Take a peck of tomatas, (the small round ones are best for pickling,)
and prick every one with a fork. Put them into a broad stone or earthen
vessel, and sprinkle salt between every layer of tomatas. Cover them,
and let them remain two days in the salt. Then put them into vinegar
and water mixed in equal quantities, half and half, and keep them in it
twenty-four hours to draw out the saltness. There must be sufficient of
the liquid to cover the tomatas well.
To a peck of tomatas allow a bottle of mustard, half an ounce of
cloves, and half an ounce of pepper, with a dozen onions sliced
thin. Pack the tomatas in a stone jar, placing the spices and onions
alternately with the layers of tomatas. Put them in till the jar is
two-thirds full. Then fill it up with strong cold vinegar, and stop it
closely. The pickles will be fit to eat in a fortnight. If you do not
like onions, substitute for them a larger quantity of spice.
TOMATA SOY.--For this purpose you must have the best and ripest
tomatas, and they must be gathered on a dry day. Do not peel them, but
merely cut them into slices. Having strewed some salt over the bottom
of a tub, put in the tomatas in layers; sprinkling between each layer
(which should be about two inches in thickness) a handful of salt.
Repeat this till you have put in eight quarts or one peck of tomatas.
Cover the tub and let it set for three days. Then early in the morning,
put the tomatas into a large porcelain kettle, and boil it slowly
and steadily till ten at night, frequently mashing and stirring the
tomatas. Then put it out to cool. Next morning strain and press it
through a sieve, and when no more liquid will pass through, put it into
a clean kettle with two ounces of cloves, one ounce of mace, two ounces
of black pepper, and two table-spoonfuls of cayenne, all powdered.
Again let it boil slowly and steadily all day, and put it to cool in
the evening in a large pan. Cover it, and let it set all night. Next
day put it into small bottles, securing the corks by dipping them in
melted rosin, and tying leathers over them.
If made exactly according to these directions, and slowly and
thoroughly boiled, it will keep for years in a cool dry place, and may
be used for many purposes when fresh tomatas are not to be had.