fire, and when it is ready to boil, skim it very clear. Then take two
handfulls of Sweet-marjoram, as much Rose-mary, and as much Baulm: and two
handful of Fennel-roots, as much of Parsley-roots, and as many
Esparages-roots: slice them in the middle, and take out the pith, wash and
scrape them very clean, and put them with your herbs into your Liquor. Then
take two Ounces of Ginger, one Ounce of Nutmegs, half an Ounce of Mace:
bruise them and put them in: and let it boil till it be so strong that it
will bear an Egg: then let it cool: and being cold, put in 3 or 4 spoon
fulls of New-ale yest: and so skim it well, and put it into a Runlet, and
it will work like Ale: and having done working, stop it up close, as you do
New-beer: and lay salt upon it.
TO MAKE METHEGLIN
Take four Gallons of running water, and boil it a quarter of an hour, and
put it in an earthen vessel, and let it stand all night. The next day take
only the water, and leave the settling at the bottom: so put the honey in a
thin bag, and work it in the water, till all the honey is dissolved. Take
to four Gallons of water, one Gallon of Honey: Then put in an Egg, if it be
strong enough of the honey, the Egg will part of it appear on the top of
the liquor: if it do not, put more honey to it, till it do. Then take out
the Egg, and let the Liquor stand till next morning. Then take two Ounces
of Ginger, and slice it and pare it: Some Rose-mary washed and stripped
from the stalk: dry it very well. The next day put the Rose-mary and Ginger
into the drink, and so set it on the fire: when it is all most ready to
boil, take the whites of three Eggs well beaten with the shells, and put
all into the Liquor: and stir it about, and skim it well till it be clear.
Be sure you skim not off the Rose-mary and Ginger: then take it off the
fire, and let it run through a hair sieve: and when you have strained it,
pick out the Rose-mary and Ginger out of the strainer, and put it into the
drink, and throw away the Eggshells, and so let it stand all night. The
next day Tun it up in a barrel: Be sure the barrel be not too big: then
take a little flower and a little bran, and the white of an Egg, and beat
them well together, and put them into the barrel on the top of the
Metheglin, after it is tunned up, and so let it stand till it hath done
working; then stop it up as close as is possible: and so let it stand six
or seven weeks: then draw it out and bottle it. You must tye down the
Corks, and set the bottles in sand five or six weeks, and then drink it.
ANOTHER MEATH
Take twenty Gallons of fair Spring-water. Boil it a quarter of an hour,
then let it stand till the next day. Then beat into it so much honey, as
will make it so strong as to bear an Egg the breadth of a two pence above
the water. The next day boil it up with six small handfulls of Rosemary, a
pound and a half of Ginger, (being scraped and bruised) and the whites of
twenty Eggs together with their shells beaten together, and well mingled
with the Liquor. Clarifie it and skim it very clean, still as the scum
riseth, leaving the Ginger and Rosemary in it. Let it stand till the next
day, then Tun it up, and take some New-ale-yest, the whites of two Eggs, a
spoonful of flower, beat all these together, and put it on the top of the
barrel, when the barrel is full. Let it work, and when it hath done
working, stop it up close for three weeks, or a month. Then you may bottle
it, and a few days after, you may drink it.
ANOTHER
Take three Gallons of water, and boil in it a handful of Rose-mary (or
rather the flowers) Cowslips, Sage-flowers, Agrimony, Betony, and Thyme,
_ana_, one handful. When it hath taken the strength of the herbs, strain it
through a hair-sieve, and let it cool twenty hours. Then to three Gallons
of the clear part of this decoction, put one Gallon of honey, and mingle it
very well with your hand, till it bear an Egg the breadth of a groat. Then
boil it and skim it as long as any scum will rise. Afterwards let it cool
twenty four hours. Then put to it a small quantity of Ale-barm, and skim
the thin-barm that doth rise on it, morning and evening, with a feather,
during four days. And so put it up into your vessel, and hang in it a thin
linnen bag with two Ounces of good White-ginger bruised therein: And stop
it up close for a quarter of a year. Then you may drink it.
ANOTHER
Take a quart of honey to a Gallon of water; set the Kettle over the fire,
and stir it now and then, that the honey may melt; let it boil an hour; you
must boil in it, a Sprig or two of Winter-savory, as much of
Sweet-marjoram; put it into tubs ready scalded, till the next day towards
evening. Then tun it up into your vessel, let it work for three days; after
which hang a bag in the barrel with what quantity of Mace and sliced Nutmeg
you please. To make it stronger then this, 'tis but adding more hony, to
make it bear an Egg the breadth of a six pence, or something more. You may
bottle it out after a month, when you please. This is the way, which is
used in Sussex by those who are accounted to make it best.
ANOTHER RECEIPT
Take to every Gallon of Fountain-water a good quart of honey. Set the water
on the fire, till it be pretty warm; then take it off, and put it in your
honey, and stir it till it be dissolved. Then put into every three Gallons,
two handfuls of Thyme: two good handfuls of Strawberry-leaves, one handful
of Organ; one handful of Fennel-roots, the heart being taken out, and one
handful of Parsley-roots the heart taken out: But as for the herbs, it must
be according to the constitution of them, for whom the Mead is intended.
Then set the Herbs in it on the fire, to boil for half an hour, still
skimming it, as the scum riseth; it must boil but half an hour; then take
it off the fire, and presently strain it from the herbs, and let it stand
till it be fully cold; then pour it softly off the bottom, and put it in a
vessel fit for it, and put a small quantity of barm in it, and mingle it
with it, and when it hath wrought up, which will be in three or four days,
skim off that barm, and set on fresh: but the second barm must not be
mingled with the Meath, but onely poured on the top of it. Take an Ounce of
Nutmeg sliced: one Ounce of Ginger sliced: one Ounce of Cinnamon cut in
pieces, and boil them a pretty while in a quart of White-wine or Sack: when
this is very cold, strain it, and put the spices in a Canvas-bag to hang in
your Meath, and pour in the Wine it was boiled in.
This Meath will be drinkable, when it is a fortnight or three weeks old.
TO MAKE METHEGLIN THAT LOOKS LIKE WHITE-WINE
Take to twelve gallons of water, a handful of each of these Herbs: Parsley,
Eglantine, Rosemary, Strawberry-leaves, Wild-thyme, Baulme, Liverwort,
Betony, Scabious: when the water begins to boil, cast in the herbs: let
them boil a quarter of an hour: then strain out the herbs; and when it is
almost cold, then put in as much of the best honey, you can get, as will
bear an Egg to the breadth of two pence; that is, till you can see no more
of the Egge above the water, then a two pence will cover: Lave it and stir
it till you see all the honey be melted; then boil it well half an hour, at
the least: skim it well, and put in the whites of six Eggs beaten, to
clarifie it: Then strain it into some woodden vessels; and when it is
almost cold, put some Ale-barm into it. And when it worketh well, Tun it
into some well seasoned vessel, where neither Ale nor Beer hath been, for
marring the colour of it. When it hath done working, if you like it, Take a
quantity of Cloves, Nutmegs, Mace, Cinnamon, Ginger, or any of these that
you like best, and bruise them, and put them in a boulter bag, and hang it
in the vessel. Put not too much of the Spice, because many do not like the
taste of much Spice. If you make it at Michaelmas, you may tap it at
Christmas: but if you keep it longer, it will be the better. It will look
pure, and drink with as much spirit as can be, and very pleasant.
TO MAKE WHITE METHEGLIN
Take Sweet-marjoram, Sweet-bryar-buds, Violet-leaves, Strawberry-leaves, of
each one handful, and a good handful of Violet flowers (the dubble ones
are the best) broad Thyme, Borrage, Agrimony, of each half a handful, and
two or three branches of Rosemary, The seeds of Carvi, Coriander, and
Fennel, of each two spoonfuls, and three or four blades of large-mace. Boil
all these in eight Gallons of running-water, three quarters of an hour.
Then strain it, and when it is but blood-warm, put in as much of the best
honey, as will make the Liquor bear an Egg the breadth of six pence above
the water. Then boil it again as long as any scum will rise. Then set it
abroad a cooling; and when it is almost cold, put in half a pint of good
Ale-barm; and when it hath wrought, till you perceive the barm to fall,
then Tun it, and let it work in the barrel, till the barm leaveth rising,
filling it up every day with some of the same Liquor. When you stop it up,
put in a bag with one Nutmeg sliced, a little whole Cloves and Mace, a
stick of Cinnamon broken in pieces, and a grain of good Musk. You may make
this a little before Michaelmas, and it will be fit to drink at Lent.
This is Sir Edward Bainton's Receipt, Which my Lord of Portland (who gave
it me) saith, was the best he ever drunk.
TO MAKE A SMALL METHEGLIN
Take four Gallons of water, and set it over the fire. Put into it, when it
is warm, eight pounds of honey; as the scum riseth, take it clean off. When
it is clear, put into it three Nutmegs quartered; three or four Races of
Ginger sliced; Then let it boil a whole hour, Then take it off the fire,
and put to it two handfuls of ground Malt; stir it about with a round
stick, till it be as cold as wort, when you put yest to it. Then strain it
out into a pot or Tub, that hath a spiggot and faucet, and put to it a pint
of very good Ale-yest; so let it work for two days; Then cover it close for
about four or five days, and so draw it out into bottles. It will be ready
to drink within three weeks.
TO MAKE MEATH
Take to six quarts of water, a quart of the best honey, and put it on the
fire, and stir it, till the honey is melted: and boil it well as long as
any scum riseth: and now and then put in a little cold water, for this will
make the scum rise: keep your kettle up as full as you did put it on; when
it is boiled enough, about half an hour before you take it off, then take a
quantity of Ginger sliced and well scraped first, and a good quantity of
Rosemary, and boil both together. Of the Rosemary and Ginger you may put in
more or less, for to please your taste: And when you take it off the fire,
strain it into your vessel, either a well seasoned-tub, or a great cream
pot, and the next morning when it is cold, pour off softly the top from the
settlings into another vessel; and then put some little quantity of the
best Ale-barm to it and cover it with a thin cloth over it, if it be in
summer, but in the winter it will be longer a ripening, and therefore must
be the warmer covered in a close place, and when you go to bottle it, take
with a feather all the barm off, and put it into your bottles, and stop it
up close. In ten days you may drink it.
If you think six quarts of water be too much, and would have it stronger,
then put in a greater quantity of honey.
METHEGLIN OR SWEET DRINK OF MY LADY STUART
Take as much water as will fill your Firkin: of Rosemary, Bays,
Sweet-bryar, Broad-thyme, Sweet-majoram, of each a handful; set it over the
fire, until the herbs have a little coloured the water; then take it off,
and when it is cold, put in as much honey, till it will bear an Egg; Then
lave it three days morning and evening. After that boil it again, and skim
it very clean, and in the boiling clarifie it with the whites of six Eggs,
shells and all, well beaten together. Then take it off, and put it to cool;
and when it is cold, put it into your vessel, and put to it three spoonfuls
of yest; stop it close, and keep it, till it be old at least three months.
A METHEGLIN FOR THE COLICK AND STONE OF THE SAME LADY
Take one Gallon of Honey to seven Gallons of water; boil it together, and
skim it well; then take Pelitory of the Wall, Saxifrage, Betony, Parsley,
Groundsel, of each a handful, of the seeds of Parsley, of Nettles, Fennel
and Carraway-seeds, Anisseeds and Grumelseeds, of each two Ounces. The
roots of Parsley, of Alexander, of Fennel and Mallows of each two Ounces,
being small cut; let all boil, till near three Gallons of the Liquor is
wasted: Then take it off the fire, and let it stand till it be cold; then
cleanse it from the drugs, and let it be put into a clean vessel well
stopped, taking four Nutmegs, one Ounce and half of Ginger, half an Ounce
of Cinnamon, twelve Cloves; cut all these small, and hang them in a bag
into the vessel, when you stop it up. When it is a fortnight old, you may
begin to drink of it; every morning a good draught.
A RECEIPT FOR METHEGLIN OF MY LADY WINDEBANKE
Take four Gallons of water; add to it, these Herbs and Spices following.
Pellitory of the Wall, Sage, Thyme, of each a quarter of a handful, as much
Clove gilly-flowers, with half as much Borage and Bugloss flowers, a little
Hyssop, Five or six Eringo-roots, three or four Parsley-roots: one
Fennel-root, the pith taken out, a few Red-nettle-roots, and a little
Harts-tongue. Boil these Roots and Herbs half an hour; Then take out the
Roots and Herbs, and put in the Spices grosly beaten in a Canvass-bag,
_viz._ Cloves, Mace, of each half an Ounce, and as much Cinnamon, of Nutmeg
an Ounce, with two Ounces of Ginger, and a Gallon of Honey: boil all these
together half an hour longer, but do not skim it at all: let it boil in,
and set it a cooling after you have taken it off the fire. When it is cold,
put six spoonfuls of barm to it, and let it work twelve hours at least;
then Tun it, and put a little Limon-peel into it: and then you may bottle
it, if you please.
ANOTHER OF THE SAME LADY
To four Gallons of water put one Gallon of honey; warm the water Luke-warm
before you put in your honey; when it is dissolved, set it over the fire,
and let it boil half an hour with these Spices grosly beaten and put in a
Canvass-bag: namely, half an Ounce of Ginger, two Nutmegs, a few Cloves
and a little Mace; and in the boiling put in a quart of cold water to raise
the scum, which you must take clean off in the boiling. If you love herbs,
put in a little bundle of Rosemary, Bays, Sweet-marjoram and Eglantine. Let
it stand till it is cold, then put into it half a pint of Ale-barm, and let
it work twelve hours; then Tun it, but take out the bundle of herbs first.
TO MAKE METHEGLIN
Take to every Gallon of Honey, three Gallons of water, and put them
together and set them over so gentle a fire, as you might endure to break
it in the water with your hand. When the Honey is all melted, put in an
Egg, and let it fall gently to the bottom; and if your Egg rise up again to
the top of the Liquor, then it is strong enough of the Honey. But if it lie
at the bottom, you must put in more honey, and stir it, till it doth rise.
If your honey be very good, it will bear half a Gallon of water more to a
Gallon of Honey. Then take Sweet-bryar, Bays, Rosemary, Thyme, Marjoram,
Savoury, of each a good handfull, which you must tye up all together in a
bundle. This Proportion of Herbs will be sufficient for twelve Gallons of
Metheglin; and according to the quantity of Metheglin you make, you must
add or diminish your Herbs. When you have put these things together, set it
over a quick fire, and let it boil as fast as you can for half an hour or
better, skiming of it very clean and clarifying it with the whites of two
or three Eggs. Then take it from the fire, and put it into some clean
vessel or other, and let it stand till the next morning; Then pour the
Clear from the dregs, and Tun it up, putting in a little bag of such Spice
as you like, whereof Ginger must be the most. After it hath stood three or
four days, you may put in two or three spoon-fulls of good Ale-yest, it
will make it the sooner ready to drink. It must work before you stop it up.
The older your Honey is, the whiter your Metheglin will be.
MEATH WITH RAISINS
Put forty Gallons of water into your Caldron, and with a stick take the
height of the water, making a notch, where the superficies of the water
cometh. Then put to the water ten Gallons of Honey, which dissolve with
much Laving it; then presently boil it gently, skimming it all the while,
till it be free from scum. Then put into it a thin bag of boulter-cloth
containing forty pound weight of the best blew Raisins of the Sun, well
picked and washed and wiped dry; and let the bag be so large, that the
Raisins may lie at ease and loosly in it. When you perceive that the
Raisins are boiled enough to be very soft, that you may strain out all
their substance, take out the bag, and strain out all the Liquor by a
strong Press. Put it back to the Honey-liquor, and boil all together
(having thrown away the husks of the Raisins with the bag) till your Liquor
be sunk down to the notch of your stick, which is the sign of due strength.
Then let it cool in a woodden vessel, and let it run through a strainer to
sever it from the settlings, and put it into a strong vessel, that hath had
Sack or Muscadine in it, not filling it to within three fingers breadth of
the top (for otherwise it will break the vessel with working) and leave the
bung open whiles it worketh, which will be six weeks very strongly, though
it be put into a cold cellar. And after nine moneths, you may begin to
drink it.
MORELLO WINE
To half an Aume of white wine, take twenty pounds of Morello Cherries, the
stalks being first plucked off. Bruise the Cherries and break the stones.
Pour into the Wine the juyce that comes out from the Cherries; but put all
the solid substance of them into a long bag of boulter-cloth, and hang it
in the Wine at the bung, so that it lie not in the bottom, but only reach
to touch it, and therefore nail it down at the mouth of the bung. Then stop
it close. For variety, you may put some clear juyce of Cherries alone (but
drawn from a larger proportion of Cherries) into another parcel of Wine. To
either of them, if you will Aromatise the drink, take to this quantity two
Ounces of Cinnamon grosly broken and bruised, and put it in a little bag at
the spiggot, that all the wine you draw may run through the Cinnamon.
You must be careful in bruising the Cherries, and breaking the stones. For
if you do all at once, the Liquor will sparkle about. But you must first
bruise the Cherries gently in a mortar, and rub through a sieve all that
will pass, and strain the Residue hard through your hands. Then beat the
remaining hard so strongly, as may break all the stones. Then put all
together, and strain the clean through a subtil strainer, and put the
solider substance into the bag to hang in the Wine.
CURRANTS-WINE
Take a pound of the best Currants clean picked, and pour upon them in a
deep straight mouthed earthen vessel six pounds or pints of hot water, in
which you have dissolved three spoonfuls of the purest and newest Ale-yest.
Stop it very close till it ferment, then give such vent as is necessary,
and keep it warm for about three days, it will work and ferment. Taste it
after two days, to see if it be grown to your liking. As soon as you find
it so, let it run through a strainer, to leave behind all the exhausted
currants and the yest, and so bottle it up. It will be exceeding quick and
pleasant, and is admirable good to cool the Liver, and cleanse the blood.
It will be ready to drink in five or six days after it is bottled; And you
may drink safely large draughts of it.
SCOTCH ALE FROM MY LADY HOLMBEY
The Excellent Scotch Ale is made thus. Heat Spring-water; it must not boil,
but be ready to boil, which you will know by leaping up in bubbles. Then
pour it to the Malt; but by little and little, stirring them strongly
together all the while they are mingling. When all the water is in, it must
be so proportioned that it be very thick. Then cover the vessel well with a
thick Mat made on purpose with a hole for the stick, and that with
Coverlets and Blankets to keep in all the heat. After three or four hours,
let it run out by the stick (putting new heated water upon the Malt, if you
please, for small Ale or Beer) into a Hogshead with the head out. There let
it stand till it begin to blink, and grow long like thin Syrup. If you let
it stay too long, and grow too thick, it will be sowre. Then put it again
into the Caldron, and boil it an hour or an hour and a half. Then put it
into a Woodden-vessel to cool, which will require near forty hours for a
hogshead. Then pour it off gently from the settling. This quantity (of a
hogshead) will require better then a quart of the best Ale-barm, which you
must put to it thus. Put it to about three quarts of wort, and stir it, to
make it work well. When the barm is risen quick scum it off to put to the
rest of the wort by degrees. The remaining Liquor (that is the three
quarts) will have drawn into it all the heavy dregs of the barm, and you
may put it to the Ale of the second running, but not to this. Put the barm,
you have scummed off (which will be at least a quart) to about two gallons
of the wort, and stir it to make that rise and work. Then put two Gallons
more to it. Doing thus at several times, till all be mingled, which will
require a whole day to do. Cover it close, and let it work, till it be at
it's height, and begin to fall, which may require ten or twelve hours, or
more. Watch this well, least it sink too much, for then it will be dead.
Then scum off the thickest part of the barm, and run your Ale into the
hogshead, leaving all the bung open a day or two. Then lay a strong Paper
upon it, to keep the clay from falling in, that you must then lay upon it,
in which you must make a little hole to let it work out. You must have some
of the same Liquor to fill it up, as it works over. When it hath done
working, stop it up very close, and keep it in a very cold Cellar. It will
be fit to broach after a year; and be very clear and sweet and pleasant,
and will continue a year longer drawing; and the last glass full be as pure
and as quick as the first. You begin to broach it high. Let your Cask have
served for Sweet-wine.
TO MAKE ALE DRINK QUICK
When small Ale hath wrought sufficiently, draw into bottles; but first put
into every bottle twelve good raisins of the Sun split and stoned; Then
stop up the bottle close, and set it in sand (gravel) or a cold dry Cellar.
After a while this will drink exceeding quick and pleasant. Likewise take
six Wheat-corns, and bruise them, and put into a bottle of Ale; it will
make it exceeding quick and stronger.
TO MAKE CIDER
Take a Peck of Apples, and slice them, and boil them in a barrel of water,
till the third part be wasted; Then cool your water as you do for wort, and
when it is cold, you must pour the water upon three measures of grown
Apples. Then draw forth the water at a tap three or four times a day, for
three days together. Then press out the Liquor, and Tun it up; when it hath
done working, then stop it up close.
A VERY PLEASANT DRINK OF APPLES
Take about fifty Pippins; quarter and core them, without paring them: for
the paring is the Cordialest part of them. Therefore onely wipe or wash
them well, and pick away the black excrescence at the top; and be sure to
leave out all the seeds, which are hot. You may cut them (after all the
superfluities are taken away) into thinner slices, if you please. Put three
Gallons of Fountain water to them in a great Pipkin, and let them boil,
till the Apples become clear and transparent; which is a sign, they are
perfectly tender, and will be in a good half hour, or a little more. Then
with your Ladle break them into Mash and Pulpe, incorporated with the
water; letting all boil half an hour longer, that the water may draw into
it self all the vertue of the Apples. Then put to them a pound and a half
of pure dubble refined Sugar in powder, which will soon dissolve in that
hot Liquor. Then pour it into an Hippocras bag, and let it run through it
two or three times, to be very clear. Then put it up into bottles; and
after a little time, it will be a most pleasant, quick, cooling, smoothing
drink. Excellent in sharp Gonorrhoeas.
SIR PAUL NEALE'S WAY OF MAKING CIDER
The best Apples make the best Cider, as Pearmains, Pippins, Golden-pippins,
and the like. Codlings make the finest Cider of all. They must be ripe,
when you make Cider of them: and is in prime in the Summer season, when no
other Cider is good. But lasteth not long, not beyond Autumn. The
foundation of making perfect Cyder consisteth in not having it work much,
scarce ever at all; but at least, no second time; which Ordinary Cider doth
often, upon change of weather, and upon motion: and upon every working it
grows harder. Do then thus: