Gather young cucumbers, a little longer than your middle finger, and
lay in strong brine one week. Wash them and soak a day and a night in
fair water, changing this four times. Line a bell-metal kettle with
vine-leaves, lay in the cucumbers, with a little alum scattered among
them; fill up with clear water; cover with vine-leaves, then with a
close lid, and green as for pickles. Do not let them boil. When well
greened, drop in ice-water. When perfectly cold, wipe, and with a small
knife slit down one side; dig out the seeds; stuff with a mixture of
chopped raisins and citron; sew up the incision with fine thread.
Weigh them, and make a syrup, allowing a pound of sugar for every one
of cucumbers, with a pint of water. Heat to a lively boil, skim, and
drop in the _fruit_. Simmer half an hour, take out and spread upon a
dish in the sun while you boil down the syrup, with a few slices of
ginger-root added. When thick, put in the cucumbers again; simmer five
minutes and put up in glass jars; tying them up when cold.