Allow three gallons of soft water (measured after it has boiled an
hour) to six gallons of gooseberries, which must be full ripe. Top and
tail the gooseberries; put them, a few at a time, into a wooden dish,
and with a rolling-pin or beetle break and mash every one; transferring
them, as they are done, into a large stone jar. Pour the boiling water
upon the mashed gooseberries; cover the jar, and let them stand twelve
hours. Then strain and measure the juice, and to each quart allow
three-quarters of a pound of loaf-sugar; mix it with the liquid, and
let it stand eight or nine hours to dissolve, stirring it several times.
Then pour it into a keg of proper size for containing it, and let it
ferment at the bung-hole; filling it up as it works out with some of
the liquor reserved for that purpose. As soon as it ceases to hiss,
stop it close with a cloth wrapped round the bung. A pint of white
brandy for every gallon of the gooseberry wine may be added on bunging
it up. At the end of four or five months it will probably be fine
enough to bottle off. It is best to bottle it in cold frosty weather.
You may refine it by allowing to every gallon of wine the whites of
two eggs, beaten to a froth, with a very small tea-spoonful of salt.
When the white of egg, &c. is a stiff froth, take out a quart of the
wine, and mix them well together. Then pour it into the cask, and in a
few days it will be fine and clear. You may begin to use it any time
after it is bottled. Put two or three raisins in the bottom of each
bottle. They will tend to keep the wine from any farther fermentation.
Fine gooseberry wine has frequently passed for champagne. Keep the
bottles in saw-dust, lying on their sides.
CURRANT WINE.--Take four gallons of ripe currants; strip them from the
stalks into a great stone jar that has a cover to it, and mash them
with a long thick stick. Let them stand twenty-four hours; then put
the currants into a large linen bag; wash out the jar, set it under
the bag, and squeeze the juice into it. Boil together two gallons and
a half of water, and five pounds and a half of the best loaf-sugar,
skimming it well. When the scum ceases to rise, mix the syrup with the
currant juice. Let it stand a fortnight or three weeks to settle; and
then transfer it to another vessel, taking care not to disturb the lees
or dregs. If it is not quite clear and bright, refine it by mixing with
a quart of the wine, (taken out for the purpose,) the whites of two
eggs beaten to a stiff froth, and half an ounce of cream of tartar.
Pour this gradually into the vessel. Let it stand ten days, and then
bottle it off. Place the bottles in saw-dust, laying them on their
sides. Take care that the saw-dust is not from pine wood. The wine will
be fit to drink in a year, but is better when three or four years old.
You may add a little brandy to it when you make it; allowing a quart of
brandy to six gallons of wine.
RASPBERRY WINE.--Put four gallons of ripe raspberries into a stone jar,
and mash them with a round stick. Take four gallons of soft water,
(measured after it has boiled an hour,) and strain it warm over the
raspberries. Stir it well and let it stand twelve hours. Then strain
it through a bag, and to every gallon of liquor put three pounds of
loaf-sugar. Set it over a clear fire, and boil and skim it till the
scum ceases to rise. When it is cold bottle it. Open the bottles every
day for a fortnight, closing them again in a few minutes. Then seal the
corks, and lay the bottles on their sides in saw-dust, which must not
be from pine wood.
ELDERBERRY WINE.--Gather the elderberries when quite ripe; put them
into a stone jar, mash them with a round stick, and set them in a
warm oven, or in a large kettle of boiling water till the jar is hot
through, and the berries begin to simmer. Then take them out, and press
and strain them through a sieve. To every quart of juice allow a pound
of Havanna or Lisbon sugar, and two quarts of cold soft water. Put the
sugar into a large kettle, pour the juice over it, and, when it has
dissolved, stir in the water. Set the kettle over the fire, and boil
and skim it till the scum ceases to rise. To four gallons of the liquor
add a pint and a half of brandy. Put it into a keg, and let it stand
with the bung put in loosely for four or five days, by which time it
will have ceased to ferment. Then stop it closely, plastering the bung
with clay. At the end of six months, draw off a little of it; and if it
is not quite clear and bright, refine it with the whites and shells of
three or four eggs, beaten to a stiff froth and stirred into a quart of
the wine, taken out for the purpose and then returned to the cask; or
you may refine it with an ounce or more of dissolved isinglass. Let it
stand a week or two, and then bottle it.
This is an excellent domestic wine, very common in England, and
deserving to be better known in America, where the elderberry tree is
found in great abundance. Elderberry wine is generally taken mulled
with spice, and warm.
ELDER FLOWER WINE.--Take the flowers or blossoms of the elder tree,
and strip them from the stalks. To every quart of flowers allow one
gallon of water, and three pounds of white sugar. Boil and skim the
sugar and water, and then pour it hot on the flowers. When cool, mix
in with it some lemon juice and some yeast; allowing to six gallons of
the liquor the juice of six lemons, and four or five table-spoonfuls of
good yeast stirred in very hard. Let it ferment for three days in a tub
covered with a double blanket. Then strain the wine through a sieve,
(add six whites of eggs beaten to a stiff froth, or an ounce of melted
isinglass,) and put it into a cask, in the bottom of which you have
laid four or five pounds of the best raisins, stoned. Stop the cask
closely, and in six months the wine will be fit to bottle. It will much
resemble Frontiniac, the elder flowers imparting to it a very pleasant
taste.
CIDER WINE.--Take sweet cider immediately from the press. Strain it
through a flannel bag into a tub, and stir into it as much honey as
will make it strong enough to bear up an egg. Then boil and skim it,
and when the scum ceases to rise, strain it again. When cool, put it
into a cask, and set it in a cool cellar till spring. Then bottle it
off; and when ripe, it will be found a very pleasant beverage. The
cider must be of the very best quality, made entirely from good sound
apples.
MEAD.--To every gallon of water put five pounds of strained honey, (the
water must be hot when you add the honey,) and boil it three quarters
of an hour, skimming it well. Then put in some hops tied in a thin bag,
(allowing an ounce or a handful to each gallon,) and let it boil half
an hour longer. Strain it into a tub, and let it stand four days. Then
put it into a cask, (or into a demijohn if the quantity is small,)
adding for each gallon of mead a jill of brandy and a sliced lemon. If
a large cask, do not bottle it till it has stood a year.
FOX GRAPE SHRUB.--Gather the grapes when they are full grown, but
before they begin to purple. Pick from the stems a sufficient quantity
to nearly fill a large preserving kettle, and pour on them as much
boiling water as the kettle will hold. Set it over a brisk fire, and
keep it scalding hot till all the grapes have burst. Then take them
off, press out and strain the liquor, and allow to each quart a pound
of sugar stirred well in. Dissolve the sugar in the juice; then put
them together into a clean kettle, and boil and skim them for ten
minutes, or till the scum ceases to rise. When cold, bottle it; first
putting into each bottle a jill of brandy. Seal the bottles, and keep
them in a warm closet.
You may make gooseberry shrub in this manner.
CURRANT SHRUB.--Your currants must be quite ripe. Pick them from the
stalks, and squeeze them through a linen bag. To each quart of juice
allow a pound of loaf-sugar. Put the sugar and juice into a preserving
kettle, and let it melt before it goes on the fire. Boil it ten
minutes, skimming it well. When cold, add a jill of the best white
brandy to each quart of the juice. Bottle it, and set it away for use;
sealing the corks. It improves by keeping.
Raspberry shrub may be made in this manner; also strawberry.
CHERRY SHRUB.--Pick from the stalks, and stone a sufficient quantity
of ripe morellas, or other red cherries of the best and most juicy
description. Put them with all their juice into a stone jar, and set
it, closely covered, into a deep kettle of boiling water. Keep it
boiling hard for a quarter of an hour. Then pour the cherries into a
bag, and strain and press out all the juice. Allow a pound of sugar
to a quart of juice, boil them together ten minutes in a preserving
kettle, skimming them well, and when cold, bottle the liquid; first
putting a jill of brandy into each bottle.
CHERRY BOUNCE.--Mix together six pounds of ripe morellas and six pounds
of large black heart cherries. Put them into a wooden bowl or tub, and
with a pestle or mallet mash them so as to crack all the stones. Mix
with the cherries three pounds of loaf-sugar, or of sugar candy broken
up, and put them into a demijohn, or into a large stone jar. Pour on
two gallons of the best double rectified whiskey. Stop the vessel
closely, and let it stand three months, shaking it every day during the
first month. At the end of the three months you may strain the liquor
and bottle it off. It improves by age.
LEMON SYRUP.--Break up into large pieces six pounds of fine loaf-sugar.
Take twelve large ripe lemons, and (without cutting them) grate the
yellow rind upon the sugar. Then put the sugar, with the lemon gratings
and two quarts of water, into a preserving kettle, and let it dissolve.
When it is all melted, boil it till quite thick, skimming it till no
more scum rises; it will then be done. Have ready the juice of all the
lemons, stir it in, and boil it ten minutes more. Bottle it, and keep
it in a cold place.
It makes a delicious drink in summer, in the proportion of one third
lemon syrup and two thirds ice water.