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Gherkins, Pickled

From Mrs. Beeton's household management (1907).

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A historical recipe

Mrs. Beeton's household management, by Mrs. (Isabella Mary) Beeton (1907).

United Kingdom

Known as a British recipe, with similar versions prepared across other nations.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards. Printed in United Kingdom: that says where the book was made, not where the dish comes from.

  • Preserving. Old preserving methods may not make food safe to keep. Use current tested guidance.
  • Curing. Old curing amounts and salts may be unsafe. Use current tested guidance.

Ingredients 2 ingredients

  1. an oz. of allspice
  2. an oz. of black peppercorns

Cook safely

Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.

  • Boiling water and steam. Turn pan handles inward, away from the edge of the hob. Lift lids away from you, and pour hot water away from your body: steam burns too.

Method

  1. Ingredients.
  2. — Gherkins, vinegar to cover.
  3. To each quart of vinegar allow £ of an oz.
  4. of allspice, £ of an oz.
  5. of black peppercorns, 4 cloves, 2 blades of mace.
  6. Method.
  7. — Cover the gherkins with salt and water, and let them remain in the brine for 3 days.
  8. At the end of the time drain them well, dry them with a cloth, and pack them compactly in a jar of suitable size.
  9. Boil sufficient vinegar to cover them, with peppercorns and sjv the above proportions, for 10 minutes, and pour the liquid over the gherkins.
  10. Cover closely, let the jar stand in a warm place until the following day, then drain off the vinegar into a saucepan.
  11. Boil up, pour the vinegar at once over the gherkins, and let them remain covered until the following day.
  12. This process must be repeated daily until the gherkins are sufficiently green;
  13. they should then be put into widenecked glar.s bottles, covered completely with vinegar, for which purpose it may be necessary to supplement that already used.
  14. They should be tightly corked before being stored away.
  15. Time.
  16. — 5 or 6 days.
  17. Average Cost, uncertain, as they are rarely sold.

Plating

Cookware for this recipe

  • Saucepan
  • Colander
Source public domain per archive.org metadata; unverified
Credit

From Mrs. Beeton's household management (1907), printed page 1169, digitised by the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/mrsbeetonshouse00beetuoft

What was changed: Read by machine from the book's scanned text into ingredients and method. The title's capitals were tidied; spelling and scanning errors are left as they are.