Walnut Pickle

Ingredients

• white walnuts
• salt
• strong vinegar
• 1 part cloves
• 1 part allspice
• 1 part black pepper
• 1 part red pepper
• 0.5 part mace
• 0.5 part nutmeg
• 0.5 part cinnamon
• 0.5 part ginger
• sugar
• 1 cup salad oil
• mustard seed
• celery seed
• strong cider vinegar
• oil

Instructions

1. Gather white walnuts in June when they are tender enough to cut with a fingernail. Wash and drain them, then pack down tightly in jars, smothering them in salt. Let stand for a fortnight, then drain off the brine that has accumulated.
2. Scald the nuts in strong vinegar and let them stand hot, but not boiling, for twenty minutes. Drain them well and pack into clean jars, layering them with a mixture of cloves, allspice, black pepper, and red pepper in equal quantities, plus half as much mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger. Strew a very little salt and a little more sugar between the layers.
3. Mix mustard seed and celery seed into a cup of salad oil, then add this to the jars after the nuts are packed. Scald strong cider vinegar, skim it clean, let it cool, then pour it over the prepared nuts. Film the top with oil. Leave the jars open for two days—if the vinegar sinks through absorption, fill the jars back up.
4. Paste paper over the mouths of the jars, tie them down securely, and set them in a cool place. The pickled walnuts will require twelve months to fully "find themselves."