one and one-half pints strained honey, two and one-half pints clear
water, one-half pint white sugar syrup, one-half pint spirits of
nutmegs mixed with the nitric ether, one-half pint orange-flower water,
one cup pure water, one-tenth ounce acetic ether, one drop oil of
wintergreen dissolved with the acetic ether. Mix all the ingredients
well; if necessary fine with alum and salt of tartar.
TO MAKE SCURVY-GRASS WINE
Take the best large scurvy-grass tops and leaves, in May, June, or
July; bruise them well in a stone mortar. Put them in a well-glazed
earthen vessel and sprinkle them over with some powder of crystal of
tartar; then smear them with some virgin honey, and being covered close
let it stand twenty-four hours. Set water over a gentle fire, putting
to every gallon three pints of honey, and when the scum rises, take it
off and let it cool. Then put the stamped scurvy-grass into a barrel,
and pour the liquor to it, setting the vessel conveniently edgeways,
with a tap at the bottom. When it has been infused twenty-four hours,
draw off the liquor, strongly press the juice and moisture out of the
herb into the barrel or vessel, and put the liquor up again. Then put a
little new yeast to it, and suffer it to ferment three days, covering
the bung or vent with a piece of bread spread over with mustard-seed,
downward, in a cool place, and let it continue till it is fine and
drinks brisk. Drain off the finest part, leaving only the dregs behind;
afterward add more herb and ferment it with whites of eggs, flour, and
fixed nitre, very nice, or the juice of green grapes, if they are to be
had, to which add six pounds of syrup of mustard, all mixed and well
beaten together, to refine it down, and it will drink brisk, but it is
not very pleasant, being here inserted among artificial wines rather
for the sake of health than for the delightfulness of its taste.
SHERBET
In one quart of water boil six or eight sticks of rhubarb ten minutes;
strain the boiling liquor on the thin-shaved rind of a lemon. Add two
ounces of clarified sugar with a wine-glass of brandy. Stir the above,
and let it stand five or six hours before using.
SHERRY WINE
To five gallons prepared cider add one quart spirits, three-quarters
of a pound of raisins, three quarts good sherry, and a few drops oil
bitter almonds (dissolved in alcohol). Let it stand ten days, and draw
it off carefully. Fine it down, and again rack it into another cask.
LONDON SHERRY WINE
Twelve pounds chopped raisins, three gallons soft water, one pound
sugar, one-half ounce white tartar, two quarts cider. Let them stand
together in a close vessel one month; stir frequently. Then add one
quart of spirits, one-quarter pound wild cherries bruised. Let them
stand one month longer and fine with isinglass.
TO MAKE SHRUB
Take two quarts of brandy, and put it in a large bottle, adding to it
the juice of five lemons, the peels of two, and one-half a nutmeg. Stop
it up and let it stand three days, and add to it three pints of white
wine, one and one-half pounds of sugar. Mix it, strain it twice through
a flannel, and bottle it up. It is a pretty wine, and a cordial.
SPRUCE BEER
Boil a handful of hops and two handfuls of the chips of sassafras root,
in ten gallons of water. Strain it, and turn on, while hot, one gallon
of molasses, two spoonfuls of the essence of spruce, two spoonfuls of
ginger, one spoonful of pounded allspice. Put it into a cask, and when
cold enough, add one-half pint of good yeast. Stir it well; stop it
close. When clear, bottle and cork it.
STRAWBERRY WINE, NO. 1
Twelve gallons bruised strawberries, ten gallons cider, seven gallons
water, twenty-five pounds sugar. Ferment, then add one-half ounce
bruised orris root, one-half ounce bruised bitter almonds, one-half
ounce bruised cloves, six ounces red tartar.
STRAWBERRY WINE, NO. 2
Crush the berries and add one quart of water to one gallon of berries
and let stand twenty-four hours. Strain and add two and one-half pounds
of white sugar to one gallon of juice. Put in cask, with thin muslin
tacked over the bung-hole, and let ferment, keeping it full from a
quantity reserved for the purpose. If a small quantity is made, use
jugs or bottle. When fermentation ceases, add one pint of good whiskey
to the gallon, and bottle and seal securely. Ready for use in six weeks.
ROYAL STRAWBERRY ACID
Take three pounds of ripe strawberries, two ounces of citric acid, and
one quart of spring water. Dissolve the acid in the water, and pour it
on the strawberries, and let them stand in a cool place twenty-four
hours. Then drain the liquid off, and pour it on three more pounds
of fruit; let it stand twenty-four hours. Add to the liquid its own
weight of sugar; boil it three or four minutes in a porcelain-lined
preserve-kettle, lest metal may affect the taste, and when cool cork it
in bottles lightly for three days, then tightly, and seal them. Keep in
a dry and cool place. It is delicious for sick and well.
TO MAKE SUGAR WINE
Boil five and one-half quarts of spring water a quarter of an hour, and
when it is blood-warm put five pounds of Malaga raisins picked, rubbed,
and shred into it, with five quarts of red sage shred and one-half cup
of ale yeast; stir all well together, and let it stand in a tub covered
warm six or seven days, stirring it once a day. Then strain it out and
put it in a runlet; let it work three or four days, and stop it up.
When it has stood six or seven days, put in a quart or two of Malaga
sack, and when it is fine, bottle it.
TEARS OF THE WIDOW OF MALABAR
Five quarts of plain spirit at 18°, one-half ounce bruised cloves,
forty-eight grains bruised mace. Digest in a corked carboy for a week,
add burnt sugar to impart a slight color, filter, and add four and
one-half pounds white sugar, dissolved in one-half gallon of distilled
or filtered rain water. Some add two or three ounces of orange-flower
water. A pleasant liquor.
TOMATO WINE
Take ripe, fresh tomatoes, mash very fine, strain through a fine sieve,
sweeten with good sugar to suit the taste, set it away in an earthen or
glass vessel, nearly full, cover tight, with the exception of a small
hole for the refuse to work off through during its fermentation. When
it is done fermenting, it will become pure and clear. Then bottle and
cork tight. A little salt improves its flavor; age improves it.
TOMATO BEER
Gather the fruit once a week, stem, wash, and mash it. Strain through
a coarse linen bag, and to every gallon of the juice add one pound
of good moist brown sugar. Let it stand nine days, and then pour it
off from the pulp, which will settle in the bottom of the jar. Bottle
it closely, and the longer you keep it the better it is when you
want to use it. Take a pitcher that will hold as much as you want to
use,—for my family I use a gallon pitcher,—fill it nearly full of fresh
sweetened water, add some of the preparation already described, and a
few drops of essence of lemon, and you will find it equal to the best
lemonade, costing almost nothing. To every gallon of sweetened water I
add one-half tumbler of beer.
TO MAKE TURNIP WINE
Pare and slice a number of turnips, put them into a cider-press and
press out all the juice. To every gallon of juice add three pounds of
lump sugar. Have a vessel ready large enough to hold the juice, and
put one-half pint of brandy to every gallon. Pour in the juice and lay
something over the bung for a week—to see if it works; if it does, do
not bung it up until it is done working. Then stop it close for three
months, and draw it off into another vessel. When it is fine, bottle it.
WALNUT MEAD WINE
To every gallon of water put three and one-half pounds of honey, and
boil them together three-quarters of an hour. Then to every gallon of
liquor put about two dozen of walnut leaves; pour boiling liquor upon
them and let stand all night. Then take out the leaves and put in a
spoonful of yeast, and let it stand for two or three days. Then make it
up, and after it has stood for three months, bottle it.
WHORTLEBERRY OR BILBERRY WINE
Take one and one-half gallons of cold soft water, one and one-half
gallons cider, two gallons berries. Ferment. Mix five pounds sugar,
four-fifths ounce tartar in fine powder; add four-fifths ounce ginger
in powder, one-half handful lavender and rosemary leaves, one and
two-thirds pints British spirits.
BRANDIES
APPLE BRANDY
Take seven gallons of water and boil one-half, putting the other into
a barrel; add the boiling water to the cold, with one-half gallon of
molasses and a little yeast. Keep the bung-hole open until fermentation
ceases.
OLD APPLE BRANDY
One gallon of neutral spirits, one-half cup of decoction of tea, one
and one-half pints of alcoholic solution of starch, one-eighth ounce of
sulphuric acid. This is flavored with one-fourth ounce of the oil of
apples. Color with one ounce of sugar coloring.
BLACKBERRY BRANDY
One-quarter pound essence of blackberry, one quart blackberry juice,
one-quarter pound of gum arabic, one small barrel pure spirits.
CARAWAY BRANDY
Steep one ounce of caraway-seed and six ounces of loaf sugar with one
quart of brandy. Let it stand nine days and then draw off.
BLACK CHERRY BRANDY
Stone two pounds of black cherries and put on them one quart of brandy.
Bruise the stones in a mortar, and then add them to the brandy. Cover
them close and let them stand a month or six weeks. Then pour it clear
from the sediment and bottle it. Morello cherries, managed in this way,
make a fine cordial.
CHERRY BRANDY, NO. 1
For this purpose use either morello cherries or small black cherries.
Pick them from the stalks; fill the bottles nearly up to the necks,
then fill up with brandy (some people use whiskey, gin, or spirit
distilled from the lees of the wine). In three weeks or a month strain
off the spirit; to each quart add one pound of loaf sugar clarified,
and flavor with tincture of cinnamon or cloves.
CHERRY BRANDY, NO. 2
One of the best and most common ways of making cherry brandy is to
put the cherries (being first clean picked from the stalks) into a
vessel till it be about half-full; then fill up with rectified molasses
brandy, which is generally used for this compound, and when they have
been infused sixteen or eighteen days, draw off the liquor by degrees,
as wanted. When drawn off, fill the vessel a second time nearly to
the top, let it stand about a month, and then draw it off as there is
occasion. The same cherries may be used a third time by covering them
with overproof brandy and letting it infuse for six or seven weeks.
When drawn off for use, as much water must be added as the brandy was
overproof, and the cherries must be afterward pressed as long as any
liquor remains in them before being cast away. When drawn off the
second time, the liquor will be somewhat inferior to the first, when
more sugar, with a very little cinnamon and cloves beaten, may be added.
CHERRY BRANDY, NO. 3
To every five gallons of brandy made by the recipe for French brandy
add one and one-half quarts of wild black cherries, stones and all
bruised, one pound of crushed sugar. Let it stand for one week, then
draw or rack it off as it is wanted for use.
2. Two gallons good whiskey, one quart wild black berries, well bruised
with stones broken, one pound common almonds, shelled, one-tenth
ounce white sugar, one-tenth ounce cinnamon, one-tenth ounce cloves,
one-tenth ounce nutmeg, well bruised. Mix, and let them stand twelve
days, and draw off. This, with the addition of two gallons brandy,
makes most superior cherry brandy.
CHERRY BRANDY, NO. 4
To every four quarts of brandy put four pounds of red cherries, two
pounds of black, one quart of raspberries, with a few cloves, a stick
of cinnamon, and a little orange peel. Let these stand a month close
stopped; then bottle it off, putting a lump of sugar into every bottle.
CHERRY BRANDY, NO. 5
Take twelve pounds of cherries, half red and half black, mash or
squeeze them to pieces with the hands, and add to them two quarts of
brandy, letting them steep for twenty-four hours. Then put the mashed
cherries and liquor into a canvas bag, a little at a time, and press it
as long as it will run. Sweeten it with loaf sugar and let it stand a
month; then bottle it off, putting a lump of sugar in every bottle.
LEMON BRANDY
Put two and one-half quarts of water in one-half gallon of brandy. Take
one dozen of lemons, one pound of the best sugar, and one and one-half
pints of milk. Pare the lemons very thin, and lay the peel to steep in
the brandy twelve hours. Squeeze the lemons upon the sugar, then put
the water to it, and mix all the ingredients together. Boil the milk
and pour it in boiling. Let it stand twenty-four hours and then strain
it.
ORANGE BRANDY
Put the chips of six Seville oranges in one quart of brandy, and let
them steep a fortnight in a stone bottle close stopped. Boil two and
two-thirds pints of spring water with eight ounces of the finest sugar,
nearly an hour, very gently. Clarify the water and sugar with the white
of an egg; then strain it through a jelly-bag, and boil it nearly
half-away. When it is cold, strain the brandy into the syrup.
POPPY BRANDY
Take six quarts of the best and freshest poppies, cut off the black
ends, put them in a glass jar that will hold two gallons, and press
them in it, then pour over a gallon of brandy. Tightly cover the glass
jar and set it in the sun for a week or more, then squeeze out the
poppies with your hand, and sweeten the liquor to taste, adding an
ounce and a half of alkermes. Mix it well and bottle it up.
RASPBERRY BRANDY
Raspberry brandy is infused nearly after the same manner as cherry
brandy, and drawn off with about the same addition of brandy to what
is drawn off from the first, second, and third infusion, and dulcified
accordingly, first making it of a bright deep color, omitting cinnamon
and cloves in the first, but not in the second and third infusion.
The second infusion will be somewhat paler than the first, and must
be lightened in color by adding one pint cherry brandy, with five or
more gallons of raspberry brandy, and the third infusion will require
more cherry brandy to color it. It may be flavored with the juice of
elderberry.
RASPBERRY BRANDY, NO. 2
Take a pint of water and two quarts of brandy, and put them into a
pitcher large enough to hold them and four pints of raspberries. Put
in one-half pound of loaf sugar, and let it remain for a week close
covered. Then take a piece of flannel with a piece of holland over it,
and let it run through by degrees. It may be racked into other bottles
a week after, and then it will be perfectly fine.
RASPBERRY BRANDY, NO. 3
Scald the fruit in a stone jar set in a kettle of water, or on a hot
hearth. When the juice will run freely, strain it without pressing.
To every quart of juice allow one pound of loaf sugar. Boil it up and
skim; when quite clear pour out, and when cold add an equal quantity of
brandy. Shake them well together and bottle.
CORDIALS
CORDIALS
To filter cordials, cover the bottom of a sieve with clean
blotting-paper. Pour the liquor into it (having set a vessel underneath
to receive it), and let drip through the paper and through the sieve.
Renew the paper frequently and fasten it down with pins. This process
is slow, but makes the liquor beautifully clear.
TO MAKE ANISE-SEED CORDIAL
Take one-half pound bruised anise-seed, three gallons proof spirit,
one quart of water. Draw off two gallons, with a moderate fire. This
water should never be reduced below proof, because the large quantity
of oil with which it is impregnated will render it milky and foul when
brought down below proof. But if there is a necessity for doing this
the transparency may be restored by filtration.
BLACKBERRY CORDIAL
Mash and strain the berries through sieve. To one gallon of juice put
one pound of sugar. Boil and add one tablespoon of allspice, one
tablespoon of cloves. Cook till thick. When nearly cold add one quart
of whiskey or brandy. Bottle and seal.
BLACKBERRY CORDIAL, NO. 2
To one gallon of blackberry juice add four pounds of white sugar; boil
and skim off. Then add one ounce of cloves, one ounce of cinnamon, ten
grated nutmegs, and boil down till quite rich. Then let it cool and
settle. Afterward drain off, and add one pint of good brandy or whiskey.
CARAWAY CORDIAL
Take one teaspoonful of oil of caraway, four drops of cassia-lignea
oil, one drop of essence of orange peel, one drop of essence of lemon,
five quarts and a gill of spirits, one and three-fourths pounds of loaf
sugar. Make it up and fine it down.
CARAWAY CORDIAL, NO. 2
Take one gallon fifty per cent. spirit, one-eighth ounce oil of
caraway, which you dissolve in ninety-five per cent. spirit, one pound
sugar, one pound water. Dissolve your sugar in the water; mix, stir,
and filter.
CEDRAT CORDIAL
The cedrat is a species of citron, and very highly esteemed in Italy,
where it grows naturally. The fruit is difficult to be procured in this
country, but as the essential oil is often imported from Italy, it may
be made as follows: Take two ounces of the finest loaf sugar, powdered.
Put it into a glass mortar, with sixty drops of the essence of cedrat;
rub them together with a glass pestle, and put them into a glass
alembic with two quarts of fine proof spirit and one pint of water.
Place the alembic in a bath, heat and draw off one-half gallon, or till
the feints begin to rise; then dulcify with fine sugar.
This is considered the finest cordial yet known; it will therefore
be necessary to be particularly careful that the spirit is perfectly
clean, and as much as possible free from any flavor of its own.
CINNAMON CORDIAL
This is seldom made with cinnamon, but with either the essential oil
or bark of cassia. It is preferred colored, and therefore may be well
prepared by simple fermentation. If the oil be used, one dram will be
found enough for two or three gallons of spirit. The addition of two
or three drops each of essence of lemon and orange peel, with about a
spoonful of essence of cardamoms to each gallon, will improve it. Some
persons add to the above quantity one dram of cardamom seeds and one
ounce each of dried orange and lemon peel. One ounce of oil of cassia
is considered to be equal to eight pounds of the buds or bark. If
wanted dark, it may be colored with burnt sugar. The quantity of sugar
is one and one-half pounds to the gallon.
STRONG CINNAMON CORDIAL
Take one pound of fine cinnamon bruised, two gallons of clear rectified
spirit, and one pint of water. Put them into the still, and digest them
twenty-four hours with a gentle heat, after which draw off by a pretty
strong heat.
CITRON CORDIAL
Take six ounces of dry yellow rinds of citrons, two ounces of orange
peel, one and one-half ounces bruised nutmegs, five quarts of proof
spirit, one pint water. Digest with a gentle heat, then draw off ten
gallons in a bath; heat, and dulcify with fine sugar.
CITRON CORDIAL, NO. 2
One-half pound yellow rind of citrons, two ounces orange peel,
one-third ounce bruised nutmegs, two and one-sixth gallons proof
spirit; distill or macerate, add water sufficient, and one-half pound
of fine lump sugar for every gallon of the cordial.
CLOVE CORDIAL
Take one-quarter of a pound of cloves, bruised, one ounce pimento, or
allspice, two gallons proof spirit. Digest the mixture twelve hours in
a gentle heat, and then draw off with a pretty brisk fire. The water
may be colored red, either by strong tincture of cochineal, alkanet, or
corn poppy-flowers. It may be dulcified at pleasure with refined sugar.
CLOVE CORDIAL, NO. 2
One-quarter ounce bruised cloves, or one-quarter dram essential oil,
to every gallon of proof spirit. If distilled, it should be drawn over
with a pretty quick fire. It is preferred of a very deep color, and is
therefore strongly colored with poppy-flowers or cochineal, or more
commonly with brandy coloring, or red sanders wood. It should have
three pounds of sugar to the gallon, and this need not be very fine.
The addition of one-quarter dram of bruised pimento, or two drops of
the oil for every ounce of cloves, improves this cordial.
CORIANDER CORDIAL
One-third pound coriander seeds, one-third ounce of caraways, and the
peel and juice of one-half orange to every gallon of proof spirit.
GINGER CORDIAL
Pick one pound of large white currants from their stalks, lay them in
a basin, and strew over them the rind of an orange and a lemon cut
very thin, or one-half teaspoonful of essence of lemon, and one ounce
and one-half of the best ground ginger, and one quart of good whiskey.
Let all lie for twenty-four hours. If it taste strong of the ginger,
then strain it; if not, let it lie for twelve hours longer. To every
quart of strained juice add one pound of loaf sugar pounded. When the
sugar is quite dissolved, and the liquor appears clear, bottle it.
This cordial is also extremely good made with raspberries instead of
currants.
GOLD CORDIAL
Take one pound of the roots of angelica, sliced, two ounces caraway
seeds, two ounces cinnamon, a few cloves, one-quarter pound figs
sliced, one-quarter pound licorice root sliced, two and three-quarters
gallons proof spirit, one-half gallon water. Digest two days and draw
off by a gentle heat till the feints begin to rise; hanging in a piece
of linen, fastened to the mouth of the worm one-quarter ounce of
English saffron. Then dissolve two pounds of sugar in one and one-half
pints of rose-water, and add to it the distilled liquor. The above
cordial derives its name from a quantity of leaf gold being formerly
added to it, but this is now generally disused.
LEMON CORDIAL, NO. 1
Pare off very thin the yellow rind of some fine lemons. Cut the lemons
in half and squeeze out the juice. To each pint of the juice allow
one-half pound of loaf sugar. Mix the juice, the peel, and the sugar
together. Cover it and let it set twenty-four hours. Then mix it with
an equal quantity of white brandy. Put it into a jug, and let it
set a month. Then strain through a linen bag and afterward through
blotting-paper before you bottle it.
LEMON CORDIAL, NO. 2
Take one pound of dried lemon peel, two and one-quarter gallons proof
spirit, one quart water. Draw off two gallons by a gentle fire, and
dulcify with fine sugar.
LIME JUICE CORDIAL
Lime juice cordial that will keep good for any length of time may be
made as follows: six pounds sugar, four pints water, four ounces citric
acid, one-half ounce boric acid. Dissolve by the aid of a gentle heat,
and when cold add sixty ounces refined lime juice, four ounces tincture
of lemon peel, water to make up two gallons.
LOVAGE CORDIAL
Take two-thirds ounce of the fresh roots of lovage, two-thirds ounce
of valerian, two-thirds ounce of celery, two-thirds ounce of sweet
fennel, one-sixth ounce of essential oil of caraway, one-sixth ounce of
savin, two-thirds of a cup spirit of wine, two gallons proof spirit,
two pounds of loaf sugar. Steep the roots and seeds in the spirits for
fourteen days; then dissolve the oils in the spirit of wine, and add
them to the undulcified cordial drawn off from the other ingredients.
Dissolve the sugar in the water for making, and fine, if necessary,
with alum.
NOYAU CORDIAL
Blanch and pound very fine two pounds of the best bitter almonds and
one-half pound of sweet almonds. Add the thinly pared rind of two
lemons, three tablespoonfuls of boiled milk which has become cold. Put
all together into a jar, and add two quarts of old whiskey. Cork up the
jar, and let it stand for six weeks, shaking the jar every day. At the
end of that time strain the liquor, and to every quart of the liquor
add three pints of clarified syrup, and filter through blotting-paper.
The almonds that are strained from the liquor make a nice flavoring
for puddings, by putting them into a wide-mouthed bottle and pouring
whiskey over them.
ORANGE CORDIAL
Take five pounds of the yellow part of fresh orange peel, ten and
one-half gallons of proof spirit, two gallons of water. Draw off ten
gallons, with a gentle fire.
PEPPERMINT CORDIAL, NO. 1
Take one gallon and a gill of rectified spirits, one pound of loaf
sugar, one tablespoonful of wine, oil of peppermint to taste, water,
as much as will fill the cask, which should be set upon end after the
whole has been well roused, and a cock for drawing off placed in it.
PEPPERMINT CORDIAL, NO. 2