Take six quarts of rye meal; stir and mix it well into a barrel of
strong hard cider of the best kind; and then add a gallon of whiskey.
Cover the cask, (leaving the bung loosely in it,) set it in the part of
your yard that is most exposed to the sun and air; and in the course of
four weeks (if the weather is warm and dry) you will have good vinegar
fit for use. When you draw off a gallon or more, replenish the cask
with the same quantity of cider, and add about a pint of whiskey. You
may thus have vinegar constantly at hand for common purposes.
The cask should have iron hoops.
A very strong vinegar may be made by mixing cider and strained honey,
(allowing a pound of honey to a gallon of cider,) and letting it
stand five or six months. This vinegar is so powerful that for common
purposes it should be diluted with a little water.
Vinegar may be made in the same manner of sour wine.
WHITE VINEGAR.--Put into a cask a mixture composed of five gallons of
water, two gallons of whiskey, and a quart of strong yeast, stirring
in two pounds of powdered charcoal. Place it where it will ferment
properly, leaving the bung loose till the fermentation is over, but
covering the hole slightly to keep out the dust and insects. At the
end of four months draw it off, and you will have a fine vinegar, as
clear and colourless as water.
SUGAR VINEGAR.--To every gallon of water allow a pound of the best
white sugar, and a jill or more of strong yeast. Mix the sugar and
water together, and boil and skim it till the scum ceases to rise. Then
pour it into a tub; and when it cools to lukewarm heat, put into it
the yeast spread on pieces of toast. Let it work two days; then put it
into an iron-hooped cask, and set it in a sunny place for five months,
leaving the bung loose, but keeping the bung-hole covered. In five
months it will be good clear vinegar, and you may bottle it for use.
A cask that has not contained vinegar before, should have a quart of
boiling hot vinegar poured into it, shaken about frequently till cold,
and allowed to stand some hours.
COMMON CIDER VINEGAR.--Set a barrel of hard sour cider in the sun for a
few weeks, or three months, and it will become good vinegar.
PINE-APPLE-ADE.--Pare and slice some very ripe pine-apples; then cut
the slices into small pieces. Put them with all their juice into a
large pitcher, and sprinkle among them plenty of powdered white sugar.
Pour on boiling water, allowing a small half pint to each pine-apple.
Cover the pitcher, and let it stand till quite cool, occasionally
pressing down the pine-apple with a spoon. Then set the pitcher, for
a while, in ice. Lastly, strain the infusion into another vessel, and
transfer it to tumblers, putting into each glass some more sugar and a
bit of ice. This beverage will be found delicious.