Equal weight of rind and white sugar.
½ ounce white ginger to a gallon of pickle.
1 pint vinegar to every pound of sugar.
1 tablespoonful turmeric to a gallon of pickle.
Mace, cloves, and cinnamon to taste.
Take the thickest rind you can get, pare off the hard green rind,
also the soft inner pulp. Lay the pieces—narrow strips or fanciful
cuttings—in brine strong enough to float an egg, and let them remain
in it ten days. Then soak in fair water, changing it every day for
ten days. Cover them with clear water in a preserving-kettle, heat
slowly and boil five minutes. Take them out and plunge instantly into
ice-water. Leave them in this until next day. Give them another gentle
boil of five minutes in strong alum-water. Simmer carefully, as a hard
boil will injure them. Change _directly_ from the alum to the ice-water
again, and do not disturb them for four hours. After a third boil of
five minutes, let them remain all night in the last water to make them
tender. Next day add to enough water to cover the rinds sufficient
sugar to make it quite sweet, but not a syrup. Simmer the rinds in
this ten minutes, throw the water away, and spread them upon dishes to
cool. Meanwhile prepare a second syrup, allowing sugar equal in weight
to the rind, and half an ounce of sliced white ginger to a gallon of
the pickle, with a cup of water for every two pounds of sugar. When
the sugar is melted and the syrup quite hot, but not boiling, put in
the rinds and simmer until they look quite clear. Take it out, spread
upon the dishes again, while you add to the syrup a pint of vinegar for
every pound of the sugar you have put in, one tablespoonful of turmeric
to a gallon of pickle; mace, cloves and cinnamon to taste. Boil this
up, return the rind to it, and simmer fifteen minutes. Put up in glass
jars. It will be fit for use in two weeks.
This is a very handsome and delicious pickle, although it may seem to
be made upon the principle of the Frenchman’s pebble-soup.