The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory Part 89

_Ratafia Brandy._

Apricot or peach kernels, with four ounces of fine sugar to a quart of brandy. If you cannot get apricot kernels, two ounces of bitter almonds, bruised a little, to the same quant.i.ty of spirit, will make good ratafia.

_Shrub._ No. 1.

To a gallon of rum put three pints of orange-juice and one pound of sugar, dissolving the sugar in the juice. Then put all together in the cask. It will be fine and fit for use in a few weeks. If the rum be very strong, you may add another pint of juice and half a pound of sugar to the above.

_Shrub._ No. 2.

Take two quarts of the juice of oranges and lemons, and dissolve in it four pounds and a half of sugar. Steep one-fourth part of the oranges and lemons in nine quarts of spirits for one night; after which mix the whole together; strain it off into a jug, which must be shaken two or three times a day for ten days; then let it stand to settle for a fortnight; after which draw it off very carefully, without disturbing the sediment.

_Shrub._ No. 3.

One gallon of rum, one pound and two ounces of double-refined sugar, one quart of orange-juice, mixed and strained through a sieve.

_Currant Shrub._

Pick the currants from the stalks; bruise them in a marble mortar; run the juice through a flannel bag. Then take two quarts of the clear juice; dissolve in it one pound of double-refined sugar, and add one gallon of rum. Filter it through a flannel bag till quite fine.

_Spruce Beer._

For one quarter cask of thirty gallons take ten or twelve ounces of essence of spruce and two gallons of the best mola.s.ses; mix them well together in five or six gallons of warm water, till it leaves a froth; then pour it into the cask, and fill it up with more water. Add one pint of good yest or porter grounds; shake the cask well, and set it by for twenty-four hours to work. Stop it down close. Next day, draw it off into bottles, which should be closely corked and set by in a cool cellar for ten days, when it will be as fine spruce-beer as ever was drunk. The grounds will serve instead of yest for a second brewing.

In a hot climate, cold water should be used instead of warm.

_Bittany Wine._

Take six gallons of water and twelve pounds of sugar; put your sugar and water together. Let it boil two hours; then, after taking it off the fire, put in half a peck of sage, a peck and a half of bittany, and a small bunch of rosemary; cover, and let it remain till almost cold; then put six spoonfuls of ale yest; stir it well together, and let it stand two or three days, stirring two or three times each day. Then put it in your cask, adding a quarter of a pint of lemon-juice; when it has done working, bung it close, and, when fine, bottle it.

_Sham Champagne._

To every pound of ripe green gooseberries, when picked and bruised, put one quart of water; let it stand three days, stirring it twice every day. To every gallon of juice, when strained, put three pounds of the finest loaf sugar; put it into a barrel, and, to every twenty quarts of liquor add one quart of brandy and a little isingla.s.s. Let it stand half a year; then bottle it. The brandy and isingla.s.s must be put in six weeks before it is bottled.

_Cherry Wine._

Pound morella cherries with the kernels over-night, and set them in a cool place. Squeeze them through canvas, and to each quart of juice put one pound of powdered sugar, half an ounce of coa.r.s.ely-pounded cinnamon, and half a quarter of an ounce of cloves. Let it stand about a fortnight in the sun, shaking it twice or three times every day.

_Another way._

Take twenty-four pounds of cherries, cleared from the stalks, and mash them in an earthen pan; then put the pulp into a flannel bag, and let them remain till the whole of the juice has drained from the pulp. Put a pound of loaf sugar into the pan which receives the juice, and let it remain until the sugar is dissolved. Bottle it, and, when it has done working, you may put into each bottle a small lump of sugar.

_Cowslip Wine._ No. 1.

To twenty gallons of water, wine measure, put fifty pounds of lump sugar; boil it, and skim it till it is very clear; then put it into a tub to cool, and, when just warm, put to it two tea-spoonfuls of ale yest. Let it work for a short time; then put in fifteen pecks of cut cowslips, and the juice of twenty large lemons, likewise the outward rinds pared off as thin as possible. Keep it in the tub two or three days, stirring it twice each day. Then put it all together in a barrel, cleansed and dried. Continue to stir twice a day for a week or more, till it has done working; then stop it up close for three months, and bottle it off for use.

The cowslips should be gathered in one day, and the wine made as soon as possible after, as the fresh flowers make the wine of a finer colour than when they are withered; but they will not hurt by being kept for a few days if they are spread on a cloth, and moved every day.

_Cowslip Wine._ No. 2.

To a gallon of water put three pounds of lump sugar; boil them together for an hour, skimming all the while. Pour it upon the cowslips, and, when milk warm, put into it a toast, with yest spread pretty thick upon it; let it stand all night, and then add two lemons and two Seville oranges to each gallon. Stir it well in a tub twice a day for two or three days; then turn it; stir it every day for a fortnight, and bung it up close. It will be fit for bottling in six weeks. To every gallon of water you must take a gallon of cowslips. They must be perfectly dry before they are used, and there should be as many gallons of cowslips as gallons of water; they should be measured as they are picked, and turned into the cask. Dissolve an ounce of isingla.s.s, and put to it when cold.

The lemons must be peeled.

_Cowslip Wine._ No. 3.

Take fourteen gallons of water and twenty-four pounds of sugar; boil the water and sugar one hour; skim it till it is clear. Let it stand till nearly cold; then pour it on three bushels of picked cowslips, and put to it three or four spoonfuls of new yest; let it stand and work in your vessel till the next day; then put in the juice of thirty lemons and the peels of ten, pared thin. Stir them well together; bung up the vessel close for a month; then bottle it.

_Currant Wine._ No. 1.

Gather the currants dry, without picking them from the stalks; break them with your hands, and strain them. To every quart of juice put two quarts of cold water, and four pounds of loaf sugar to the gallon. It must stand three days, before it is put into the vessel. Stir it every day, and skim it as long as any thing rises. To ten gallons of wine add one gallon of brandy, and one of raspberries, when you put it in the vessel. Let it stand a day or two before you stop it; give it air fourteen days after; and let it stand six weeks before you tap it.

_Currant Wine._ No. 2.

To every gallon of ripe currants put a gallon of cold water. When well broken with the hands, let it stand twenty-four hours. Then squeeze the currants well out; measure your juice, and to every gallon put four pounds of lump sugar. When the sugar is well melted, put the wine into a cask, stirring it every day, till it has done hissing; then put into it a quart of brandy to every five gallons of wine; close it well up; bottle it in three months.

_Currant Wine._ No. 3.

Put into a tub a bushel of red currants and a peck of white; squeeze them well, and let them drain through a sieve upon twenty-eight pounds of powdered sugar. When quite dissolved, put into the barrel, and add three pints of raspberries, and a little brandy.

_Currant or Elder Wine._

After pressing the fruit with the hand or otherwise, to every gallon of juice add two gallons of water that has been boiled and stood to be cold. To each gallon of this mixture put five pounds of Lisbon sugar. It may be fermented by putting into it a small piece of toasted bread rubbed over with good yest. When put into the cask, it should be left open till the fermentation has nearly subsided.

_Black Currant Wine._

Ten pounds of fruit to a gallon of water; let it stand two or three days. When pressed off, put to every gallon of liquor four pounds and a half of sugar.

_Red Currant Wine._

Gather the fruit dry; pick the leaves from it, and to every twenty-five pounds of currants put six quarts of water. Break the currants well, before the water is put to them; then let them stand twenty-four hours, and strain the liquor, to every quart of which put a pound of sugar and as many raspberries as you please.