Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world.

Welcome to Fascinating Facts and Tantalizing Trivia

A Hartson Dowd Column

Sept 28, 2006

SEPTEMBER FRAGRANCES –Fragrance is the pickle-makers bonus . . .Oriental incense can equal the spicy perfume of simmering vinegar, sugar and spice. 

            Until a few hundred years ago most people had only the food they produced for themselves.  It is no surprise then, that the harvest was so important, and that when the grain had been harvested, the hay stored in the barns, and the fruits and vegetables canned or stored in cold cellars, it was time to have the harvest special

I would like to tell you about my grandmother, Ella Amelia Cook-O’Doud (1866/1953). She was born in Ireland, and went on to live in Kansas, Washington, and then moved to British Columbia and died in Alberta, Canada.  In her last days she had three great friends, Auntie Hattie, Mrs Carncross and Mrs O’Sullivan.  My memory places them as very old and venerable ladies in black satin, sateen and lustre, with bonnets encasing their tidy old heads, they all being widows.

I suppose in looking back they were in their sixties.  It was their custom, all through the year, to meet every Wednesday at somebody’s house: the home of a daughter, a niece, a nephew, or a son, and when they ran out of these choices, they elected the home of some close friend os any of their families.

They arrived carrying their aprons and favourite cooking utensils, such as a favourite paring knife or a measuring spoon, in their black satin shopping bags.

After greetings, they proceeded at once to the kitchen and took over.  They took over the whole day, for the dog-gone-dest jamboree of cooking you ever imagined.  It was their hobby, their recreation together, and their joy.  These four old ladies, in an unobtrusive way, were endeavouring to keep alive the ancient cultures they had inherited from their pioneer ancestors.  Cookery , eighty years ago, was one of the larger aspects of our culture.  A cultured home in

Canada was one in which you got a big square meal.

            Of course, at pickling time, when redolent September dawned, there was quite a lot of feuding in our various families.  The Wednesdays had to be given up by the merry quartet, because Grandma Cook-Dowd was seized upon by one or other of her immediate daughters or daughter in law for the whole pickling fortnight.  And the other three ladies suffered a like imprisonment by their kin.

            It is happy and it is sad to recollect them now.  When you walked alond the streets of our cities, towns and villages, the very air was heavy with the incense of pickling.  I used to think of it as an autumnal of incense our homes sent up in thanksgiving to God for the harvest.  You can walk the streets now in September and never get a whiff of vinegar or spice, never a faint savor of chilli sauce or mustard pickles, no hint of gherkins in brine, no brain-tickling token of tumeric or enamelled red peppers.

            And doubtless the factories which have taken over the production of all this autumnal incense worked out some efficient system by which they extract all the by=products of their fumes.

# Always use the best grade vinegar for pickling.  Use the white distilled vinegar for light coloured pickles.  Use cider or malt for the dark chutneys.  Use only coarse for pickles . . .shaker salt tends to cloud vinegar and soften the pickles.

PICKLES

Beet Pickle

Cook small beets or cook and slice larger beets into a 2-quart casserole.

Cover with 1 cup vinegar, ? cup sugar, 1 cup water and seal.

Mustard Pickle

? cup salt                                                        8 cups sugar

1 quart large cucumbers (cut finely)               4 Tablespoons mustard seed

1 quart whole pickling onions                         ? gallon vinegar

2 quarts chopped cauliflower                          6 Tablespoons celery seed

3 red peppers (chopped)                                  2/3 cup flour

1 quart finely cut onions                                 8 Tablespoons mustard

1 quart midget dills OR                                   1-2 Tablespoons turmeric

1 quart canned pickles                                     1 tin pimentos

3 green peppers (chopped)

            Sprinkle cucumbers, onions, cauliflower, peppers, onions, dill (or pickles) and green peppers with salt.  Let stand overnight.  Drain in the morning.  Boil sugar, mustard seed, vinegar and celery seed 10 minutes.  Mix flour, mustard, and turmeric with a little vinegar.  Add to boiling ingredients and boil slowly for a few minutes.  Add chopped vegetables and boil until tender.  Add pimentos just before sealing jars.

Gherkins in Brine

4 quart cucumbers (2-3 inches long)               ? cup salt

4 quarts boiling water                                      ? cup sugar

1 cup table salt OR                                          ? cup mustard seed

1-1/2 cups coarse salt                                       ? cup mixed pickling spice

8 cups blended vinegar                                     7 cups sugar

            Wash cucumbers well, drain and place in a crock.  Cover with hot brine made with boiling water and salt.  Cover and let stand overnight.  Then drain thoroughly, and place in clean dry crock.  Prepare pickle mixture by combining cold vinegar, salt, ? cup sugar and spices.  Pour over cucumbers.  Each morning for the next 14 days add ? cup sugar, stirring well to dissolve sugar.  When last of sugar is added remove pickles from liquid and pack into sterilized jars.  Strain pickle mixture to remove spices, pour liquid back over pickles and seal jars.

Gramma Cook’s Relish

            Put 8 green tomatoes, 2 red peppers, 6 medium onions through food chopper.  Chop 1 medium head of cabbage, 2 bunches of celery, add to above and put in kettle with enough vinegar to nearly cover.  (Use white wine vinegar).  Boil 15 minutes.  Mix 2 pounds sugar, 2 Tablespoons mustard, 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon turmeric, 2 Tablespoons salt, and add to above.  Boil 10 minutes.  Put in sterilized jars and seal.  This is so delicious for a winter salad or sandwich spread.

Yellow Bean and Mustard Pickle

Take 4 quarts of yellow beans and wash and cut in inch pieces.  Boil in salted water until tender.  Drain well.  Make a dressing of the following:

3 cups sugar                                                 ? cup dry mustard

2 cups white vinegar                                    1 Tablespoon celery seed

? cup flour                                                   1 Tablespoon turmeric

            Combine the above ingredients and cook on top of double boiler until thick.  Pour over beans and bring to a boil.  Fill jars and seal.

Sweet and Sour Dills

            Bring 1 quart vinegar, 2 cups water, 4 cups sugar, ? cup pickling salt to a boil.  Pour this mixture over 2 quarts sliced cucumbers, ? quart small onions (whole), ? quart combined celery and carrot slices.  Small pieces of cauliflower and dill weed may be used also.  Pack vegetables in jars and pour hot brine over them and seal.

Marjorie’s Dills

Pack 6 sterilized quart jars with 3 to 4-inch cucumbers and plenty of fresh dill.  Heat to boiling 3 quarts of water 1 quart cider vinegar and 1 cup coarse salt.  Boil 3 minutes.  Place a slice of onion on top of each jar with a pinch of alum and garlic is desired.  Pour the hot solution over top.  Seal.  Ready in 5 to 6 weeks.

# Metal top jars containing vinegar should have wax paper or foil cut to fit under the lid to prevent vinegar contacting the metal.

Bottling fruits and vegetables in brine or vinegar is a time-honoured method of preserving them.  These tart condiments add colour and flavour to any meal.

Hartson Sager Dowd

hsdowd@telus.net