Rub off with a fine tin grater the yellow rind of twenty fine large
fresh lemons, recently unpacked from the chest, without disturbing the
white part that lies underneath; next take the white part off with a
sharp knife, and divide the fruit into two parts in the middle, and
then again divide these pieces into slices, which will be each about
an inch and three quarters thick. Rub these thoroughly with bay salt
in fine powder, and set them on a dish to dry in a cool oven until the
juice is completely taken up; put them then in a jar and pour upon them
a pickle of the following ingredients, viz.
Mace, in fine powder 1¾ oz.
Cloves, in fine powder 1 oz.
Nutmeg, in fine powder 2 oz.
Garlic, minced 1 oz.
Mustard seed, crushed 1 pint
enclosed in a piece of muslin rag and boiled ten minutes with four
quarts of white-wine vinegar. Make up the jar close with a bung, if
it will admit of it, and put it on a hob by a fireside for ten days,
agitating the contents three or four times daily. Now see that the
fruit is perfectly covered with pickle, and secure the vessel with
bladder and leather, and set it by for six months, by which time the
bitter taste will be dissipated. It must next be bottled for store,
effected thus: Turn the pickle and fruit into a hair sieve and press
the liquor out into a large jug or jar, and on the next day pour the
clear off from the lees through a muslin strainer into bottles, which
should be corked well and the air excluded by sealing wax. You will
still have remaining some sediment, upon which you may put half a pint
of boiling rough cider or light vinegar, for an inferior lemon pickle,
to be kept apart from your best. Better than the first product is
rarely made, and it is an estimable pickle, generally admitted.