For Making Chow-chow

Ingredients

• 1 quart vinegar
• 60 grains (approximately 1 teaspoon) salt
• ½ pound Colbourn's mustard
• ¼ pound cornstarch
• ¼ ounce burnt amber
• salicylic acid (optional, for cork preservation)
• 1 teaspoon lard
• 1 teaspoon red ochre or lamp black

Directions

1. Cut the same materials as for sweet pickles into small pieces and fill the jars.

2. In a pot, mix vinegar, salt, mustard, cornstarch (made into a paste with cold water or vinegar), and burnt amber.

3. Boil the mixture for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent separation.

4. Pour the hot dressing over the pickles and use a pointed stick to work it through.

5. Seal the jars while hot using boiled corks; add a small amount of salicylic acid to the boiling water to prevent souring.

6. Insert a small piece of baling wire into the bottle opening, press the heated corks in, and pull out the wire to exclude air.

7. Melt rosin and mix with lard and red ochre or lamp black, then dip the top of the sealed bottles in this mixture.

8. Label and pack the jars in sawdust, typically one dozen pints per case.