Yooper Food

Pickled Fruits

Cherries, Cherry Olives

Fill quart cans with ripe cherries, leaving on the stems, then add 2 tablespoons of salt. Fill the can one-half full of vinegar and the rest water. Seal. --1924

Cherries, Spiced Cherries

• 6 quarts cherries, pitted
• 3½ lbs. white sugar
• 1 tbsp. cinnamon, ground
• ½ tbsp. allspice, ground
• ½ tbsp. cloves, ground
• ½ tbsp. nutmeg, ground
• 1 pint cider vinegar

Mix the sugar, vinegar, and spices until dissolved, and pour over the cherries. Stir well for three mornings, then bottle and seal.

Crabapples, Pickled Crabapples

• 2 quarts firm ripe crab apples
• 4 one-inch sticks of cinnamon
• 2 tsp. whole cloves
• 1½ tsp. whole allspice
• 4 cups sugar
• 2 cups cider vinegar
• 1½ cups water

Wash the apples and leave one inch of stems intact. Tie the spices in a cheesecloth bag. Combine sugar, vinegar, and water in a large, heavy saucepan, and bring it to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Add the spice bag and boil for five minutes. Add apples to the pan, one layer at a time, and heat very slowly to keep the skins from breaking. Simmer gently until the apples are just tender, pushing apples under the surface of the syrup frequently. Drain the spice bag and remove from the syrup. Carefully transfer intact apples to hot sterilized pint jars. Fill the jars with syrup to about ½-inch of top. Seal and process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Note: Unless you are really good, only about half the apples will survive the cooking process intact.

Crabapples, Pickled Crabapples

• 6 lbs. crab apples
• 1 quart cider vinegar
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tbsp. cloves
• 1 tbsp. ginger
• 2 sticks cinnamon

Wash crab apples. Steam them until soft. Place in a preserving kettle, along with vinegar, sugar, and spices tied up in a bag. Bring the mixture slowly to a boil, then cooking gently for about twenty minutes. Pour into jars, and seal.

Currants, Spiced Currants

• 6 quarts currants, stemmed
• 3½ lbs. white sugar
• 1 tbsp. cinnamon, ground
• ¼ tbsp. allspice, ground
• ¼ tbsp. cloves, ground
• ¼ tbsp. nutmeg, ground
• 1 pint cider vinegar

Mix the sugar, vinegar, and spices until dissolved, and pour over the currants. Stir well for three mornings, then bottle and seal.

Gooseberries, Spiced Gooseberries

• 5 lbs. underripe gooseberries
• 4 lbs. sugar
• 1 tbsp. cinnamon
• ½ tbsp. allspice
• ½ tbsp. cloves
• 1 pint vinegar

Wash and stem the fruit. Bring vinegar, sugar, and the spices (ground) to a boil. Add the berries, and boil for about 20 minutes. Place in glasses, and cover well.

Grapes, Pickled Grapes

Take grapes fresh from the stems without breaking, and put them in a jar. Set it aside. For 7 pounds of grapes, take 1 quart of vinegar, 3 pounds of sugar, 1 tablespoon whole cloves and the same of cinnamon bark, boil all together a few minutes, then let it cool until you can bear your finger in it. Pour over the greapes, turn a plate over them, set them in a cool cellar, and they are done. Do not cook the grapes nor heat the pickle over. If properly prepared, they will keep a year, and be as plump and fresh as when picked from the vine. --Mrs. J. H. McCall, 1899

Musk Melons, Pickled Mangoes

Cut a round piece out of the top of small round musk melons and extract the seeds. Then tie the pieces on again with a thread and put in a good strong brine for ten days.

To a 19th century Michigan cook, a mango was any of avarious types of pickles, especially a pickled stuffed sweet pepper, and not the tropical fruit that we know by that name today.

Drain and wipe. Put them into a kettle with nice leaves under and over them, adding a small piece of alum, and put over a slow fire to green, keeping them tightly covered. To fill, make a dressing of scraped horseradish, white mustard seed, mace, nutmeg pounded, green ginger cut small, pepper, turmeric and sweet oil. Fill the mangoes with this mixture, putting a small clove of garlic into each one of them, replacing the pieces at the opening and sewing them in with a strong thread. Put into stone jars and pour boiling vinegar over them. -- 1881

Peaches, Peach Mangoes

Take sound, ripe, free-stone peaches, rub off the fur, split them open, and take out the pits. Have ready some finely chopped tomatoes and cabbage, grated horseradish, and mustard seed. Fill the vacancy in the peach, then place them together and tie with a string. Place in a jar and fill up with hot spiced vinegar. --1890

Peaches, Mrs. McCall's Pickled Peaches

Select any variety of peaches you like best, rub them well, and stick into them 3-4 whole cloves, according to size. Put the peaches into a steamer and steam until you can prick them easily with a broom splint.

Splints from corn brooms made handy, although unhygenic, tools in early Upper Peninsula kitchens.

Make the syrup in the proportion of 1 quart best cider vinegar to 3 pints sugar and 2 ounces whole cinnamon. Boil the syrup well, then skim it, and drop the peaches from the steamer into it, for just a few minutes (5-10), and put them in your jars and cans, and fill with the syrup. All that is necessary to keep sweet pickles is to have enough syrup to cover, and keep the fruit well under. Be careful not to cook the peaches too much. --Mrs. J. H. McCall, 1899

Peaches, Pickled Peaches

• 8 lb. peaches, firm and whole
• 7 pieces (one-inch) stick cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. whole cloves
• 6 cups sugar
• 4 cups cider vinegar

Boiling Water Bath - The process of cooking covered jars in a covered bath of boiling water, with the water completely covering the jars. Adjust jar covers as manufacturer suggests and place filled jars on a rack in a kettle containing boiling water to a depth of one or two inches over the tops of glass jars (do not pour boiling water directly over tops of glass jars). Cover the kettle and begin to count processing time specified in recipe. Add additional boiling water, if necessary, to keep jars covered. Remove jars immediately when processing time is over, tighten seals if necessary, and set upright on wire rack, a few inches apart, to cool.

Combine all of the ingredients except the peaches in a large, heavy saucepan. Bring it to a boil, and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes. Wash the peaches and dip each in boiling water for one minute, then quickly rinse in cold water and peel. To prevent discoloration, drop the peaches in salty cold water solution (1 gallon water to 2 tbsp. salt and 2 tbsp. vinegar). Add enough drained peaches to boiling syrup to fill 2-4 pints at a time. Cook the peaches for 6-8 minutes, or just until tender. Transfer peaches to hot sterilized jars, and seal. Process in boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

Pears, Spiced Winter Pears

• 6-8 winter pears, slightly underripe
• 6 whole cloves
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 tsp. lemon or orange peel, shredded
• 2 tsp. lemon or orange juice
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 cups water

Combine all of the ingredients except for the pears in a large saucepan or Dutch oven, and bring the syrup to a boil. While the syrup is heating, peel the pears, leaving the stems on. Drop the pears in cold water to which a small amount of additional lemon juice has been added, to keep the pears from darkening. Add the pears to the syrup once it has boiled, cover, and maintain the syrup at a gentle boil so that pears will turn and roll in the syrup. Remove the pears from the syrup when tender (20-25 minutes), and let them stand upright while cooling, basting them often with syrup. Serve plain or with whipped cream.

Pears, Pickled Pears

• 12 lbs. pears, peeled
• 4 lbs. sugar
• ¼ cup cinnamon & cloves, broken and mixed
• 1 cup water
• 1 pint vinegar

Place the pears in a crock pot, alternately with layers of sugar. If large pears are used, core and quarter them first. Cover with the water and vinegar. Let stand covered overnight. Drain, and to the liquid, add the spices tied in a bag, soft heads of cloves removed. Heat slowly and, when clear, add the pears. Boil a few at a time until tender, but not soft. Place in hot jars, and place cover on jar. When the fruit is all cooked and in the jars, lift the covers and pour the boiling syrup over the fruit, and seal at once.

Watermelons, Hunter's Pickled Watermelon

Cassia buds resemble cloves. They are the dried unripe fruits about 14 mm (1/2 in) long and half as wide. It is native to Burma and grown in China, Indo-China, the East and West Indies and Central America. Cassia is called kwei in the earliest Chinese herbal by Shen-nung (2700 B.C.). It reached Europe in classical times with Arabian and Phoenician traders and the buds were known in Europe in the Middle Ages.

Pare off the green outside, and cut out the pink inside, slicing the white part into thick strips. Weigh 8 lbs., and put in kettle, pouring over it 1 gallon of water, into which you have dissolved 1 oz. of alum. Stand on hot part of stove for 3 hours. Then place in ice water for half an hour. Take 4 lbs. of white sugar, 1 quart of vinegar, and a large cupful of mixed spices, such as whole cloves, allspice, cassia buds, stick cinnamon, and green ginger root tied in cheese cloth bags. Boil 3 minutes. Skim, cool a little, and drop in rinds. Simmer gently for a half hour, or till clear and tender. Put in jars. Boil down syrup and pour it over it. --Juliet S. Hunter, 1906

Watermelons, Sweet Pickled Watermelon Rind

• 2 lbs. watermelon rind
• ¼ cup salt in 1 quart water
• ¼ cup mixed pickle spices
• 1 pint vinegar diluted with 1 pint water
• 4 cups sugar

Pare the rind, leaving some of the red meat on. Cut into small strips or squares. Soak in salt water overnight. Drain, add fresh water. Boil until tender, then drain. Boil vinegar, sugar, and water to a syrup, adding the spices tied in a bag. Add the watermelon, and boil slowly until clear. Remove the spice bag, and pour hot into airtight jars. Note: You can do the same with cantaloupes.

Watermelons, Sweet Pickled Watermelon Rind

• 7 lbs. watermelon rind
• 5 lbs. sugar, white and light brown, mixed
• ½ tsp. salt
• 6 sticks cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. cloves
• 1 tsp. lump alum
• 1 quart vinegar, 1 pint water, mixed

Pare the rind, and cut into strips. Boil until tender and clear in water, along with salt and alum. Drain. Chill in cold water, and dry on cloth. Boil sugar, vinegar, and water to a light syrup, then add spices and the melon rind. Boil until clear. Remove spices, pour in jars, and seal. Let stand for four weeks before using.

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