August 29, 1928

Rather good weather today.

Howard brot [sic] me home from work this evening, via the road partway to (unreadable) & North St.

Dorothy had a bridge party  on 'Pat' tonight (attendees listed).

She had a good 'dinner' - good sandwiches, pickles, coffee & pineapple, ice cream and cake. very good. We took some of the girls home.

Pickle & Relish Tips (from Better Homes & Gardens, 1928)

• "Pickling" cucumbers will make crunchier pickles than "table" or "slicing" varieties. Select top-quality, cucumbers; use them within 24 hours of harvest and keep cool for up to one week. To prepare cucumbers for pickling, cut off blossom ends. Wash well, especially around stems. Save odd-shaped or more mature cucumbers for relish and bread-and-butter style pickles.
• Use granulated pickling or canning salt; table salt may darken pickles.
• Cider vinegar is most often used, but white vinegar can be used. Choose high-grade vinegar of 5 percent acid. Never dilute vinegar more than is indicated in recipe. For a less-sour product, add more sugar.
• Sugar helps keep pickles firm. Use granulated white sugar unless the recipe specifies brown sugar.
• Use fresh spices for best flavor. Substituting ground spices for a whole spice may cause cloudiness.
• Hard water may prevent brined pickles from curing properly; use soft water for best quality.
• Use stoneware, glass, enamel containers and utensils. Do not use brass, copper, zinc, galvanized, or iron utensils.

Easy Pickles (from the Civic League Cookbook 1914)

Ingredients

• pickles of uniform size (about three inches long)
• 1 cup of salt
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 ounce of mixed white and black mustard seed
• 1 ounce of whole cloves and cinnamon bark mixed or any spices preferred
• alum the size of a walnut
• 1 gallon of vinegar

Instructions

Take pickles of uniform size (about three inches long) wash and pack in fruit jars as tightly as you can. Add the salt, sugar, mixed white and black mustard seed, whole cloves and cinnamon bark mixed or any spices preferred and alum to the vinegar. Bring to a good boil, then pour over the pickles in the jars and seal. A piece of horse radish root is nice placed in each jar.