Putting Food By - Janet Greene [199]
Dot Robbins’s Christmas Pickle
7 pints
8 or 9 large ripe cucumbers
7 cups sugar
2 cups distilled white vinegar
½ teaspoon oil of cloves
½ teaspoon oil of cinnamon
30 ounces maraschino cherries
First day: peel cucumbers, remove seeds, cut in 1-inch pieces, and put them in a large enameled or stainless steel kettle. Add water to cover and boil gently until barely tender (about 10 minutes). Remove, drain well, and put in a large glass or crockery bowl. Combine sugar, vinegar, and oils of clove and cinnamon in the empty kettle, bring to a boil, and then pour over the cucumber pieces in the bowl. Cover and let stand overnight at room temperature.
Second day: drain off syrup and bring it to a boil. Pour over the cucumbers and again let stand overnight.
Third day: put cucumber pieces, with syrup, in the kettle, bring all to a boil, and add maraschino cherries and their juice. Return to heat, and when it is boiling again ladle into hot pint jars, leaving ½ inch of headroom. Adjust lids and process in a Boiling–Water Bath (212 F/100 C) for 10 minutes after the canner has returned to a full boil. Remove and complete seals if using bailed jars.
The spice essences are carried in some natural-food stores and are available online. They are used because whole spices would darken the syrup.
For the Larder
Always appreciated at holiday time are presents that can be stored away and brought out long after the Christmas season has passed, when special foods and treats are certain spirit-lifters and reminders of friendship. Spicy Peppercorn Jelly, Mint Sauce, or pretty Wine Jelly make fine gifts—as do unusual easy-to-create Specialty Vinegars, bottled and beribboned. You might also present a package of Dried Tomatoes (see Chapter 21).
Wine Jelly
Four ½-pint jars
Put this by whenever. It’s easy and simple and can even be made last-minute.
3 cups sugar
2 cups any drinkable table wine (part may be Sherry)
Two 3-ounce foil pouches liquid fruit pectin
Measure sugar and wine into the top of double boiler; mix well. Place over, but do not let touch, rapidly boiling water; stir 3 to 4 minutes, or until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. At once stir in fruit pectin and mix well. Skim off any foam. Quickly pour hot jelly into hot ½-pint canning jars—squat jars are ideal here—leaving ⅛ inch of headroom. Cap with disc and band turned firmly tight.
Finish 10 minutes in a Hot–Water Bath at 190 F/88 C. Remove jars; let cool upright.
Peppercorn Jelly
Five ½-pint jars—squat ones are best
Paula Reds are PFB’s favorite apple for this recipe. If you’re using Paula Reds, plan to do this jelly early on—they’re among the season’s earliest apples, and they aren’t around for long. If Paula Reds aren’t available, any good jelly apple—especially with pink juice—will do.
3½ pounds Paula Red apples (early variety, with lovely pink juice)
½ cup white wine (Chablis is good here)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 to 2½ cups water
4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons (with their juice) of bottled pickled green peppercorns
(half a 3½-ounce bottle)
Wash and cut up apples, but do not peel or core. Put them in a stainless steel or enameled pot, add the lemon juice and water to cover. Cook, stirring, until apples are mush; strain through a stout jelly bag. Measure 4 cups of the pretty juice into the washed pot, add the wine and the peppercorns. Bring to a simmer, skim out the peppercorns, and hold them in a cup (you’ll put them back in a minute). Add sugar to the hot juice; bring to boiling and cook until it tests Done for jelly: it tears in a sheet off the spoon, or a blob of it wrinkles on an icy plate when pushed with your finger. Off heat, promptly return peppercorns to the jelly, remove any froth, pour into the wide-mouth ½-pint jars that turn their contents out on a plate so nicely. Leave a scant ¼ inch of headroom, wipe sealing rim of jars, cap. Finish in a Boiling–Water Bath (212 F/100 C) for 10 minutes. Remove jars, cool upright and naturally. During the first 10 minutes,