Beer is a good family drink. A handful of hops, to a pailful of
water, and a half-pint of molasses, makes good hop beer. Spruce mixed
with hops is pleasanter than hops alone. Boxberry, fever-bush, sweet
fern, and horseradish make a good and healthy diet-drink. The winter
evergreen, or rheumatism weed, thrown in, is very beneficial to
humors. Be careful and not mistake kill-lamb for winter-evergreen;
they resemble each other. Malt mixed with a few hops makes a weak kind
of beer; but it is cool and pleasant; it needs less molasses than hops
alone. The rule is about the same for all beer. Boil the ingredients
two or three hours, pour in a half-pint of molasses to a pailful,
while the beer is scalding hot. Strain the beer, and when about
lukewarm, put a pint of lively yeast to a barrel. Leave the bung loose
till the beer is done working; you can ascertain this by observing
when the froth subsides. If your family be large, and the beer will be
drank rapidly, it may as well remain in the barrel; but if your family
be small, fill what bottles you have with it; it keeps better bottled.
A raw potato or two, cut up and thrown in, while the ingredients are
boiling, is said to make beer spirited.
Ginger beer is made in the following proportions:--One cup of ginger,
one pint of molasses, one pail and a half of water, and a cup of
lively yeast. Most people scald the ginger in half a pail of water,
and then fill it up with a pailful of cold; but in very hot weather
some people stir it up cold. Yeast must not be put in till it is cold,
or nearly cold. If not to be drank within twenty-four hours, it must
be bottled as soon as it works.
Table beer should be drawn off into _stone_ jugs, with a lump of
white sugar in each, securely corked. It is brisk and pleasant, and
continues good several months.
Potato cheese is much sought after in various parts of Europe. I do
not know whether it is worth seeking after, or not. The following is
the receipt for making:--Select good white potatoes, boil them, and,
when cold, peel and reduce them to a pulp with a rasp or mortar; to
five pounds of this pulp, which must be very uniform and homogeneous,
add a pint of sour milk and the requisite portion of salt; knead the
whole well, cover it, and let it remain three or four days, according
to the season; then knead it afresh, and place the cheeses in small
baskets, when they will part with their superfluous moisture; dry them
in the shade, and place them in layers in large pots or kegs, where
they may remain a fortnight. The older they are, the finer they
become.
This cheese has the advantage of never engendering worms, and of being
preserved fresh for many years, provided it is kept in a dry place,
and in well closed vessels.
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