TO PICKLE CUCUMBERS.

Cucumbers for pickling should be very small, and as free from spots as
possible. Make a brine of salt and water strong enough to bear an egg.
Pour it over your cucumbers, cover them with fresh cabbage leaves, and
let them stand for a week, or till they are quite yellow, stirring them
at least twice a day. When they are perfectly yellow, pour off the
water. Take a porcelain kettle, and cover the bottom and sides with
fresh vine leaves. Put in the cucumbers (with a small piece of alum)
and cover them closely with vine leaves all over the top, and then with
a dish or cloth to keep in the steam. Fill up the kettle with clear
water, and hang it over the fire when dinner is done, but not where
there is a blaze. The fire under the kettle must be kept very moderate.
The water must not boil, or be too hot to bear your hand in. Keep them
over the fire in a slow heat till next morning. If they are not then of
a fine green, repeat the process. When they are well greened, take them
out of the kettle, drain them on a sieve, and put them into a clean
stone jar. Boil for five or six minutes sufficient of the best vinegar
to cover the cucumbers well; putting into the kettle a thin muslin bag
filled with cloves, mace, and mustard seed. Pour the vinegar scalding
hot into the jar of pickles, which should be secured with a large flat
cork, and an oil-cloth or leather cover tied over it. Another way to
green pickles is to cover them with vine leaves or cabbage leaves, and
to keep them on a warm, hearth pouring boiling water on them five or
six times a day; renewing the water as soon as it becomes cold.

In proportioning the spice to the vinegar, allow to every two quarts,
an ounce of mace, two dozen cloves, and two ounces of mustard seed. You
may leave the muslin bag, with the spice, for about a week in the
pickle jar to heighten the flavour, if you think it necessary.
