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[LITTLE BOATS MUST KEEP NEAR THE SHORE.] 2212. Cayenne Pepper. Dr. Kitchiner says (in his excellent book, "The Cook's Oracle" [1]): "We advise all who are fond of cayenne not to think it too much trouble to make it of English chilis,--there is no other way of being sure it is genuine,--and they will obtain a pepper of much finer flavour, without half the heat of the foreign. A hundred large chilis, costing only two shillings, will produce you about two ounces of cayenne,--so it is as cheap as the commonest cayenne. Four hundred chilis, when the stems were taken off, weighed half a pound; and when dried produced a quarter of a pound of cayenne pepper. The following is the way to make it:--Take away the stalks, and put the pods into a cullender; set them before the fire,--they will take full twelve hours to dry;--then put them into a mortar, with one-fourth their weight of salt, and pound them and rub them till they are as fine as possible, and put them into a well-stoppered bottle." [Footnote 1: London: Houlston & Sons.] 2213. Peas Powder. Pound in a marble mortar half an ounce each of dried mint and sage, a drachm of celery seed, and a quarter of a drachm of cayenne pepper; rub them together through a fine sieve, this gives a very savoury relish to pea soup and even to gruel. A drachm of allspice, or black pepper, may be pounded with the above as an addition, or instead of the cayenne.