TO PICKLE GREEN PEPPERS

Green bell peppers
Salt
Water
Vinegar


The bell pepper is the best for pickling, and should be gathered when quite young. Slit one side, and carefully take out the core, so as not to injure the shell of the pepper. Then put them into boiling salt and water, changing the water every day for one week, and keeping them closely covered in a warm place near the fire. Stir them several times a day. They will first become yellow, and then green. When they are a fine green put them into a jar, and pour cold vinegar over them, adding a small piece of alum. They require no spice. You may stuff the peppers as you do mangoes.

From Miss Leslie's Directions for Cookery by Eliza Leslie, 1851

Comment: The coring procedure called for here seems both unexpected and unnecessarily complicated. Since the core runs directly from the underside of the stem to the bottom, it would seem more logical to cut carefully around the stem end and just pull outward--any core left inside can be reached, snapped off, and shaken out with ease. The matter is of course a decision of the pickling person, and all we ask is that all parties refrain from "Peter Piper" jokes.

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