[pickles]

To pickle or make Mangoes of Melons. 
Take  green melons,  as many as you please, and make a  brine  strong enough to bear an egg; then pour it boiling hot on the  melons,  keeping them down under the  brine;  let them stand five or six days; then take them out, slit them down on one side, take out all the seeds, scrape them well in the inside, and wash them clean with  cold water;  then take a clove of  garlick,  a little  ginger  and  nutmeg  sliced, and a little  whole pepper;  put all these proportionably into the  melons,  filling them up with  mustard-seeds;  then lay them in an earthen pot with the slit upwards, and take one part of  mustard  and two parts of  vinegar,  enough to cover them, pouring it upon them scalding hot, and keep them close stopped. 
 
 
To pickle Barberries. 
Take of  white wine vinegar  and  water,  of each an equal quantity; to every quart of this liquor, put in half a pound of cheap  sugar,  then pick the worst of your  barberries  and put into this liquor, and the best into glasses; then boil your pickle with the worst of your barberries, and skim it very clean, boil it till it looks of a fine colour, then let it stand to be cold, before you strain it; then strain it through a cloth, wringing it to get all the colour you can from the barberries; let it stand to cool and settle, then pour it clear into the glasses; in a little of the  pickle,  boil a little  fennel;  when cold, put a little bit at the top of the pot or glass, and cover it close with a bladder or leather. To every half pound of  sugar,  put a quarter of a pound of  white salt. 
 
 
To pickle Cucumbers. 
Let your  cucumbers  be small, fresh gathered, and free from spots; then make a  pickle  of  salt and water,  strong enough to bear an egg; boil the  pickle  and skim it well, and then pour it upon your  cucumbers,  and stive them down for twenty four hours; then strain them out into a  cullender,  and dry them well with a cloth, and take the best  white wine vinegar,  with  cloves,  sliced  mace,   nutmeg,   white pepper corns,   long pepper,  and races of  ginger,  (as much as you please) boil them up together, and then clap the  cucumbers  in, with a few  vine leaves,  and a little  salt,  and as soon as they begin to turn their colour, put them into jars, stive them down close, and when cold, tie on a bladder and leather. 

American Cookery

Amelia Simmons

1798

Northampton 

Massachusetts