Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers

cider occasionally, with any that has been left at table, or the settlings of decanters or bottles that have had wine in, but do not put in any water. It will make much sooner in the garret or a warm place, but if the barrel is fixed early in the summer, you will have plenty to pickle with in the fall; taste it so as not to add cider too fast. Have a phial with a string attached to it that you can put in at the bung. You should have a barrel of good hard cider before you begin to make vinegar. If you are in want of vinegar, fill a jug from the barrel, and set it in the hot sun, where it will turn sour much quicker. It is a good plan to keep a jug in a closet, where you can empty all the slops of cider and wine; and when you get it full, empty it in the barrel. After the pickling is done, you can put as much hard cider in the barrel, a gallon at a time, as you have taken out, with a little molasses, and half a pint of whiskey; if you put too much of the latter it will prevent it from getting sour, but a little gives strength to the cider, and the molasses increases the acidity, and helps to color it. If you should have any juice of cherries, currants, or blackberries, put it in, or if you can get cheap sour raisins, they will be an improvement to the flavor of the vinegar; a tea-cup of burnt sugar will give it a good color. Vinegar made in this way will keep pickles good for several years. If the cider has not sufficient strength it will take longer to make. To Pickle Mangoes. Pick your musk-melons at a proper age, before they get too hard; make a slit in the sides and take out the seeds with a tea-spoon; boil a pickle of ground alum salt, that will bear an egg, and let the melons lay in this