CORDIALS, AND MADE WINES.
_To make Raisin Alder Wine._
TAKE four gallons of boiling water: to every gallon, add five pounds of
Malaga raisins cut small; pour the water boiling hot upon them, and let
it stand nine days, stirring it twice a day: boil your alder-berries, as
you do currants for jelly, and strain it; then add to every gallon of
liquor, one pint of alderberry juice, and stir it all together with half
a pint of yeast; let it work well, and remain in the cask for two or
three months; then bottle it off.
_Orange Wine._
TAKE six gallons of water, and twelve pounds of Lisbon sugar, the whites
of six eggs well beaten; let all boil together, then put it into a large
preserving pan, with the juice of half a hundred of oranges, twelve
lemons, and the rinds of twelve oranges: give all a boil together, then
put it into a barrel with ten quarts of Rhenish wine, and a pint and a
half of good yeast; let it work well for a week, then stop it up for a
month, and bottle it up.
_Damascene Wine._
TO every gallon of water; put two pounds and a half of sugar, which you
must boil and skim well: to every gallon of this, put five pints of
damascenes stoned; let it boil, then put it into a cask: work it three
or four days, then stop it up for use.
_Gooseberry Wine._
TO every three pounds of ripe gooseberries, put a pint of spring water,
bruise your fruit; put it into a tub, and pour the water on them; let
them stand a whole day, then to every three pounds of fruit, put a pound
of moist sugar: stir it till the sugar is dissolved, and let it stand
twenty-four hours more; then skim the head clear off, and put the liquor
into a cask; let it work three or four days before you stop it up: let
it remain four months before you bottle it, and if it is not fine, let
it stand in bottles till it is, and then rack it off into other bottles.
_Cowslip Wine._
TO six gallons of water, allow thirty pounds of Malaga raisins; boil the
water, and measure it out of your copper on your raisins: cut small and
put into a tub; let them work together twelve hours, at the end of that
time strain off, and press the raisins hard, to extract the essence;
then take a little good yeast, and mix it with some lemon syrup, put in
two pecks of cowslips, and let your ingredients work together for three
days, stirring them twice a day; then stop it up, and bottle off in
three months.
_Birch Wine._
ALLOW to every gallon of birch water, two pounds of sugar; boil it half
an hour, skim it well, let it stand a little; then pour it off the
grounds, work it well with yeast, before you put it into your cask, and
smoke the cask with brimstone.
I would recommend a small bag of slit raisins, to be put in the cask,
and let it stand three or four months before you bottle it off.
_Rasberry Wine._
PUT three pounds of raisins of the sun stoned, into two gallons of hot
water, add to these, six quarts of rasberries, and two pounds of loaf
sugar: let all stand three days, then strain, put in a pound more sugar;
mix in a little yeast, let it work well, then bottle it off with a lump
of sugar in each bottle.
_Blackberry Wine._
PUT five gallons of boiling water, to half a bushel of blackberries; let
them stand forty-eight hours, then add half a peck of sloes, and ten
pounds of sugar; boil all the ingredients together for an hour, work it
with yeast, and let it stand three months in the cask before you bottle
it.
_Cherry Wine._
TAKE fifty pounds of black cherries, picked from the stalks, bruise them
well, then take half a bushel of currants, and four quarts of
rasberries, and squeeze them; to this quantity of juice, allow forty
pounds of sugar: dissolve it in water, and put all together into a cask
with eight gallons of water, and a quart of good yeast, let it work
well; you may bottle it at three months end.
_Currant Wine._
TO three pounds of currants picked from the stalks, allow a pound of
sugar, and a quart of water: boil, and put them into a cask with a good
allowance of British spirits; let it work for two weeks before you stop
it up, then let it remain three months before you bottle it off.
_To make Raisin Wine._
TO every gallon of water, put five pounds of Malaga, or Belvidere slit
raisins; let them soak in the water for a fortnight, stirring them every
day, then strain it through a sieve, and put it into a cask: to every
gallon of liquor, allow a pint of French brandy; work it well, and let
it remain stopped up close for four months, before you bottle it.
_To make Sage Wine._
BOIL twenty-six quarts of water, with twenty-five pounds of Malaga
raisins cut small; then put it into a tub with two pecks of red sage,
and half a pint of yeast; let all work well, then put it into a cask,
let it remain a week before you stop it up, and two months before you
bottle it up.
_To make Clear Wine._
TAKE half a pound of hartshorn, and dissolve it in cyder; and if it be
for cyder, Rhenish wine, or any other liquor, this quantity is enough
for a hogshead.
_To make Mead._
TO five quarts of honey, allow forty quarts of water, eighteen races of
ginger, and one handful of rosemary; boil them together for three hours,
and skim it perpetually: when it is cold, put your yeast to it, and it
will be fit to bottle in eight or ten days.
_To make White Mead._
TAKE three gallons of water, and one quart of honey, and if it be not
strong enough, add more honey; boil it for an hour, then put it into a
tub with ginger, and spice, the whites of eight eggs to it, work it well
with yeast, and when you perceive it is done working, bottle it off for
use.
_To make Milk Punch._
TAKE two quarts of milk, a quart of good brandy, the juice of six
lemons, and half a pound of sugar; mix them well, and strain it through
a jelly bag, take a little lemon peel, and put into your bag; when it is
strained bottle it up, and it will keep a considerable time.
_To make Citron Water._
TAKE a pound and a half of the best citron bruised, nine ounces of lemon
peel, the same quantity of orange peel; nutmegs bruised, a quarter of a
pound; strong proof spirits, three gallons; water two gallons; macerate,
distil and dulcify with double refined sugar, two pounds.
_Ratafia Cordial._
TAKE three gallons of Molasses brandy, nutmegs three ounces and a half;
bruise them, and infuse them in the brandy; adding ambergrease, three
grains; bitter almonds, one pound and a half: mix the ambergrease with
three pounds of fine Lisbon sugar, then infuse all for seven or eight
days, and strain it off for use.
_Orange Flower Brandy._
TAKE a gallon of French brandy, two pounds of sugar, two quarts of
water, and half a pound of orange flowers; make a syrup of your sugar
and water, put in your orange flowers, and give all a gentle boil; then
mix in the brandy, and put all into a stone bottle close corked up for
use.
_Surfeit Water._
TAKE a peck of red corn poppies, put them in a large bottle, and put to
it a quart of aqua vitæ, a nutmeg, and a race of ginger, sliced, a small
stick of cinnamon, a blade of mace, three or four figs, four ounces of
raisins of the sun, four ounces of anniseeds, caraways and cardemum,
mixed with two ounces of Spanish liquorish; put all these ingredients
into the bottle; then add two quarts of white brandy, and cork it up;
shake it every day for a week; then let it stand for two months, by
which time it will be fit to drink.
_Cinnamon Water._
TAKE cinnamon bruised, twelve ounces; proof spirits rectified three
gallons; water one gallon and a half; macerate them twenty-four hours,
then distil and draw off your spirits, and dulcify it with loaf sugar,
two pounds and a half, and make it full proof.
_Nutmeg Water._
TAKE nutmegs bruised, twelve ounces; proof spirits three gallons, water
one gallon and a half; infuse, distil, and dulcify with two pounds of
sugar for use.
_Mint Water._
TAKE mint two handfuls, proof spirits two gallons and a half; distil and
dulcify with sugar, one pound and a half for use.
_Lemon Water._
TAKE twelve large lemons, sliced thin, and put them into two pints of
white wine, with a little cinnamon, and a handful of rose-leaves; the
same quantity of burrage, and a drachm of yellow sanders: steep all this
together twelve hours; mix in a pint and a half of water, two pounds of
sugar, and two pints more wine, then distil it for use.
FINIS.
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● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.
○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
End of Project Gutenberg's The Housekeeper's Valuable Present, by Robert Abbot