Native wines, when pure, are just as good as any other for cooking
purposes.
It is wrong and a great mistake to underrate native wines; they have a
little more acerbity than foreign wines, but are not inferior. It cannot
be otherwise, being grown in a virgin soil, or nearly so. The richer the
soil or the younger the vineyard, the more acid the wine.
Cold nights during the ripening of the fruit make the wine more acid,
not ripening so perfectly.
Wine is a healthy drink, and many invalids would recover much quicker by
a judicious use of it.
Different wines are used in cooking, and we give the names of the best
ones in the different receipts.
A little vinegar may be used as a substitute for wine, but it is very
inferior, and in many dishes it cannot be used at all.
A few dollars spent during the year in wine for cooking purposes, makes
much better and more wholesome dishes.
White wine contains little tannin; it retains nitrogenous matters, and
is free from essential oils; hence the superior flavor and quality of
brandy made with white wines.
It is more aperient and less nutritive than red wine.
Essential oils pass in red wine while it is fermenting.
Wine and sugar with certain fruits are excellent, and are known to
neutralize the crudity of the fruit, such as straw-berries, pears,
peaches, currants, etc.