for the purpose of cooling them and toughening the skin, and so prevent bursting, which they are liable to do, because the skin does not allow the moisture in the fruit to freely escape when first placed in the machine. As soon as the plums commence to shrivel all danger of bursting is past, and they may then remain in the evaporator until dry. The time required for plums is from six to ten hours, and the temperature requisite 240° to 300° F. Plums may be steamed for a few minutes and then split in half, thus entirely dispensing with the cooling process, and considerably reducing the length of time required in drying. 100 pounds of fresh plums will give about 30 pounds of dried.

Apricots are simply cut in two, the stones being taken out, and the fruit then dried just like apples, at from 240° to 250° F. They take from two to three hours to dry. From 100 pounds of the fresh fruit, 10 to 12 pounds of dried will result.

Pears for drying purposes ought not to be quite ripe. They are peeled, and either dried whole, or, more generally, are divided, and the seed-vessels cut out, the stems being left on. They then require steaming for eight or ten minutes, and are filled in from the bottom upwards. The temperature used is 212° to 240° F., and the pears will take five to seven hours to dry if divided, or seven to nine hours if whole. From 100 pounds of fresh pears 12 to 16 pounds of dried ones will be obtained. When preparing the pears before drying, the flavour will be improved if a little sugar be added to the water in which they are cooked, and to this may be put the juice of the removed seed-vessels and peelings.

Vegetables require, in addition to the peeling, slicing, or cutting up, to be steamed or cooked for five to seven minutes before they are dried. This is necessary in order to keep their colour and to prevent their becoming hard. When dried on a small scale the cooking in boiling water is generally sufficient. Like apples, vegetables are always filled in from below upwards.

French beans are cut into strips by a special machine, and cooked for a few minutes. A little soda added to the water helps to preserve their bright green colour. The time required for drying is from three-quarters to one hour. Temperature 150° to 160° F. 100 pounds of fresh beans giving 10 to 12 pounds of dry.

Peas require simply shelling and a few minutes’ cooking. They should not be quite ripe, and are laid thinly on the trays. They take from one to one and a half hours to dry. Temperature 212° to 220° F. 100 pounds of green pods will yield about 10 to 12 pounds of dried peas.

HOME-BREWED BEER

“Blessing of your heart, you brew good ale.”

“It illuminateth the face, warmeth the blood, and
maketh it course from the inwards to the parts extreme.”

“A quart of ale is a dish for a king.”

“Sir, I have now in my cellar ten tun of the best ale
in Staffordshire; ’tis smooth as oil, sweet as milk,
clear as amber, and strong as brandy; and will be just
fourteen years old the fifth day of next March, old
style.”

ONE of the finest pamphlets ever issued in this country is William Cobbett’s “Cottage Economy.” Even now it affords good stimulating reading, and might still serve as a wise protest against the pietistic and other cant of the times. The object of the little book was first to emphasize the sound doctrines that no nation ever was or ever will be permanently great if it consists to any large extent of wretched and miserable families; that a family to be happy must usually be well supplied with food and raiment; and that it is to blaspheme God to suppose that He created men to be miserable, to hunger, to thirst, and to perish with cold in the midst of that abundance which is the fruit of their own labour. The second object of the book was to convey to the families of the labouring classes in particular such information as to the preparation of food, the selection of clothes and furniture, and the general management of homes as his wisdom and sound judgment dictated. All through the book runs a steady stream of common sense far removed from the slushy cant so prevalent in works of the kind. “A couple of flitches of bacon are worth fifty thousand Methodist sermons and religious tracts. They are great softeners of the temper and promoters of domestic harmony.” “Oak tables, bedsteads, and stools, chairs of oak or of yew-tree, and never a bit of miserable deal board. Things of this sort ought to last several lifetimes. A labourer ought to inherit from his great-grandfather something besides his toil.” “Nowadays the labourers, and especially the female part of them, have fallen into the taste of niceness in food and finery in dress; a quarter of a bellyful and rags are the consequence. The food of their choice is high-priced, and the dress of their choice is showy and flimsy, so that to-day they are ladies, and to-morrow ragged as sheep with the scab.” A healthy attitude towards the plain and the wholesome and the genuine marks the whole book. Among other things ardently desired by Cobbett was the extension of the practice of the home brewing of honest beer, and he denounced the growing habit of tea-drinking with a vigour that time and results have shown was not misplaced. He looked upon tea-drinking as a destroyer of health, an enfeebler of the frame, an engenderer of effeminacy and laziness, a debaucher of youth, and a maker of misery for old age. And he could scarce find adequate vent for his impatience of what he rightly considered the everlasting dawdling about with the slops of the tea-tackle, or for his pity for the labourer who, instead of cheerfully and vigorously doing a morning’s work on the strength of a breakfast of bread, bacon, and beer, has to force his tea-sodden limbs along under the sweat of feebleness, and at night to return to the wretched tea-kettle once more. How different, says Cobbett, is the fate of that man who has made his wife brew beer instead of making tea!

It has been said and often quoted that there is good beer, and better beer, but no bad beer. The present writer’s experience is that there is beer so bad that few drinks can rival it for disagreeableness in taste and effects; stuff which should never be called by the same name as that transparent, brown or amber, vinous fluid, “bright as a sunbeam,” free from acidity, flatness and insipidity, which alone is worthy the name of beer.

To make good beer requires good materials, care, cleanliness, and method. Given those, failure should be impossible. The water should be good, soft water being usually to be preferred; the malt fresh and full of flour; the hops bright, yellowish-green in colour, with a pleasant brisk fragrance, and free from leaves and bits of stem; and the various tubs, boilers, and other appliances scrupulously clean. The several temperatures should be taken with a proper thermometer, and not guessed, as that way many disasters lie.

Spring and autumn are the seasons most suited for brewing, as at other times it is difficult to keep the temperature within the proper limits. Four bushels of ground or bruised malt are placed in a wooden “mash tun,” and twenty-two gallons of water at a temperature of 170° F. are added thereto. This is well stirred for half an hour, and then another eighteen gallons of water at 170° F. are added, and the stirring is continued for half an hour longer. Cover the mash tun for a couple of hours, and then draw off the infusion or wort through a hole in the bottom, protected by a strainer, so that the malt itself remains behind in the mash tun. Next add to the malt thirty gallons of water at 185° F. Stir for half an hour, let it stand for an hour, and then draw off as before. Next add eighteen gallons of water at 200° F. to the malt, stir for ten minutes, and draw off half an hour later. The three washings may be all mixed together if a good ale of average strength is desired, or the third washing may be separately treated so as to make a light table ale, or they may be all three separately treated so as to form three ales varying from very strong to very light, the former having considerable keeping quality. In any case, it is imperative that the minimum of time be lost in transferring the wort to the copper. It should be boiled for an hour and a half, and the hops (varying from one pound in the case of a mild table ale to six or seven pounds in the case of very bitter ales, three pounds being a good average amount) added, the boiling being continued for half an hour longer. The wort is then passed through a strainer into large, shallow tubs to cool, the depth of liquid not exceeding four inches. It is next poured into fermenting tuns (casks with one head removed do nicely), which must not be more than half-filled. The yeast (at the rate of a pint to the barrel of thirty-six gallons of wort) is to be mixed with a little of the wort which has been heated to 85° F. As soon as this portion shows signs of general permeation by the process of fermentation it is to be added to the main body of wort, which is to be at a temperature of 60° F. Stir it well, and then allow it to stand. As soon as a yeasty appearance is noticed in the head which rises to the surface, skim it off every two days until no more yeast appears—usually a week or more from the start. Then draw off the clear ale into casks, filling them completely, bung them securely, and place them in a cool cellar. It may then be kept for from one to twelve months, or longer, according to its quality and strength. Ale or beer should be tapped a week before it is required to draw any from the cask in order that it may have time to settle.

Finally, the ale-wife may be referred to the appeal of Dr. King—

“_O Girzy, Girzy! when thou go’st to brew,
Consider well what you’re about to do;
Be very wise, very sedately think,
That what you’re going now to make is drink.
Consider who must drink that drink, and then
What ’tis to have the praise of honest men._”

CIDER

THE processes of cider-making are discussed and explained by the present writer in Thomas’s “Book of the Apple,” one of the volumes in the series of “Handbooks of Practical Gardening.” The following short summary must here suffice. The apples, properly selected and properly ripened by being thinly piled on boards or straw in an airy, sunny place, should be torn and crushed in a cider mill, and the juice pressed out by means of a screw-press. This crude juice should then be carefully strained through a fine-meshed filter, in order to remove any cellular tissue or other matter in suspension. The expressed apple juice, having been freed by filtration from undissolved solids, is next to be subjected to the process of fermentation, that is, the conversion of its sugar into alcohol. For this purpose, it should be exposed to the air in large open vats, or in casks with the bung-hole left open. All the apple juice that is to be fermented in one vat or cask should be placed in it within twelve hours from the time of placing any therein. The specific gravity should be taken daily by means of a brewer’s hydrometer, about six-sevenths of the total solids consisting of sugar. Approximately, the sugar gives about half its weight of alcohol, and it has been found that each decrease of one-hundredth in the specific gravity of the fluid during fermentation corresponds to the conversion of two per cent. of sugar into one per cent. of alcohol. The scum which rises to the surface of the liquid must be skimmed off two or three times daily, and, as soon as this frothy crust ceases to rise, the cider still in process of active fermentation is to be drawn off with great care by means of a rubber syphon or pump and hose into perfectly clean casks. It is well to rinse out the casks with water of about the same temperature as that of the cider which is to fill them, as a sudden drop of heat is very injurious. The casks of cider should be kept at a steady temperature of about 50° F.

If the open vat system of “purging” is unavailable, then the cider is to be placed in casks with the bung-holes left open, the cask being kept full to the brim by frequent additions of clear old cider. The scum in this case overflows at the bung-holes until the purging process is complete. Subsequently the cork is to be inserted, a bent glass tube being passed through its centre, ending outwardly in a basin of water. The excess of carbonic acid gas is thus enabled to escape. As soon as the conversion of sugar into alcohol is almost complete, the cider should be carefully filtered at a low temperature by means of a Filtre Rapide or other suitable strainer (which must not consist of charcoal, sand, or clay), and stored in clean air-tight casks in a cool place, being previously pasteurized if the process be thought desirable or worth while. The cider must then be left for a time in order to ripen, that is, to develop bouquet and vinosity. If intended for bottling, that process may be performed in the following spring, or preferably in the following autumn. All antiseptics, preservatives, and artificial flavouring agents should be avoided as suggestions of the devil. Scrupulous cleanliness of fruit, filters, presses, mills, vats and casks should make the two first-named possible additions unnecessary, and careful selection of fruit should make the idea of artificial flavouring an obvious absurdity.

WINE-MAKING

“_It should be clear like the tears of a penitent,
so that a man may see distinctly to the bottom of
the glass; its colour should represent the greenness
of a buffalo’s horn; when drunk it should descend
impetuously like thunder; sweet-tasted as an almond;
creeping like a squirrel; leaping like a roebuck;
strong like the building of a Cistercian monastery;
glittering like a spark of fire; subtle like the logic
of the schools of Paris; and delicate as fine silk._

“_Often the blind piper would pay us a visit and taste
our gooseberry wine, for the making of which we had
lost neither the receipt nor the reputation._”

_GENERAL Principles._—In making wines from fresh British fruit, the fruit should be quite mature, yet as fresh in reality as in name; and too much care cannot be taken in removing all stems, leaves, unripe or diseased fruits, and other refuse which would certainly affect the taste, appearance, and keeping power of the ultimate wine. As soon as possible after being gathered, the fruit is to be placed in a tub or other vessel, and submitted to the process of crushing or bruising. It is then thrown into a wooden vat, the water added, and the mixture allowed to stand for from one to three days, according to the variety of wine and other circumstances. During this period of maceration, the mixture is to be frequently stirred by means of a wooden stirrer. The liquid portion is then drawn or strained off, the residuary pulp being placed in hair bags and subjected to pressure. In the case of raisins and other dried fruits, it is customary to chop them into small pieces, and to soak them in water for twelve hours before crushing them. The liquid which is thus squeezed out is added to the rest of the liquid and placed in another vat of wood or earthenware, the sugar and cream of tartar being added, and the whole well stirred for twenty minutes. Yeast should then be added, when any is required, and a temperature of about 60° F. maintained. For about three days—or until most of the sugar is converted into alcohol, as shown by the saccharometer—the mixture is to be kept closely covered by means of mats or other coverings. It is, during this time, to be frequently stirred and its surface skimmed.

It is then carefully to be run off into casks, the latter to be filled to the brim, and the wine allowed to work over or “purge” at the partly open bung-holes. The casks are to be kept constantly filled up with juice, and in about a fortnight the rectified spirit is to be added, if such addition is thought desirable. The casks are then to be bunged securely and left for a month, when they are to be again filled up and re-bunged. Six weeks later they should be pegged or spiled, and a little wine drawn off to ascertain if it be clear. If it is quite clear, it may be racked off—preferably by means of a syphon—into other casks or into bottles for storage. If, however, it is not yet clear, the casks must be bunged up and left for another fortnight, or the wine may be fined by the addition of isinglass—half an ounce to the hogshead—previously dissolved in a little cold water and diluted with a pint of wine. This fining solution is to be thoroughly mixed with the wine in the casks by means of a clean broom-handle. In a short time the isinglass, with the objectionable particles in the wine, sinks to the bottom, and so enables the clear liquid to be drawn off. It should then be stored for at least six months in a cellar having a temperature of about 56° F.

Racking is best performed by means of a syphon, though the wine may be—and commonly is—drawn off by a tap. In the latter case the tap should be inserted two or three days before the wine is to be drawn off, thus affording it time to re-settle. If it is not convenient to rack off the wine into a second cask, it may be drawn into a clean tub or vat, and returned to the same cask after it has been thoroughly cleaned, and turned bung-hole downwards over an ounce of sulphur, which is to be burnt so as to fill the cask with the fumes, the wine being at once returned and the bung secured.

It is of the utmost consequence in wine-making that every implement, cask, tub, tap, bottle, and cork, be scrupulously clean before they come into contact with the wine; and in bottling it is essential that the bottles be perfectly dry.

Among the most important and useful appliances for the home wine-maker are the following: barrels, vats, bottles, corks, taps, pegs, mallet, cork-squeezer, fruit-crusher, wine-press, straining bags, and syphon. These may be obtained of Messrs. Lumley, of 1, America Square, Minories, London; or Messrs. Barnett and Foster, of Eagle Wharf Road, London.

I cannot too strongly urge the reader to be loyal to her country and to good taste in her wine-making; and to confine herself chiefly to the making of simple British wines from British fruit with British names. Nothing is more objectionable than to brand wines as British ports, British sherries, English claret, and so on. It is almost as insufferable as the labelling of writers as Belgian Shakespeares, English Molières, French Fieldings, and the rest.

I will describe the method of preparing a few typical wines, and then indicate the several classes in which the various British wines may be arranged.

_To make Gooseberry Wine._—Take six pounds of perfectly ripe gooseberries, and treat them as directed in the section on general principles. Allow one gallon of soft, filtered, or distilled water; four pounds of sugar, previously made into a syrup with part of the water; and one and a quarter ounces of cream of tartar. One or two ounces of rectified spirits of wine may be added. Each of these several ingredients is to be added at that stage of the fermentation indicated in the section on general principles.

_To make Sparkling Gooseberry Wine._—Proceed as in the last recipe; but do not allow the fermentation quite to complete itself before bottling the wine. Add to each bottle a tiny piece of sugar of about the size of a pea. Use good strong bottles, and secure the corks by wiring them. It is sometimes desirable to hasten fermentation in the vat by placing therein a small piece of toast spread on both sides with ale yeast.

_To make Lemon Wine._—Take five pounds of peeled lemons and the sliced peel of four lemons, and proceed as in making gooseberry wine, but allow only three and a half pounds of sugar and add no cream of tartar. The pips should be removed before the fruit is crushed.

_To make Cowslip Wine._—Prepare a simple wine after the manner of making gooseberry wine, employing one pound of raisins, four pounds of sugar, and one ounce of cream of tartar to the gallon of water. When active fermentation has nearly ceased, a few weeks before racking, add two quarts of bruised cowslip flowers. Then complete the making of the wine in the usual way.