Eglantine, Rosemary, Parsley, Strawberry-leaves, Wild-thyme, Balm,
Liver-wort, Betony, Scabious; when your water begins to boil, cast in your
herbs, and let them boil a quarter of an hour. Then strain it from the
herbs. When it is almost cold, then put in as much of the best honey, as
will make it bear an Egge, to the breadth of two pence; and stir it till
all the honey be melted. Then boil it well half an hour at the least, and
put into it the whites of six Eggs beaten to a froth to clarifie it; and
when it hath drawn all the scum to the top, strain it into woodden vessels.
When it is almost cold, put barm to it, and when it worketh well, Tun it
into a well-seasoned vessel, where neither Ale nor Beer hath been, for
marring the colour; and when it hath done working, take a good quantity of
Nutmegs, Mace, Cinnamon, Cloves and Ginger bruised, and put it into a
boulter bag, and hang it in the barrel.
If you will have it taste much of the spice, let it boil 3 or 4 walms in
it, after you have put in the honey. But that will make it have a deep
colour.
A RECEIPT FOR MEATHE
To seven quarts of water, take two quarts of honey, and mix it well
together; then set it on the fire to boil, and take three or four
Parsley-roots, and as many Fennel-roots, and shave them clean, and slice
them, and put them into the Liquor, and boil altogether, and skim it very
well all the while it is a boyling; and when there will no more scum rise,
then is it boiled enough: but be careful that none of the scum do boil into
it. Then take it off, and let it cool till the next day. Then put it up in
a close vessel, and put thereto half a pint of new good barm, and a very
few Cloves pounded and put in a Linnen-cloth, and tie it in the vessel, and
stop it up close; and within a fortnight, it will be ready to drink: but if
it stay longer, it will be the better.
MY LORD GORGE HIS MEATHE
Take a sufficient quantity of Rain-water, and boil in it the tops of
Rose-mary, Eglantine, Betony, Strawberry-leaves, Wall-flowers, Borage and
Bugloss, of each one handful; one sprig of Bays; and two or three of Sage.
Then take it off the fire, and put a whole raw Egge into it, and pour so
much honey to it, till the Egge rise up to the top; then boil it again,
skiming it very well, and so let it cool. Then Tun it up, and put Barm to
it, that it may ferment well. Then stop it up, and hang in it such spices,
as you like best. It will not be right to drink under three or four
moneths.
THE LADY VERNON'S WHITE METHEGLIN
Take three Gallons of water (rain water is best) boil in it broad Thyme,
Rose-mary, Peny-royal, of each three handfuls. Then put it into a stone Pan
to cool, and strain away the herbs; and when it is cold, put in one quart
of honey, and mix it very well; then put to it one Nutmeg, a little
Cinnamon; Cloves and Ginger; some Orange and Limon-peels. Then boil and
scum it very well, while any scum will rise. Then put in your spices, and
try with a New-laid-egg; and the stronger it is, the longer you may keep
it; and if you will drink it presently, put it up in bottles, and rub the
Corks with yest, that it may touch it, and it will be ready in three or
four days to drink. And if you make it in the spring put no spices, but
Cloves and Cinnamon, and add Violets, Cowslips, Marigolds, and
Gilly-flowers; and be sure to stop your vessel close with Cork; and to this
put no yest, for the Clove-gilly-flowers will set it to work.
SEVERAL SORTS OF MEATH, SMALL AND STRONG
1. SMALL. Take ten Gallons of water, and five quarts of honey, with a
little Rosemary, more Sweet-bryar, some Balme, Burnet, Cloves, less Ginger,
Limon Peel. Tun it with a little barm; let it remain a week in the barrel
with a bag of Elder-flowers; then bottle it.
2. _Small_. Take ten quarts of water, and one of honey, Balm a little;
Minth, Cloves, Limon-peel, Elder-flowers, a little Ginger; wrought with a
little yest, bottle it after a night working.
3. _Strong_. Take ten Gallons of water; thirteen quarts of honey, with
Angelica, Borrage and Bugloss, Rosemary, Balm and Sweet-bryar; pour it into
a barrel, upon three spoonfuls of yest; hang in a bag Cloves,
Elder-flowers, and a little Ginger.
4. _Very Strong_. Take ten Gallons of Water, and four of honey, with
Sea-worm-wood, a little Sage, Rosemary; put it in a barrel, after three
days cooling. Put no yest to it. Stop it close, and bottle it after three
or four months.
5. _Very Strong_. To ten Gallons of water take four of honey. Clarifie it
with flower; and put into it Angelica, Rosemary, Bay-leaves, Balm. Barrel
it without yest. Hang in a bag Cloves, Elder-flowers, a little Ginger.
6. _Very Strong_. Take ten Gallons of water, and four of Honey. Boil
nothing in it. Barrel it when cold, without yest. Hang in it a bag with
Cloves, Elder-flowers, a little Ginger and Limon peel; which throw away,
when it hath done working, and stop it close. You may make also strong and
small by putting into it Orris-roots; or with Rose-mary, Betony, Eye-bright
and Wood-sorrel; or adding to it the tops of Hypericon with the flowers of
it; Sweet-bryar, Lilly of the valley.
TO MAKE MEATH
Take three Gallons of water, a quart of Honey; if it be not strong enough,
you may adde more. Boil it apace an hour, and scum it very clean. Then take
it off, and set it a working at such heat as you set Beer, with good yest.
Then put it in a Runlet, and at three days end, draw it out in
stone-bottles; into everyone put a piece of Limon-peel and two Cloves. It
is only put into the Runlet, whilest it worketh, to avoid the breaking of
the Bottles.
SIR JOHN ARUNDEL'S WHITE MEATH
Take three Gallons of Honey, and twelve Gallons of water: mix the honey and
water very well together, till the honey is dissolved; so let it stand
twelve hours. Then put in a New-laid-egg; if the Liquor beareth the Egg,
that you see the breadth of a groat upon the Egg dry, you may set it over
the fire: if it doth not bear the Egg, then you must adde a quart or three
pints more to the rest; and then set it over the fire, and let it boil
gently, till you have skimed it very clean, and clarified it, as you would
do Suggar, with the whites of three New-laid-eggs. When it is thus made
clear from all scum, let it boil a full hour or more, till the fourth part
of it is wasted; then take it off the fire; and let it stand till the next
day. Then put it into a vessel. When it hath been in the barrel five or six
days, make a white tost, and dip it into new yeast, and put the tost into
the barrel, and let it work. When it hath done working, stop it up very
close. This keep three quarters of a year. You may drink it within half a
year, if you please. You may adde in the boiling, of what herbs you like
the taste, or what is Physical.
TO MAKE METHEGLIN
Take eight Gallons of water, and set it over a clear fire in a Kettle; and
when it is warm, put into it sixteen pounds of very good honey; stir it
well together, till it be all mixed; and when it boileth, take off the
scum, and put in two large Nutmegs cut into quarters, and so let it boil at
least an hour. Then take it off, and put into it two good handfuls of
grinded Malt, and with a white staff keep beating it together, till it be
almost cold; then strain it through a hair sieve into a tub, and put to it
a wine pint of Ale-yest, and stir it very well together; and when it is
cold, you may, if you please, Tun it up presently in a vessel fit for it,
or else let it stand, and work a day: And when it hath done working in your
vessel, stop it up very close. It will be three weeks or a month, before it
will be ready to drink.
TO MAKE WHITE MEATH
Take six Gallons of water, and put in six quarts of honey, stirring it till
the honey be throughly melted; then set it over the fire, and when it is
ready to boil, skim it very clean. Then put in a quarter of ounce of Mace,
so much Ginger, half an ounce of Nutmegs, Sweet-marjoram, Broad-thyme, and
Sweet-bryar, of altogether a handful; and boil them well therein; Then set
it by, till it be through cold, and then Barrel it up, and keep it till it
be ripe.
TO MAKE A MEATH GOOD FOR THE LIVER AND LUNGS
Take of the Roots of Coltsfoot, Fennel and Fearn each four Ounces. Of
Succory-roots, Sorrel-roots, Strawberry-roots, Bitter-sweet-roots, each two
Ounces, of Scabious-roots and Elecampane-roots, each an Ounce and a half.
Ground-ivy, Hore-hound, Oak of Jerusalem, Lung-wort, Liver-wort,
Maiden-hair, Harts-tongue of each two good-handfulls. Licorish four Ounces.
Jujubes, Raisins of the Sun and Currents, of each two Ounces; let the roots
be sliced, and the herbs be broken a little with your hands; and boil all
these in twenty quarts of fair running water, or, if you have it, in Rain
water, with five Pints of good white honey, until one third part be boiled
away; then pour the liquor through a jelly bag often upon a little
Coriander-seeds, and Cinnamon; and when it runneth very clear, put it into
Bottles well stopped, and set it cool for your use, and drink every morning
a good draught of it, and at five in the afternoone.
TO MAKE WHITE METHEGLIN
Put to three Gallons of Spring-water, one of honey. First let it gently
melt; then boil for an hour, continually skiming it; then put it into an
earthen or a woodden vessel, and when it is a little more than Blood-warm,
set it with Ale-yest, and so let it stand twelve hours. Then take off the
yest, and bottle it up. Put into it Limon-peel and Cloves, or what best
pleaseth your taste of Spice or Herbs. Eringo-roots put into it, when it
is boiling, maketh it much better.
Note, That if you make Hydromel by fermentation in the hot Sun (which will
last about fourty days, and requireth the greater heat) you must take it
thence, before it be quite ended working; and stop it up very close, and
set it in a cold Cellar, and not pierce it in two months, at the soonest.
It will be very good this way, if you make it so strong, as to bear an Egge
very boyant. It is best made by taking all the Canicular days into your
fermentation.
A VERY GOOD MEATH
Put three parts of water to one of honey. When the Honey is dissolved, it
is to bear an Egge boyant. Boil it and skim it perfectly clear. You may
boil in it Pellitory of the wall, Agrimony, or what herbs you please. To
every ten Gallons of water, take Ginger, Cinnamon, _ana_, one Ounce,
Nutmegs half an Ounce. Divide this quantity (sliced and bruised) into two
parts. Boil the one in the Meath, severing it from the Liquor, when it is
boiled, by running through a strainer; and hang the other parcel in the
barrel by the bung in a bag with a bullet in it. When it is cold, Tun it.
And then you may work it with barm if you please; but it is most commended
without.
TO MAKE WHITE METHEGLIN
Take the Honey-combs, that the Honey is run out from them, and lay them in
water over night; next day strain them, and put the Liquor a boiling; Then
take the whites of two or three Eggs, and clarifie the Liquor. When you
have so done, skim it clean. Then take a handful of Peny-royal; four
handfuls of Angelica; a handful of Rosemary; a handful of Borrage; a
handful of Maidenhair, a handful of Harts-tongue; of Liverwort, of
Water-cresses, of Scurvy-grass, _ana_, a handful; of the Roots of
Marshmallows, Parsley, Fennel, _ana_, one Ounce. Let all these boil
together in the Liquor, the space of a quarter of an hour. Then strain the
Liquor from them, and let it cool, till it be Blood-warm. Put in so much
honey, until an Egge swim on it; and when your honey is melted, then put it
into the Barrel. When it is almost cold, put a little Ale barm to it; And
when it hath done working, put into your barrel a bag of Spice of Nutmegs,
Ginger, Cloves and Mace, and grains good store; and if you will, put into a
Lawn-bag two grains of Ambergreece and two grains of Musk, and fasten it in
the mouth of your barrel, and so let it hang in the Liquor.
A MOST EXCELLENT METHEGLIN
Take one part of honey, to eight parts of Rain or River-water; let it boil
gently together, in a fit vessel, till a third part be wasted, skiming it
very well. The sign of being boiled enough is, when a New-laid-egg swims
upon it. Cleanse it afterwards by letting it run through a clean
Linnen-cloth, and put it into a woodden Runlet, where there hath been wine
in, and hang in it a bag with Mustard-seeds by the bung, that so you may
take it out, when you please. This being done, put your Runlet into the hot
Sun, especially during the Dog-days, (which is the onely time to prepare
it) and your Metheglin will boil like Must; after which boiling take out
your Mustard-seeds, and put your vessel well stopped into a Cellar. If you
will have it the taste of wine, put to thirty measures of Hydromel, one
measure of the juyce of hops, and it will begin to boil without any heat.
Then fill up your vessel, and presently after this ebullition you will have
a very strong Metheglin.
TO MAKE WHITE METHEGLIN OF THE COUNTESS OF DORSET
Take Rosemary, Thyme, Sweet-bryar, Peny-royal, Bays, Water-cresses,
Agrimony, Marshmallow leaves, Liver-wort, Maiden-hair, Betony, Eye-bright,
Scabious, the bark of the Ash-tree, Eringo-roots, Green-wild-Angelica,
Ribwort, Sanicle, Roman-worm-wood, Tamarisk, Mother-thyme, Sassafras,
Philipendula, of each of these herbs a like proportion; or of as many of
them as you please to put in. But you must put in all but four handfuls of
herbs, which you must steep one night, and one day, in a little bowl of
water, being close covered; the next day take another quantity of fresh
water, and boil the same herbs in it, till the colour be very high; then
take another quantity of water, and boil the same herbs in it, until they
look green; and so let it boil three or four times in several waters, as
long as the Liquor looketh any thing green. Then let it stand with these
herbs in it a day and night. Remember the last water you boil it in to this
proportion of herbs, must be twelve gallons of water, and when it hath
stood a day and a night, with these herbs in it, after the last boiling,
then strain the Liquor from the herbs, and put as much of the finest and
best honey into the Liquor, as will make it bear an Egg. You must work and
labour the honey and liquor together one whole day, until the honey be
consumed. Then let it stand a whole night, and then let it be well laboured
again, and let it stand again a clearing, and so boil it again a quarter of
an hour, with the whites of six New-laid-eggs with the shells, the yolks
being taken out; so scum it very clean, and let it stand a day a cooling.
Then put it into a barrel, and take Cloves, Mace, Cinamon, and Nutmegs, as
much as will please your taste, and beat them altogether; put them into a
linnen bag, and hang it with a thread in the barrel. Take heed you put not
too much spice in; a little will serve. Take the whites of two or three
New-laid-eggs, a spoonful of barm, and a spoonful of Wheat-flower, and beat
them altogether, and put it into your Liquor into the barrel, and let it
work, before you stop it. Then afterwards stop it well, and close it well
with clay and Salt tempered together, and let it be set in a close place;
and when it hath been settled some six weeks, draw it into bottles, and
stop it very close, and drink it not a month after: but it will keep well
half a year, and more.
ANOTHER WAY TO MAKE WHITE METHEGLIN
Take ten Gallons of water; then take six handfuls of Sweet-bryar; as much
of Sweet-marjoram; and as much of Muscovy. Three handfuls of the best
Broad-thyme. Boil these together half an hour; then strain them. Then take
two Gallons of English-honey, and dissolve it in this hot Liquor, and brew
it well together; then set it over the fire to boil again, and skim it very
clean; then take the whites of thirty Eggs wel beaten, and put them into
the Liquor, and let it boil an hour; then strain it through a jelly bag,
and let it stand 24 hours cooling: then put it up in a vessel. Then take
six Nutmegs, six fair Races of Ginger, a quarter of an Ounce of Cloves,
half an Ounce of Cinamon; bruise all these together, and put them into a
Linnen-bag, with a little Pebble-stone to make it sink. Then hang it in the
vessel. You may adde to it, if you please, two grains of Ambergreece, and
one grain of Musk. Stop the vessel with a Cork, but not too close, for six
days; then taste it: and if it taste enough of the Spice, then take out the
bag; if not, let the bag hang in it, and stop it very close, and meddle
with it no more. It will be ready to drink in nine or ten weeks.
A RECEIPT TO MAKE GOOD MEATH
Take as many Gallons of water, as you intend to make of Meath; and to every
Gallon put a quart of honey, and let it boil till it bear an Egg. To every
Gallon you allow the white of an Egg, which white you must remove and break
with your hands, and put into the Kettle, before you put it over the fire.
Before it boileth, there will arise a skum, which must be taken off very
clean, as it riseth. Put to every Gallon two Nutmegs sliced, and when it
hath boiled enough, take it off, and set it a cooling in clean
wort-vessels: And when it is as cold as wort, put in a little barm, and
work it like Beer, and when it hath done working, stop it up, and let it
stand two months.
ANOTHER TO MAKE MEATH
To every quart of honey allow six Wine-quarts of water; half an Ounce of
Nutmegs, and the Peel of a Limon, and the meat of two or three, as you make
the quantity. Boil these together, till the scum rise no more; It must
stand till it be quite cold, and when you Tun it, you squeese into it the
juyce of some Limons, and this will make it ripen quickly. It will be ready
in less then a month.
ANOTHER RECIPE
Take twelve Gallons of water, a handful of Muscovy (which is an herb, that
smelleth like Musk), a handful of Sweet-Marjoram, and as much of
Sweet-bryar. Boil all these in the water, till all the strength be out.
Then take it off and strain it out, and being almost cold, sweeten it with
honey very strong, more then to bear an Egg, (the meaning of this is, that
when there is honey enough to bear an Egg, which will be done by one part
of honey to three or four quarts of water: then you add to it a pretty deal
of honey more, at least 1/4 or 1/3 of what you did put in at first to make
it bear an Egg: then it is to be boiled and scummed: when it is thus
strong, you may keep it four years before you drink it. But at the end of
two years you may draw it out into bottles) just above it, else it will not
keep very long: for the more honey the better. Then set it over the fire
till it boils, and scum it very clean. Then take it from the fire, and let
it stand, till it be cold: then put it into your vessel. Take Mace, Cloves,
Nutmegs, Ginger, of each a quarter of an Ounce: beat them small, and hang
them in your vessel (being stopped close) in a little bag.
Note, when any Meath or Metheglin grows hard or sower with keeping too
long, dissolve in it a good quantity of fresh honey, to make it pleasantly
Sweet; (but boil it no more, after it hath once fermented, as it did at the
first Tunning) and with that it will ferment again, and become very good
and pleasant and quick.
TO MAKE METHEGLIN
Take of Rosemary three handfuls, of Winter-savory a Peck by measure, Organ
and Thyme, as much, White-wort two handfuls, Blood-wort half a peck, Hyssop
two handfuls, Marygolds, Borage, Fennil, of each two handfuls;
Straw-berries and Violet-leaves, of each one handful; Of Harts-tongue,
Liverwort a peck; Ribwort half a peck, of Eglantine with the Roots, a good
quantity; Wormwood as much as you can gripe in two hands; and of Sorrel,
Mead-sutt Bettony with the Roots, Blew-bottles with the Roots, the like
quantity; of Eye-bright two handfuls, Wood-bind one handful. Take all these
herbs, and order them so, as that the hot herbs may be mastered with the
cool. Then take the small herbs, and put them into the Furnace, and lay the
long herbs upon them. Then take a weight or stone of Lead, having a Ring,
whereunto fasten a stick to keep down the Herbs into the furnace; then boil
your water and herbs three or four hours, and as the water doth boil away,
adde more. Then take the water out of the Furnace seething hot, and strain
it through a Range-sieve; then put in the honey, and Mash it well
together: then take your Sweet-wort, and strain it through a Range. Then
try it with a New-laid-egg. It must be so strong as to bear an Egg the
breadth of a groat above the Liquor: and if it doth not, then put in more
honey, till it will bear the Egg. Then take the Liquor, and boil it again;
and as soon as it doth boil, skim the froth very clean from it: Then set it
a cooling, and when it is cold, then put it into a Kive, and put barm
thereto, and let it work the Space of a Week; Then Tun it up: But be
careful when it is Tunned, that the vessels be not stopp'd up, till it hath
done hissing.
ANOTHER SORT OF METHEGLIN
Take to one part of honey, three parts of water: and put them into clean
vessels, mixing them very well together, and breaking the honey with
stripped arms, till it be well dissolved. Then pour out your Liquor into a
large Kettle, and let it boil for two hours and a half, over a good fire,
skiming it all the while very carefully as long as any scum riseth. When it
is boiled enough, pour out your Liquor into clean vessels, and set it to
cool for 24 hours. Afterwards put it into some Runlets, and cover the bung
with a piece of Lead: have a care to fill it up always with the same boiled
Liquor for three or four months and during the time of working. This Meath
the older it is, the better it is. But if you will have your Meath red,
then take twenty pound of black Currants, and put them into a vessel, and
pour your Liquor on them. Of this honey-Liquor you cannot drink till after
nine months, or a year.
MY LORD HERBERT'S MEATH
Take ten Gallons of water; and to every Gallon of water a quart of honey, a
handful and a half of Rosemary, one Ounce of Mace, one Ounce and a half of
Nutmegs, as much Cinamon, half an Ounce of Cloves, a quarter of a pound of
Ginger scraped and cut in pieces. Put all these into the water, and let it
boil half an hour, then take it off the fire, and let it stand, till you
may see your shadow in it. Then put in the honey, and set it upon the fire
again. Then take the shells and whites of a dozen of Eggs, and beat them
both very well together: and when it is ready to boil up, put in your Eggs,
and stir it; then skim it clean, and take it off the fire, and put it into
vessels to cool, as you do wort. When it is cold, set it together with some
barm, as you do Beer. When it is put together leave the settlings behind in
the bottom; as soon as it is white over, Tun it up in a vessel, and when it
hath done working, stop it up as you do Beer. When it is three weeks old,
it will be fit to bottle or drink.
ANOTHER WHITE MEATH
Take three Pound of White-honey, or the best Hampshire-honey, and dissolve
it in a Gallon of water, and then boil it; and when it beginneth first to
boil, put into it half a quarter of an Ounce of Ginger a little bruised;
and a very little Cloves and Mace bruised, and a small quantity of
Agrimony. Let all this boil together a full hour, and keep it constantly
skimmed, as long as any Scum will rise upon it. Then strain it forth into
some clean Kiver or other vessel, and let stand a cooling; and when it is
cold, let it stand, till it be all creamed over with a blackish cream, and
that it make a kind of hissing noise; then put it up into your vessel, and
in two or three months time it will be fit to drink.
Look how much you intend to make, the same quantities must be allowed to
every Gallon of water.
TO MAKE METHEGLIN
Take fair water, and the best honey; beat them well together, but not in a
woodden vessel, for wood drinketh up the honey, put it together in a
Kettle, and try it with a New-laid-egg, which will swim at top, if it be
very strong; but if it bob up and sink again, it will be too weak. Boil it
an hour, and put into it a bundle of herbs, what sort you like best; and a
little bag of Spice, Nutmegs, Ginger, Cloves, Mace and Cinamon; and skim it
well all the while it boileth: when it hath boiled an hour, take it off,
and put it into earthen Pans, and so let it stand till next day. Then pour
off all the clear into a good vessel, that hath had Sack in it, or
White-wine. Hang the bag of Spice in it, and so let it stand very close
stopp'd and well filled for a month, or longer. Then if you desire to drink
it quickly, you may bottle it up. If it be strong of the honey, you may
keep it a year or two. If weak, drink it in two or three months. One quart
of honey, will make one Gallon of water very strong. A sprig or two of
Rose-mary, Thyme and Sweet-marjoram, are the Herbs that should go into it.
TO MAKE SMALL METHEGLIN