At the same time take large green cucumbers, full ripe, and cut them in four, longways; put them into cold water, cover them with green vine leaves, and set them over a charcoal fire till they boil; take them off, throw them into cold water, and repeat it several times, till they are a fine green, and tender; then preserve them as before, or dry them as your other Candied sweetmeats; either way they answer in tarts, mince-pies, or cakes, as well as citron.
To preserve green Almonds.
Take the almonds when they are well grown; and make a lye with wood, charcoal and water; boil the lye till it feels very smooth, strain it through a sieve, and let it settle till clear; then pour off the clear into another pan, and set it on the fire in order to blanch off the down that is on the almonds, which you must do in this manner, viz. when the lye is scalding hot, throw in two or three almonds, and try when they have been in some time, if they will blanch; if they will, put in the rest, and the moment you find their skins will come off, remove them from the fire, put them into cold water, and blanch them, one by one, rubbing them with salt: then wash them in several waters, in order to clean them; in short, till you see no soil in the water; when this is done, throw them into boiling water; and let them boil till so tender as a pin may easily pass through them; drain and put them into clarified sugar without water, they being green enough do not require a thin sugar to bring them to a colour; but, on the contrary, if too much
