Introduction

Once upon a time, most houses had their stillroom and larder. The mistress of the house was in charge of the preserving of food and, with the help of her servants, would be responsible for drying herbs, fruit and vegetables; candying and crystallizing fruit and flowers; potting jams and preparing pickles, chutneys and sauces; making wines, cordials and liqueurs; and salting or potting meat. A country household was totally self-sufficient, but preserving was necessary to ensure food supplies right through a year, when animals might have to be killed because of lack of fodder and every scrap of food was precious.