=Rhubarb Jam.=--Peel the sticks of rhubarb, cut into short lengths,
and weigh one pound of preserving sugar; put the rhubarb in a bowl and
spread the sugar over, let it stand all night. Next day strain off the
juice and put in the preserving pan with half a teaspoonful of ground
ginger to each pound of rhubarb, adding the finely grated rind and
juice of three lemons; put the pan by the side of the fire, stir as it
comes to the boiling point, and then add the rhubarb. It should boil
from thirty to forty minutes. Fill jam pots, and paper over while hot.
=Rhubarb Fool= is made like gooseberry fool, and tarts also are treated
in the same way.
=Rhubarb Wine.=--Wipe twenty to twenty-five pounds of rhubarb with a
damp cloth, but do not skin it; cut it into lengths, and crush it well
in a wooden or earthenware vessel; pour over it three to five gallons
of cold water, to each gallon of liquid add three ounces of good
preserving sugar, and the finely peeled rind, and juice of a lemon. Let
it remain for ten days covered, but stirring it a little every day. At
the end of ten days strain the liquid into another vessel, stirring
till all its contents are dissolved; then put it into a small cask,
adding one ounce of isinglass dissolved previously in a little warm
water, cover well the hole, and leave it for ten days; then cork it
well, and do not disturb the cask for about a year, when it will be
ready to bottle.
=Stewed Rhubarb.=--Take a dozen sticks of early red rhubarb, wash
it and trim the ends; cut it with a sharp knife into two-inch or
three-inch lengths; put it into a stew jar in which there is already
a syrup made from a quarter of a pound of lump sugar, and half a pint
of water; let this syrup cook for a quarter of an hour, then drop the
pieces of rhubarb into the boiling syrup, and cook slowly until tender,
basting it, and being careful the pieces do not break; less sugar may
be needed. A piece of thin lemon rind and a teaspoonful of lemon juice
may be cooked with it. Serve in a glass dish, with whipped cream over,
or Devonshire cream in a bowl, or custard in cups.
SAGE (_Salvia officinalis. Labiatæ_).
Sow in spring or early autumn in any good garden soil, either in the
herb bed or as an edging to a pathway.
The leaves may be used fresh or dried as a seasoning.
SALSIFY (_Tragopogon pœrifolius. Compositæ_).
Sometimes called “The Vegetable Oyster,” salsify is a delicacy not
too often seen in English gardens, yet it is easy to grow, very hardy,
and a welcome addition to our winter list of vegetables. It should be
sown in April, in ground without a trace of manure in the top spit,
but with some well-matured stuff buried deeply. The drills should be
a foot apart, and the seed sown thinly, yet, as it sometimes comes up
rather irregularly, not so thinly as for some root crops--parsnips,
for instance. Early in May the plants may be singled in the rows, and
three weeks later thinned to four inches distance. Through the summer
the Dutch hoe should be kept at work between the rows to kill weeds and
prevent evaporation.
The roots may stay in the ground through the winter in a well-drained
soil, and be dug as wanted.
Very early in spring the flowering shoots push up, and may be gathered
and cooked in the way of asparagus; gloves should be used for gathering
these shoots, as they exude a juice that stains. In the small garden,
however, it is hardly worth while to sacrifice roots and space for this
extra crop. It is said that, like raw tomatoes, the taste for salsify
is an acquired one. It is worth acquiring.