This section is from the book "Centennial Cookery Book", by Woman's Centennial Association. Also available from Amazon: Centennial Cookery Book.
One gallon of vinegar, 1 cup of sugar, 3 dozen black peppers, 3 dozen cloves, 1 1/2 dozen allspice, mace, red pepper, mustard seed. Boil 5 minutes.
Make a brine not too strong and pour scalding hot over the cucumbers every day for a week taking off the scum which will rise. After that put them in a brass kettle with equal parts of water and vinegar and a piece of alum as large as a hickory nut pulverized.
Stir occasionally until scorching hot, then set them off to cool, stirring occasionally. Drain off and put in a jar pouring hot vinegar over, then adding pepper, mustard seed and horse radish. If cloves are used, put them in a muslin bag, ground.
Boil on ear, then cut off. To 3 pints of corn add one of salt, mix well, when cold press down in the jar, once in a while wipe off the scum from the corn and sides of the jar and the plate. To use it soak over night. In the morning change water, set on the stove and heat gradually and then change again, then cook adding a spoonful of sugar.
1 peck green tomatos, 8 small green peppers, 1 cup salt, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup chopped nasturtions, 1 tablespoon ground cloves, 1 of allspice, 1 of cinnamon, 1 of mustard. Sprinkle the salt over the tomatos after they are sliced and let stand over night. Pour off water in morning, add the other ingredients, put into a kettle and boil 6 or 8 hours. Some add four onions.
Three large cabbage heads, 6 green peppers chopped line, 1/2 pint of mustard seed, 1 1/2 pints of horse radish grated, 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of salt. Mix well and cover with cold vinegar. It will be ready for use in three days.
Take fresh cherries, (not too ripe) leave the stems on, and place them in a glass jar as compact as you can without bruising them. To 1 quart of cider vinegar, put 1 teacup of sugar and a tablespoonful of salt. When it is dissolved pour it over the cherries and fasten them up to keep air-tight. Keep them in the dark and cover the jars to preserve the color. Grapes can be made the same way.
Wash cucumbers and put in brine 24 hours. Take them out, wipe dry and lay in a jar, pour cold vinegar over them and let stand 5 or 6 weeks; then remove from vinegar and lay in jar, sprinkling some mixed spices between the layers of cucumbers, put on top a cup of sugar, pour over this hot vinegar in which a little alum has been dissolved. Keep the pickles under the vinegar by pressing a plate over them. Tie up the jar and they will keep a year.
Take small, green cucumbers, cover them with a weak brine, and let them stand 24 hours. Then take out the cucumbers, and wipe the black specks from them. Put them into a brass kettle, add sufficient vinegar to cover them, and a small lump of alum. Heat slowly, stirring them from the bottom occasionally. When scalded, turn them into a crock and let them stand 24 hours. Add a few green peppers, sliced.
To 600 pickles, take 3 gallons vinegar (if needed to cover them), 3 pints brown sugar, 3 gills of mustard seed, a large handful of cloves, a handful of cinnamon, 1 teaspoonful of celery seed, a few pieces of ginger-root, and a lump of alum the size of a walnut. Tie all the spices in a muslin bag and scald with the vinegar in a porcelain kettle. Drain the first vinegar from the cucumbers, and pour over them the spiced vinegar after it has cooled a little. Add some green grapes and horse radish, when cold.
 
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