Foodie Friday: Curious Cookery of the 19th Century - Pickled Walnuts

We found another odd recipe in the 19th century farming periodical titled American Agriculturist.  This one appeared in the June 1869 issue, p. 221, under the heading "Household Talks by Aunt Hattie":

PICKLED WALNUTS.--I have procured from an English lady a recipe for making walnut pickle.  She informs me that butternuts will answer the purpose, but are not so nice as the English walnut.  Gather the nuts just before the kernel commences to harden, prick them through and through several times with a course needle, put them in a crock, pour over them a rather strong brine, and allow them to remain for three or four days; drain and spread them in the sun until they are dry and have turned to a dark brown or nearly black.  Put them now into a suitable jar, and pour over them boiling spiced vinegar, using 2 ounces of mustard seed, a little mace, 2 ounces of allspice, and 2 ounces of whole black pepper, to one gallon of vinegar.  A few onions may be added, if your taste will permit.  This pickle may be used at any time after making, but is much better for being kept a year.  After the pickles are used, the vinegar may be boiled and bottled for catsup, as it is excellent.

No digital version of the 1869 American Agriculturist appears to exist online, although other years are available.  The NC State University Libraries' Special Collections Research Center has an original print copy.  If you are interested in seeing this, please place a request through our online form.  In your request, provide the call number:   S1 .A4 v.28(1869).