weight of oranges, first taken in sugar, and added, with all the rinds, to the pulp after the whole has been properly prepared.

GENUINE SCOTCH MARMALADE.

"Take some bitter oranges, and double their weight of sugar; cut the rind of the fruit into quarters and peel it off, and if the marmalade be not wanted very thick, take off some of the spongy white skin inside the rind. Cut the chips as thin as possible, and about half an inch long, and divide the pulp into small bits, removing carefully the seeds, which may be steeped in part of the water that is to make the marmalade, and which must be in the proportion of a quart to a pound of fruit. Put the chips and pulp into a deep earthen dish, and pour the water boiling over them; let them remain for twelve or fourteen hours, and then turn the whole into the preserving pan, and boil it until the chips are perfectly tender. When they are so, add by degrees the sugar (which should be previously pounded), and boil the marmalade until it jellies. The water in which the seeds have been steeped, and which must be taken from the quantity apportioned to the whole of the preserve, should be poured into a hair-sieve, and the seeds well worked in it with the back of a spoon; a strong clear jelly will be obtained by this means, which must be washed off them by pouring their own liquor through the sieve in small portions over them. This must be added to the fruit when it is first set on the fire.

Oranges, 3lbs.; water, 3 quarts; sugar, 6 lbs.

Obs. This receipt which we have not tried ourselves, is guaranteed as an excellent one by the Scottish lady from whom it was procured.

ORANGE CONSERVE FOR PUDDINGS.

Wash and then soak in plenty of spring water for three days, changing it night and morning, half a dozen Seville oranges; then boil them till they are sufficiently tender for the head of a pin to pierce them easily; drain_and_weigh them, and for each pound take and reduce to fine powder two pounds of good sugar. Cut the oranges asunder, and remove the pips and the coarse loose skin of the cores; then beat them, with the sugar, in a large mortar, and pick out as this is done any pits of fibre or coarse inner skin which cannot be reduced to a paste. When the whole forms a smooth conserve, put it into small jars for use, as it requires no boiling after the

fruit and sugar are mixed: if stored in a dry place it will remain good for two years. Each orange should be tied in a thin small cloth or a bit of muslin when it is boiled, and the water should be changed once (or even twice when the fine aromatic bitter of the rind is altogether objected to), or the fruit may be lifted from the water and thrown immediately into another pan containing more which is ready boiling. Two tablespoonsful of this conserve, with the yolks of five or six eggs, a couple of ounces of sugar, and as much clarified butter smoothly mixed and well beaten together, will make good cheesecakes, or an excellent but not large pudding: the same proportion will be found an agreeable addition to a plum pudding also.

Seville oranges, boiled tender, 2 lbs.; sugar, 4 lbs.; beaten together, not boiled.

THE first requisite in making pickles is to have unadulterated vinegar, for all the expense and trouble bestowed upon them is often entirely lost in consequence of ingredients being mixed with this which soften, and sometimes even partially decompose, the substances immersed in it. That which is home-made is generally found for all purposes to answer best, and it may be prepared of almost any degree of strength by increasing the ordinary proportion of fruit and sugar, or whatever else may be used for it. The refuse of raisin-wine, and green gooseberries, may both be converted into excellent vinegar: but unless the pickles be quite covered with their liquor, and well protected from the air, and from the influence of damp, which is more than anything destructive of them, the purity of the vinegar will not preserve them eatable. We can confidently recommend to the reader the rather limited number of receipts which follow, and which might easily be multiplied did the size of our volume permit. Pickling is so easy a process, however, that when in any degree properly acquired, it may be extended to almost every kind of fruit and vegetable successfully. A few of the choicer kinds will nevertheless be found generally more acceptable than a greater variety of inferior preparations. Mushrooms, gherkins, walnuts, lemons, eschalots, and peaches, for all of which we have given minute directions, will furnish as much

choice as is commonly required. Very excellent Indian mangoes too may be purchased at the Italian warehouses, and to many tastes will be more acceptable than any English pickle. We have had them very good from Mr. Cobbett, 18, Pall Mall, whose house we have already had occasion to name.

TO PICKLE CHERRIES.

Leave about an inch of their stalks on some fine, sound Kentish or Flemish cherries, that are not overripe; put them into a jar, cover them with cold vinegar, and let them stand for three weeks; pour off two thirds of the liquor and replace it with fresh vinegar; then, after having drained it from the fruit, boil the whole with an ounce of coriander seed, a small blade of mace, a few grains of cayenne, or a teaspoonful of white peppercorns, and four bruised cochineals to every quart all tied loosely in a fold of muslin. Let the pickle become quite cold before it is added to the cherries: in a month they will be fit for use. The vinegar which is poured from the fruit makes a good syrup of itself when boiled with a pound of sugar to the pint, but it is improved by having some fresh raspberries, cherries, or currants previously infused in it for three or four days.

TO PICKLE GHERKINS.

Let the gherkins be gathered on a dry day, before the frost has touched them; take off the blossoms, put them into a stone jar, and pour over them sufficient boiling brine to cover them well. The following day take them out, wipe them singly, lay them into a clean stone jar, with a dozen bay leaves over them, and pour upon them the following pickle, when it is boiling fast: as much vinegar as will more than cover the gherkins by an inch or two, with an ounce and a quarter of salt, a quarterounce of black peppercorns, an ounce and a half of ginger sliced, or slightly bruised, and two small blades of mace to every quart; put a plate over the jar, and leave it for two days, then drain off the vinegar, and heat it afresh; when it boils, throw in the gherkins, and keep them just on the point of simmering for two or three minutes; pour the whole back into the jar, put the plate again upon it, and let it remain until the pickle is quite cold, when a skin, or two separate folds of thick brown paper, must be tied closely over it. The gherkins thus pickled are very crisp, and excellent in flavour, and the colour is sufficiently good to satisfy the prudent housekeeper, to whom the brilliant and poisonous green produced by boiling the vinegar in a brass skillet (a process constantly recommended in books of cookery)

is anything but attractive. To satisfy ourselves of the effect produced by the action of the acid on the metal, we had a few gherkins thrown into some vinegar which was boiling in a brass pan, and nothing could be more beautiful than the colour which they almost immediately exhibited. We fear this dangerous method is too often resorted to in preparing pickles for sale.

Brine to pour on gherkins:-6 ozs. salt to each quart water: 24 hours. Pickle :-to each quart vinegar, salt, 14 oz.; black peppercorns, oz.; ginger, sliced or bruised, 1 oz.; mace, 2 small blades; bay leaves; 24 to 100 gherkins, more when the flavour is liked: 2 days. Gherkins simmered in vinegar, 2 to 3 minutes.

PICKLES.

Obs. The quantity of vinegar required to cover the gherkins will be shown by that of the brine: so much depends upon their size, that it is impossible to direct the measure exactly, A larger proportion of spice can be added at pleasure.

TO PICKLE NASTURTIUMS.

These should be gathered quite young, and a portion of the buds, when very small, should be mixed with them. Prepare a pickle by dissolving an ounce and a half of salt in a quart of pale vinegar, and throw in the berries as they become fit, from day to day. They are used instead of capers for sauce, and by some persons are preferred to them. When purchased for pickling, put them at once into a jar, and cover them well with the vinegar.

TO PICKLE GHERKINS.

(A French Receipt.)

Brush or wipe the gherkins very clean, throw them into plenty of fast-boiling water, and give them a single boil, take them out quickly, and throw them immediately into a large quantity of very cold water; change it once, and when the gherkins themselves are quite cold, drain them well, spread them on sieves or dishes, and dry them in the air. When this is done, put them into stone jars, and pour on them as much boiling vinegar as will cover them well; heat it anew, and pour it on them again the following day; and on the next throw them into it for a minute so soon as it boils, with plenty of tarragon in branches, a few very small silver onions, and salt and whole pepper in the same proportions as in the receipt above. It should be observed that the French vinegar, from