The hot versus cold vinegar debate: A historical schism in the art of pickling

“ It is better for those who never make pickles or preserves, to wait for fresh vegetables or fruit, till they are actually in market—or, if put up in jars, to add something more than parboiling and seclusion from the air. Vinegar, salt, sugar, spice and alcohol, will be found the grand and universal articles for securing the goodness of nearly all eatables. ”

“ PICKLING consists in preserving fruits and vegetables in vinegar or brine. Each of these liquids acts as a preservative, so that the receptacles, or containers, for the food do not have to be sealed air-tight, nor does the preserved food require much care in order to have it keep perfectly.
The effect of the pickling liquids on both fruits and vegetables is very similar. The salt in the brine or the vinegar hardens the cellulose of the foods to such an extent that they are impervious to the action of bacteria. ”

“ The vinegar should always be poured on hot, just as it comes to the first scald—never allowing it to boil.
Never put up pickles in anything that has held grease; and never let them freeze. If pickles are put into brine it should be strong enough to bear an egg. To make the brine, use a heaping pint of salt to each gallon of water. Put the pickles in bottles, and seal while the brine is hot. A half bushel of grape leaves added to the barrel of salt pickles will keep them sound and firm. A slice of horseradish added to each jar or bottle of vinegar pickles will keep the vinegar clear. ”

“ Cucumbers should be in weak brine three or four days after they are picked; then they should be put in a tin or wooden pail of clean water, and kept slightly warm in the kitchen corner for two or three days. Then take as much vinegar as you think your pickle jar will hold; scald it with pepper, allspice, mustard-seed, flag-root, horseradish, &c., if you happen to have them; half of them will spice the pickles very well. Throw in a bit of alum as big as a walnut; this serves to make pickles hard. Skim the vinegar clean, and pour it scalding hot upon the cucumbers. ”

“ When you have collected all the things you require, turn all out in a large pan, and thoroughly mix them. Now put the mixed vegetables into smaller jars, without any of the vinegar; then boil the vinegar again, adding as much more as will be required to fill the different jars, and also cayenne, mustard-seed, turmeric, and mustard, which must be well mixed with a little cold vinegar, allowing the quantities named above to each gallon of vinegar. Pour the vinegar, boiling hot, over the pickle, and when cold, tie down with a bladder. ”

“ Put them into fresh vinegar, seasoned with salt, mace, mustard, garlic, and horseradish; and to a hundred nuts put one ounce of ginger, one ounce of pepper, and of cloves and mace a quarter of an ounce each, two small nutmegs, and half a pint of mustard seed. All the pickles to be done in raw vinegar (that is, not boiled) . It is always recommended to have the largest double nuts, being the best to pickle. ”

“ The strongest vinegar must be used for pickling. It must not be boiled, as thereby the strength of the vinegar and spices will be evaporated. By parboiling the pickles in brine, they will be ready in half the time they would otherwise be. When taken out of the hot brine, let them get cold and quite dry before you put them into the pickle.
The articles to be pickled should be perforated with a larding pin, in several places, by which means they will the more readily imbibe the flavour of the pickle. ”

“ Fill the jars 3 parts full with the pickles, but always let there be 3 inches above their surface of vinegar. If earthenware jars are used, let them be unglazed; and vinegar should always be boiled in unglazed earthenware; indeed, it ought never to boil at all, but be just scalding hot, for boiling causes much of the strength to evaporate. Keep the bottles closely stopped, with bungs, and a bladder, wetted in the pickle. When you have opened a bottle, cork it again, put a fresh bladder over, if you wish the pickles to keep. ”

“ There may be something petty in a refined taste; it easily degenerates into effeminacy. It does not consider the broadest use. It is not content with simple good and bad, and so is fastidious and curious, or nice only. ”

“ On the whole it appears to me, that what is called taste, in its most general acceptation, is not a simple idea, but is partly made up of a perception of the primary pleasures of sense, of the secondary pleasures of the imagination, and of the conclusions of the reasoning faculty, concerning the various relations to these, and concerning the human passions, manners, and actions. ”

“ To two quarts of good vinegar, put an ounce of the flour of mustard, one of ginger, one of long pepper, four of cloves, a few shalots, and a little horseradish. Boil the vinegar, put the vegetables into a jar, and pour it hot over them. When cold, tie them down, and add more vinegar afterwards, if necessary. In the course of a week or two, the pickle will be fit for use.
INDIGESTION. Persons of weak delicate habits, particularly the sedentary and studious, are frequently subject to indigestion. ”

“ Lay your fish, cut in proper pieces, in oblong earthenware pots, and pour the pickle over them when it is scalding hot, not boiling. Next day fill up the pots with more liquor, and tie bladder over them. These will be fit for table in a week, but will be improved by keeping. If any water is put to the vinegar it will certainly spoil them for keeping long. ”

“ A paper wet in brandy, or proof spirit, and laid on the preserved fruit, tends to keep it from fermenting. Both pickles and sweetmeats should be watched, to see that they do not ferment, particularly when the weather is warm. Whenever they ferment, turn off the vinegar or syrup, scald and turn it back while hot. When pickles grow soft, it is owing to the vinegar being too weak. To strengthen it, heat it scalding hot, turn it back on the pickles, and when lukewarm, put in a little alum, and a brown paper, wet in molasses. ”

“ Pickles of all kinds should be stirred up occasionally, and if there are any soft ones among them, they should be thrown away, and the vinegar scalded; if very weak, it should be thrown away and fresh added. The vinegar when scalded, should not be allowed to cool in brass. Another method of pickling cucumbers, which is very good, is to put them in salt and water, as you pick them, change the water once in three days; when you have done picking your cucumbers, take them out of the salt and water, and put them in cold vinegar, with alum, salt, and pepper corns in it. ”

“ PEACHES AND APRICOT PICKLE
Take peaches fully grown, but not mellow; cover them in strong salt and water for one week. Take them from the brine and wipe them carefully, rubbing each peach to see if it is firm. Put to a gallon of vinegar half an ounce each of cloves, pepper corns, sliced ginger root, white mustard seed, and a little salt. Scald the peaches with this boiling vinegar, repeat this three times; add half as much fresh vinegar, and cork them up in jars. Keep them dark and cool. Light will spoil pickles or preserves as much as heat does. Apricots may be pickled in the same way. ”

“ Glass or earthenware jars are best for strong pickles; they must be tightly corked and tied down with bladder soaked in the pickling liquor. A damp store cupboard is fatal to them.
Cabbage.—Choose a fine closely-grown red cabbage, strip the outside leaves off, cut it across in rather thin slices, and lay on a dish, scattering salt over; cover with a cloth, and let lie 20 hours; drain the cabbage on a sieve, and put it in a clean jar with allspice, whole pepper, and a little ginger sliced; pour cold white wine vinegar over it to cover it well, and tie closely from the air. ”

“ The great art of pickling consists in using good vinegar, and in selecting the various articles, at the proper seasons.—Pickles are indigestible, but their liquor is good to give relish to cold meat, therefore the strongest vinegar should be used, because a less quantity will suffice. They should be kept in a dry place, and glass jars are best, because then it is easy to perceive whether the vinegar diminishes, and if it does, more should be boiled with spice, and poured over the pickles. ”

“ It should be washed, dried, pounded, sifted, and stored in a glass jar, and covered close. It is common to find it growing damp in the salt-stands for the table. It should then be set by the fire to dry, and afterward be reduced to fine powder again. Few things are more disagreeable than coarse or damp salt on a table.
Vinegar is best made of wine or cider. Buy a keg or half-barrel of it, set it in the cellar, and then keep a supply for the casters in a bottle in the kitchen. If too strong, it eats the pickles. Much manufactured vinegar is sold that ruins pickles, and is unhealthful. ”

“ Do not keep pickles in common earthen ware, as the glazing contains lead, and combines with the vinegar.
Vinegar for pickling should be sharp, but not the sharpest kind, as it injures the pickles. If you use copper, bell metal, or brass vessels for pickling, never allow the vinegar to cool in them, as it then is poisonous. Add a tablespoonful of alum and a tea-cup of salt to each three gallons of vinegar, and tie up a bag with pepper, ginger-root, and spices of all sorts in it, and you have vinegar prepared for any kind of common pickling. ”

“ The gherkins thus pickled are very crisp, and excellent in flavour, and the colour is sufficiently good to satisfy the prudent housekeeper, to whom the brilliant and poisonous green produced by boiling the vinegar in a brass skillet (a process constantly recommended in books of cookery) is anything but attractive. To satisfy ourselves of the effect produced by the action of the acid on the metal, we had a few gherkins thrown into some vinegar which was boiling in a brass pan, and nothing could be more beautiful than the colour which they almost immediately exhibited. ”