The Art of Preserving All Kinds of Animal and Vegetable Substances for Several Years, 2nd ed.

Peas, Beans, &c

Green peas are dressed in various ways. If they are ill cooked in the season, it is the cook who is blamed; but if they are not found good in winter, the fault is thrown on the person who has preserved them, though the fault most frequently arises from some of the substances employed; either from the bad butter, or the oil or rancid fat which is made use of through negligence or economy. At another time they are prepared two hours too soon. They are suffered to stick to the bottom of the saucepan when on the fire, and they are served smelling of the butter which is turned into oil with a burnt taste; or they are prepared without care and with too much precipitation. It is thus we see green peas brought to the table swimming in water; but every one has his way. The following is mine.

As soon as the peas have been washed and immediately afterwards drained (for neither this vegetable nor the windsor-bean must be suffered to remain in water, for that would take away their flavour), I put them on the fire in a saucepan with a morsel of good fresh butter. I add to them a bunch of parsley and chives. After having tossed them several times in butter, I dredge them with a little flour, and moisten them immediately afterwards with boiling water up to the level of the peas. I leave them thus to be boiled a good quarter of an hour, until very little sauce remains. Then I season them with salt and a little pepper, and leave them on the fire until they are stewed down; I then take them off the fire immediately, in order to add a piece of fresh butter as large as a nut, with a table spoonful of powder sugar for each bottle of peas. I toss them well without replacing them on the fire, until the butter is melted, and I serve them up in the shape of a pyramid upon a dish, which I take care to warm thoroughly. I have observed several times, that by adding sugar to the peas when upon the fire, and giving them only one boiling, the peas became hard and the sauce ran so that it could no longer bind the peas together. Thus great attention should be given to the not putting in the sugar and the last piece of butter until the moment of serving them up. This is the only way of dressing them well, for neither in summer nor winter ought any sauce to appear among the peas.

There is another mode of eating green peas and which may suit many persons; this consists in simply boiling the peas in water. When done, the water is drained off and the peas are tossed with a piece of good fresh butter, salt, pepper and sugar, all together over a very gentle fire, they are then served up directly upon a very hot dish. Care must be taken that the peas do not boil with the seasoning, otherwise the butter turns into oil, and the green peas are dissolved in the water.

I cook the small windsor-beans, as well with as without their skin, by the same process and with the same attentions which I observe in dressing green peas.

I make an excellent soup-maigre, with large preserved peas which are equally good for a meat soup. As to asparagus, artichokes, cauliflowers, &c. they are dressed in the usual way after having been washed, &c. Green peas, beans, French beans, and all kinds of vegetables may be three-fourths boiled, seasoned at the same time, as is done when intended for immediate use, put into bottles or other vessels when cool, corked, &c. and allowed one half hour’s boiling in the water-bath. By these means vegetables will be preserved and quite ready, which may be made use of in an instant, without any other care than to warm them; and there are also many instances in which these vegetables may be eaten cold. In this way all difficulties may be removed in travelling by land or water.

§ XLVIII.

Spinage and Succory

I dress spinage and succory as usual, in either vegetable or meat soup. Each bottle of a litre, contains two or three dishes, either of spinage, or succory according to their strength. When I want to make use of a part only I re-cork the bottle which I keep for another day.

§ XLIX.

Vegetable Soups

Having emptied a bottle containing a litre of preserved Julienne, I add two litres of boiling water with a little salt, and I have a dish for twelve or fifteen persons.

As well as a Julienne, a coulis de racines, a soup of lentils, carrots, onions, &c. being well prepared, furnishes with the greatest economy, excellent dishes in an instant.

All farinaceous substances, such as oatmeal, rice, spelt, semoulia, vermicelli, and in general every thing that may be formed into a paste, nutritive and easy of digestion, may be prepared and seasoned with either vegetable or meat soup, and even with milk, before they are made to undergo the preserving process, in order to facilitate the use of them at sea and in armies at a moment of necessity.

§ L.

Tomates and Herbs

I use preserved Tomates or love-apples in the same manner as those taken fresh in the season. They need only to be properly warmed and seasoned when taken out of the bottle.

A Sorrel preserved in the manner pointed out, does not, when taken out of the bottle, in the least differ from fresh sorrel in June. I make use of it in the same way.

As to mint (menthe poivrée) and all other plants which may be preserved in bunches; cooks will know how to make the proper use of them, as well as of the juices of herbs.

§ LI.

Preserved Fruits, Marmelades, &c

The manner of making use of fruits, preserved by the process I have pointed out, consists, 1st. in putting such fruit into a fruit jar, in the same state in which it is in the bottle, without adding any sugar, because many persons, more especially ladies, prefer fruits with their natural juice. At the same time I prepare another jar with a preserve of grape-syrup or powder sugar, for those who prefer it. I have from experience learnt that grape-syrup preserves the aroma and agreeable acidity of fruits, much better than sugar. This is a very simple and economical mode of preparing an excellent dish of preserved fruits, which is the more convenient, as every one can satisfy his own taste as to the mixture of sugar with his fruits.

2. In order to make preserves with sugar (compotes sucrées), I take a pound of preserved fruits, it matters not which; this, on being taken out of the bottle, I put, with its juice, over the fire in a skimming pan, mixing with it four ounces of grape syrup. As soon as it begins to boil, I withdraw it from the fire, and take off the froth by means of a piece of brown paper, which I apply to the surface. As soon as I have skimmed it, I take the fruit gently off the syrup, in order to put it into a fruit-jar. After having reduced the syrup one half over the fire, I put it upon the fruit in the jar. Fruits thus preserved are sufficiently sweet, and have as fine a flavour as a preserve made in the season with fresh fruits.

3d. In order to preserve in brandy either cherries, apricots, green-gages, pears, peaches, mirabelles, &c. (compotes à l’eau de vie), I take a pound of preserved fruit, together with its juice, which I put in a saucepan, on the fire, together with a quarter of a pound of grape syrup. When ready to boil, I skim it; after which, I gently take the fruit from off the syrup, and put it in a jar. I leave the syrup on the fire, till it is reduced to one-fourth of its bulk. Then I take it from the fire in order to add to it a glass of good brandy; and having mixed the whole, I pour the hot syrup upon the fruit in the jar, which I take care to close well that the fruit may be better penetrated by the syrup, &c.

The preserved pear and peach may be alike made use of to make a Burgundy wine conserve with cinnamon, as well as compotes grillées.

4th. I make a marmelade, either of apricots, peaches, green-gages, or mirabelles, by the following process. I take for one pound of preserved fruit, half a pound of grape syrup. I boil the whole together over a quick fire, taking care to stir it well with a spoon to prevent its boiling. When the marmelade is boiled to a slight consistency, I take it off, because the confectionary which is the least boiled is the best. As preserved fruits afford a facility of making confectionary just when it is wanted, they may, by a little boiling only, be had at any time, fresh and of excellent quality.

§ LII.

Currant Jam

The mode of making currant jam with the juice of this preserved fruit, is quite simple. I put half a pound of sugar to one pound of currant juice, which ought to be perfumed with a little raspberry. Having clarified and dissolved my sugar, I put the currant juice to it, and give it three or four boilings; and when it falls from the skimmer in small lumps not larger than a lentil, I take it from the fire to put it in jars, &c.

§ LIII.

Syrup of Currants

In order to make syrup of currants, I warm the juice of this fruit till it is ready to boil. I then strain it through a cloth. By these means I obtain the juice, limpid, and freed from its mucillage. When strained, I add half a pound of grape syrup to a pound of fruit, and put the whole on the fire together; when boiled to the consistence of a slight syrup, I take it from the fire to put it in bottles when it is cold.

There is a very simple and economical mode of making use, not only of currant juice, but that of all fruits which are employed to compose an acid beverage.

This mode consists merely in putting into a glass of water slightly sweetened with grape syrup, a table spoonful of the juice of preserved currant, or of any other fruit that may be at hand, which is poured into another glass and then drank off. This mode is the more convenient, because it will be always easy to have these preserved juices at hand, or to procure them at a small expence. In this way my family has been, for the space of fifteen years, in the habit of making use of currant juice; and most frequently we prepare this substitute for lemonade, without either sugar or syrup.

§ LIV.

Ices

I have prepared and made, in the mode usually employed in the fruit season, ices of currants, raspberries, apricots, and peaches, as well as strawberries, preserved in the manner pointed out by me.

I made these experiments before the late improvement in the art of making grape syrup, but now that this production has been brought nearly to perfection, the syrup of the acid grape manufactured by Mr. Privat of Meze, will soon advantageously supply the place of the juice of the sugar cane, in the preparation of the ices of fruit. As I have already observed, the grape syrup preserves the aroma of all fruits better than sugar. Sugar overpowers to so great a degree the taste of the fruits, that it is necessary to add some lemons to the ices of fruits, in order, as it were, to bring out the aroma. When therefore the juice of an acid grape shall be made use of, the lemons will become unnecessary, and the ices of fruit will be the richer. The sweet syrups of the grape will be successfully made use of with all ice-creams.

§ LV.

Cordials. (Liqueurs.)

I have composed liqueurs and ratafies with the juice of preserved fruits and sweetened with grape syrup. These preparations yielded in nothing to the best home-made liqueurs.

The simple and easy modes which I have pointed out, of preparing every kind of preserved fruit for daily use, prove sufficiently that this method, as sure as it is useful, will introduce the greatest economy in the consumption of the produce of the sugar-cane. The consumer, and more especially the manufacturer, who is obliged to lay in during summer, a considerable stock of this foreign commodity for syrups, liqueurs and confectionary, as well as all the objects of pharmacy, may dispense with it; for it will be sufficient if they lay in an adequate stock of fruit in the season, and prepare it in the manner pointed out, to be exempt from the necessity of preparing it with sugar, except on an emergency, and in the quantities actually wanted. It will follow that the greater part of all these fruits will be preserved, altogether without, or at least with a small quantity of sugar; that many of them will be prepared with grape syrup, and that the sugar from the cane will be made use of only for indispensable objects, or to comply with the old habits, and gratify the luxury of a few.

It will follow, that in a plentiful year, sugar will not be necessary in order to provide against a scanty season; and that, with a slight expence, the same enjoyment will be derived from the preserved produce of two, three, and four years, as from a year of plenty.

§ LVI.

Chesnuts, Truffles, Mushrooms

On taking the chesnuts out of the vessel in which they have been preserved, I plunge them in cold water, sprinkle them with a little fine salt, and roast them in a pan over a quick fire. In this manner they are excellent. The moistening them and the putting salt upon them may be dispensed with, but they must always be roasted over a quick fire.

I make the same use of preserved truffles and mushrooms, as of those recently gathered.

§ LVII.

Grape Juice, or Must

When I made my first experiments of preserving grape juice in its fresh state, I was unacquainted with Mr. Parmentier’s “Information concerning the means of furnishing a substitute for sugar, in the principal uses made of it in medicine and domestic economy.”17 It is this valuable information which supplied me with the means of availing myself of fresh experiments, and making use of two hundred bottles of grape-juice preserved by me six months before.

1st. I made very good grape syrup, following the process of Mr. Parmentier, which is literally as follows.

Preparation of Grape Syrup.

“You take twenty-four [French] pints of grape juice and put one half of it in a boiler placed on the fire, with the precaution of not suffering it to boil with too much force. You add fresh juice as that in the boiler evaporates; you skim it and stir the surface, to add to the evaporation. When the whole of the juice has been put into the boiler, you skim it, you take the boiler off the fire, and add some lye-ashes tied up in a cloth, or whiting (blanc d’Espagne, Spanish, or Troy-white), or chalk reduced to a powder, and first diluted in a little grape juice, until it no longer effervesces, or, as it were, boils in the liquor which was shaken.

“By these means, the acid contained in the grape, is separated and neutralized. In order to try the liquor, put blue paper into it, and when it does not turn red, then you may be satisfied that the liquor is no longer acid. Replace the boiler on the fire, after having let it settle an instant, and put in two whites of beaten eggs. Strain the liquor through a woollen cloth, fixed on a wooden frame of twelve or fifteen square inches, so that it occupies little room; then boil again, and continue the evaporation.

“In order to know whether the syrup be sufficiently condensed, let some drop from a spoon upon a plate: if the drop falls without spirting or spreading, or if when divided, the halves run into each other again but slowly, then you may infer that it has acquired the proper consistency.

“Pour it into an earthen vessel which is not varnished; and when completely cold, transfer it to vessels of a moderate size, neat, dry, and well corked; and placed it in the cellar. A bottle once opened, should not remain long only half filled; and when you make use of it, take care to hold the neck downwards.

“It is hardly possible to determine precisely, the quantity of chalk or ashes necessary to be used. Less is required in the South than in the North, but at all events, more than is necessary will do no harm, since it remains upon the straining cloth with the other insoluble salts and the skim.

“If in order to preserve these syrups for a longer time, you were to carry on the boiling too long, you would find yourself mistaken; for the syrup would not fail to chrystalize at the bottom of the vessel, while the body would become thin: on the other hand, if the syrup were not sufficiently evaporated, it would soon ferment. A housekeeper who has made these syrups twice, will have learnt the degree of boiling which ought to be given to the syrup, better than can be taught her by rule.”

Syrups and Ratafies.

With this same syrup, I have prepared preserves, confectionary, syrups and beverages, as well as liqueurs and ratafies of all the kinds of fruit I have spoken of.

2d. I made syrup of the same grape juice and by the same process, except that I boiled the latter but slightly, that is, one quarter less than the former; as I wished to satisfy myself whether it would be preserved by the application of heat to the water-bath, in the way before pointed out. Having prepared my syrup, I put it when cold, into three half bottles; one full, and the other a quarter empty. I corked and sealed the bottles, and let them remain in the water-bath only till it boiled, &c. I remarked no difference in the full and half full bottles, and all three were completely preserved.

3d. I took six pints of preserved grape juice, to which I added two pints of good old proof brandy, and also two pounds of grape syrup, which I had prepared. This preparation which I mixed well, I made use of to compose four kinds of liqueur, by means of infusions of apricot-kernels, mint, orange flower, badian, which I had prepared before: these liqueurs having been well strained, were found very good, and sufficiently sweet.

4th. I took two bottles of preserved grape juice, which I poured into two other fit bottles. I corked and tied these bottles, and left them standing upright ten days. During this interval, the liquor caused its cork to burst, like the best Champagne wine, and mantled in the same way.

5th. I repeated this last experiment in the same manner. At the end of twelve or fifteen days, observing no appearance of fermentation in the bottles, I uncorked them in order to let in the air, and I then put into them a table spoonful of preserved raspberry juice. Having re-corked and sealed them, I let them remain eight days longer upright. At the end of that time, both the white and the red juice (le blanc et le rosé) caused the cork to spring out. They mantled completely, and were very agreeable to the taste, particularly the red, perfumed with raspberry.

After these experiments made of the Massy grape [in the department of Seine and Oise], it is more than probable that in the fine vineyards of the South, infinitely more precious results will be drawn from the making use of this method. Grape juice will be preserved there, in order, by congelation, to reduce it at will, to the consistence of syrup, after having taken away its acid for the sweet syrup; or if the juice be condensed over the fire, the quantity of boiling made use of for condensing the syrup, will, by the operation of heat in the water-bath in any preparatory process, be rendered immaterial for the preservation of the syrup for several years.18

By means of this process, which is easy to be put in practice, and of little expence in the execution, syrups may be obtained clear and white (even when produced from black grapes), and of a pure sweetness, free from a certain flavour of molasses and burnt sugar, from which it has not hitherto been found possible to exempt grape syrup, when boiled in the ordinary mode, sufficient for its preservation.

Thus this precious production, preserved in bottles and vessels of every size, may be transported to a great distance and in all seasons, coming from Bergerac, Mèze, and all the manufactories of the South, to improve the produce of our small vineyards, and make all classes of society share in the enjoyment of this useful resource.

§ LVIII.

General Observations

From this detail of experiments, it is obvious that this new method of preserving animal and vegetable substance, proceeds from the simple principle of applying heat in a due degree to the several substances, after having deprived them as much as possible of all contact with the external air.

It might on the first view of the subject be thought that a substance, either raw or previously acted upon by fire, and afterwards put into bottles, might, if a vacuum were made in those bottles and they were completely corked, be preserved equally well with the application of heat in the water-bath. This would be an error, for all the trials I have made have convinced me that the absolute privation of the contact of external air (the internal air being rendered of no effect by the action of heat), and the application of heat by means of the water-bath, are both indispensable to the complete preservation of alimentary substances.

My object is not like that of the Bourdeaux chymists, to disunite the component parts of the animal substance, and obtain the animal jelly in a separate state, as well as the animal fibre, free from its juice, and so made to resemble tanned leather. Neither is it my endeavour to furnish at a great expence, as in the preparation of portable soup, a tenacious paste or glue, better adapted to derange the stomach than to provide it with a salutary nourishment.

My problem is, to preserve all nutritive substances with all their peculiar and constituent qualities. My experiments prove that I have resolved this problem.19

It is to the solution of this problem that I have devoted my fortune and twenty years of labour and meditation. Happy that I have already been able to render service to my fellow citizens and humanity, I rely on the justice, generosity and intelligence of a wise government, which never fails to encourage useful discoveries. That government will perceive that the inventor of this method of preservation could not obtain from the invention itself an indemnification for his labour and expence. The chief importance of this process lies in its subservience to the wants of civil and military hospitals, and particularly of the Navy. It is in these departments of the public service that my process may be employed in a manner advantageous to the state, and it is from them that I may receive the just reward of my labours. I expect every thing from the beneficent views of the minister, and my expectations will not be disappointed.

§ LIX.

Practical Remarks

The bottles and other vessels of every kind fit for the preservation of alimentary substances will occasion but a very slight expence at one time. They may be always used again, if care be taken to rince them as soon as they are empty; good corks, string and wire are not expensive. As soon as the method is known, proper bottles and jars will be met with at the manufacturers, corks of every size and properly prepared for use will be furnished by the cork-cutters, as well as iron-wire fit for use.

It will be always adviseable to procure corks before bottles, and in that case no other bottles need be purchased than such as may have necks suited to the size of the corks, for I have been often unable to procure corks of such a size as I could wish.

The glass-houses of la Garre, Sèves, and des Prémontrés near Courcy-le-Château, are already accustomed to the manufactory of corks and jars necessary for the preserving process. I am most satisfied with the latter, which has served me for the last four years.

Good corking depends only on a little practice. It will suffice to cork a dozen bottles with care and exactness, in order to familiarize a person with the method. Every day, wine and liquors are bottled and transported by land and water to the remotest places. Even glass vessels containing from forty to eighty litres in measure have been sent to a great distance full of oil of vitriol and other liquids. It will be the same with animal and vegetable productions, preserved in glass bottles or jars, when sufficient care and attention shall be given them. This is the principal thing required. How many rich liquors and other substances would be better preserved which are either lost or spoiled for want of being well corked!

No one will doubt, after all the experiments I have detailed, that the adoption of this new method, which, as may be seen, unites the greatest economy to a perfection unlooked for till the present time, will secure the following advantages.