CELERY VINEGAR.

A quart of fresh celery, chopped fine, or a quarter of a pound of celery seed; one quart of best vinegar; one tablespoonful of salt, and one of white sugar.  Put the celery or seed into a jar, heat the vinegar, sugar and salt; pour it boiling hot over the celery, let it cool, cover it tightly and set away.  In two weeks strain and bottle.

SPICED VINEGAR.

Take one quart of cider vinegar, put into it half an ounce of celery seed, one-third of an ounce of dried mint, one-third of an ounce of dried parsley, one garlic, three small onions, three whole cloves, a teaspoonful of whole pepper-corns, a teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, salt to taste and a tablespoonful of sugar; add a tablespoonful of good brandy.  Put all into a jar, and cover it well; let it stand for three weeks, then strain and bottle it well.  Useful for flavoring salad and other dishes.

PICKLES.

Pickles should never be put into vessels of brass, copper or tin, as the action of the acid on such metals often results in poisoning the pickles.  Porcelain or granite-ware is the best for such purposes.

Vinegar that is used for pickling should be the best cider or white-wine, and should never be boiled more than five or six minutes, as it reduces its strength.  In putting away pickles, use stone or glass jars; the glazing on common earthenware is rendered injurious by the action of the vinegar.  When the jar is nearly filled with the pickles, the vinegar should completely cover them, and if there is any appearance of their not doing well, turn off the vinegar, cover with fresh vinegar and spices.  Alum in small quantities is useful in making them firm and crisp.  In using ground spices, tie them up in muslin bags.

To green pickles, put green grape-vine leaves or green cabbage leaves between them when heating.  Another way is to heat them in strong ginger tea.  Pickles should be kept closely covered, put into glass jars and sealed tightly.

“Turmeric” is India saffron, and is used very much in pickling as a coloring.

A piece of horse-radish put into a jar of pickles will keep the vinegar from losing its strength, and the pickles will keep sound much longer, especially tomato pickles.

CUCUMBER PICKLES.

Select the medium, small-sized cucumbers.  For one bushel make a brine that will bear up an egg; heat it boiling hot and pour it over the cucumbers; let them stand twenty-four hours, then wipe them dry; heat some vinegar boiling hot and pour over them, standing again twenty-four hours.  Now change the vinegar, putting on fresh vinegar, adding one quart of brown sugar, a pint of white mustard seed, a small handful of whole cloves, the same of cinnamon sticks, a piece of alum the size of an egg, half a cup of celery seed; heat it all boiling hot and pour over the cucumbers.