Cooking By The Book


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Excerpt from This is the Place:  
Sometime around 1920 Gram Harriet sent Dr. Bouchet a bottle of chartreuse  
mustard pickles bobbled with little pearls of pickling onions. He had helped her learn  
the rhythm method” even though they both knew her Mormon religion frowned upon  
that. With the pickles was a carefully worded thank you note that could not be deciphered  
too readily if it fell into the wrong hands:  
She may have thought that with people like Dr. Bouchet around, life would be  
easier for her girls. And easier for the granddaughters she surely would someday see on  
the pages of her family’s genealogy records. She probably also knew that there is no  
better gift in the world than a bottle of her home-made mustard pickles”  
Gram Harry’s Mustard Pickles  
Ingredients:  
1
00 tiny pickling cucumbers—Gram Harriet picked tiny ones from the vines before early  
frosts threatened to ruin what was left of her summer’s crop. You should be able to find  
them in your supermarket toward the end of August but if you live in a big city, you may  
have to ask your produce manager to order them. They are about 2 inches long.  
2
2
heads cauliflower, also from the garden  
-½ lb pickling onions (these are about ½- to 1-inch in diameter)—(Your produce person  
may have to order these for you, too.)  
½
½
grew wild in the fields near her farm.)  
gal. white vinegar  
lb dry mustard, ground (Gram Harry sometimes ground her own from the seeds that  
One 4- to 8-oz pkg. of pickling spices (These are found in a box on the spice shelf of  
supermarkets.)  
1
1
2
1
1
1
cup salt  
cup sugar  
T turmeric  
tsp alum  
dozen pint canning bottles (Kerr or Ball) or equivalent  
dozen self-sealing canning lids (Kerr or Ball)  
A little flour for thickening  
Instructions:  
Break the cauliflower into flowerets. Cut the root end from each tiny onion and peel the  
outer skin from it. As you cry, remember this is a labor of love. Soak the cucumbers,  
onions, and cauliflower in a brine made with the salt and enough water to cover the  
vegetables.  
The next morning sterilize the canning bottles by boiling in a large kettle of water for at  
least 5 minutes. Remove from water with tongs and hot pads, being careful not to  
contaminate the bottle interiors or the lip of the bottles. Let them air dry as you prepare  
the pickles. Prepare the canning lids for sterilizing as directed on the box. Drain and wash  
1
09  


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108 109 110 111 112

Quick Jump
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