COWSLIP WINE.
1817. INGREDIENTS.--To every gallon of water allow 3 lbs. of lump sugar, the rind of 2 lemons, the juice of 1, the rind and juice of 1 Seville orange, 1 gallon of cowslip pips. To every 4-1/2 gallons of wine allow 1 bottle of brandy.
_Mode_.--Boil the sugar and water together for 1/2 hour, carefully removing all the sc.u.m as it rises. Pour this boiling liquor on the orange and lemon-rinds, and the juice, which should be strained; when milk-warm, add the cowslip pips or flowers, picked from the stalks and seeds; and to 9 gallons of wine 3 tablespoonfuls of good fresh brewers"
yeast. Let it ferment 3 or 4 days; then put all together in a cask with the brandy, and let it remain for 2 months, when bottle it off for use.
_Time_.--To be boiled 1/2 hour; to ferment 3 or 4 days; to remain in the cask 2 months.
_Average cost_, exclusive of the cowslips, which may be picked in the fields, 2s. 9d. per gallon.
_Seasonable_.--Make this in April or May.
ELDER WINE.
1818. INGREDIENTS.--To every 3 gallons of water allow 1 peck of elderberries; to every gallon of juice allow 3 lbs. of sugar, 1/2 oz. of ground ginger, 6 cloves, 1 lb. of good Turkey raisins; 1/2 pint of brandy to every gallon of wine. To every 9 gallons of wine 3 or 4 tablespoonfuls of fresh brewer"s yeast.
_Mode_.--Pour the water, quite boiling, on the elderberries, which should be picked from the stalks, and let these stand covered for 24 hours; then strain the whole through a sieve or bag, breaking the fruit to express all the juice from it. Measure the liquor, and to every gallon allow the above proportion of sugar. Boil the juice and sugar with the ginger, cloves, and raisins for 1 hour, skimming the liquor the whole time; let it stand until milk-warm, then put it into a clean dry cask, with 3 or 4 tablespoonfuls of good fresh yeast to every 9 gallons of wine. Let it ferment for about a fortnight; then add the brandy, bung up the cask, and let it stand some months before it is bottled, when it will be found excellent. A bunch of hops suspended to a string from the bung, some persons say, will preserve the wine good for several years.
Elder wine is usually mulled, and served with sippets of toasted bread and a little grated nutmeg.
_Time_.--To stand covered 24 hours; to be boiled 1 hour.
_Average cost_, when made at home, 3s. 6d. per gallon.
_Seasonable_.--Make this in September.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ELDER-BERRIES.]
ELDER-BERRY WINE.--The elder-berry is well adapted for the production of wine; its juice contains a considerable portion of the principle necessary for a vigorous fermentation, and its beautiful colour communicates a rich tint to the wine made from it. It is, however, deficient in sweetness, and therefore demands an addition of sugar. It is one of the very best of the genuine old English wines; and a cup of it mulled, just previous to retiring to bed on a winter night, is a thing to be "run for," as Cobbett would say: it is not, however, agreeable to every taste.
GINGER WINE.
1819. INGREDIENTS.--To 9 gallons of water allow 27 lbs. of loaf sugar, 9 lemons, 12 oz. of bruised ginger, 3 tablespoonfuls of yeast, 2 lbs. of raisins stoned and chopped, 1 pint of brandy.
_Mode_.--Boil together for 1 hour in a copper (let it previously be well scoured and beautifully clean) the water, sugar, _lemon-rinds_, and bruised ginger; remove every particle of sc.u.m as it rises, and when the liquor is sufficiently boiled, put it into a large tub or pan, as it must not remain in the copper. When nearly cold, add the yeast, which must be thick and very fresh, and, the next day, put all in a dry cask with the strained lemon-juice and chopped raisins. Stir the wine every day for a fortnight; then add the brandy, stop the cask down by degrees, and in a few weeks it will be fit to bottle.
_Average cost_, 2s. per gallon. _Sufficient_ to make 9 gallons of wine.
_Seasonable_.--The best time for making this wine is either in March or September.
_Note_.--Wine made early in March will be fit to bottle in June.
GOOSEBERRY VINEGAR.
(_An Excellent Recipe_.)
1820. INGREDIENTS.--2 pecks of crystal gooseberries, 6 gallons of water, 12 lbs. of foots sugar of the coa.r.s.est brown quality.
_Mode_.--Mash the gooseberries (which should be quite ripe) in a tub with a mallet; put to them the water nearly milk-warm; let this stand 24 hours; then strain it through a sieve, and put the sugar to it; mix it well, and tun it. These proportions are for a 9-gallon cask; and if it be not quite full, more water must be added. Let the mixture be stirred from the bottom of the cask two or three times daily for three or four days, to a.s.sist the melting of the sugar; then paste a piece of linen cloth over the bunghole, and set the cask in a warm place, _but not in the sun_; any corner of a warm kitchen is the best situation for it. The following spring it should be drawn off into stone bottles, and the vinegar will be fit for use twelve months after it is made. This will be found a most excellent preparation, greatly superior to much that is sold under the name of the best white wine vinegar. Many years"
experience has proved that pickle made with this vinegar will keep, when bought vinegar will not preserve the ingredients. The cost per gallon is merely nominal, especially to those who reside in the country and grow their own gooseberries; the coa.r.s.e sugar is then the only ingredient to be purchased.
_Time_.--To remain in the cask 9 months.
_Average cost_, when the gooseberries have to be purchased, 1s. per gallon; when they are grown at home, 6d. per gallon.
_Seasonable_.--This should be made the end of June or the beginning of July, when gooseberries are ripe and plentiful.
EFFERVESCING GOOSEBERRY WINE.
1821. INGREDIENTS.--To every gallon of water allow 6 lbs. of green gooseberries, 3 lbs. of lump sugar.
_Mode_.--This wine should be prepared from unripe gooseberries, in order to avoid the flavour which the fruit would give to the wine when in a mature state. Its briskness depends more upon the time of bottling than upon the unripe state of the fruit, for effervescing wine can be made from fruit that is ripe as well as that which is unripe. The fruit should be selected when it has nearly attained its full growth, and consequently before it shows any tendency to ripen. Any bruised or decayed berries, and those that are very small, should be rejected. The blossom and stalk ends should be removed, and the fruit well bruised in a tub or pan, in such quant.i.ties as to insure each berry being broken without crushing the seeds. Pour the water (which should be warm) on the fruit, squeeze and stir it with the hand until all the pulp is removed from the skin and seeds, and cover the whole closely for 24 hours; after which, strain it through a coa.r.s.e bag, and press it with as much force as can be conveniently applied, to extract the whole of the juice and liquor the fruit may contain. To every 40 or 50 lbs. of fruit one gallon more of hot water may be pa.s.sed through the marc, or husks, in order to obtain any soluble matter that may remain, and be again pressed. The juice should be put into a tub or pan of sufficient size to contain all of it, and the sugar added to it. Let it be well stirred until the sugar is dissolved, and place the pan in a warm situation; keep it closely covered, and let it ferment for a day or two. It must then be drawn off into clean casks, placed a little on one side for the sc.u.m that arises to be thrown out, and the casks kept filled with the remaining "must,"
that should be reserved for that purpose. When the active fermentation has ceased, the casks should be plugged upright, again filled, if necessary, the bungs be put in loosely, and, after a few days, when the fermentation is a little more languid (which may be known, by the hissing noise ceasing), the bungs should be driven in tight, and a spile-hole made, to give vent if necessary. About November or December, on a clear fine day, the wine should he racked from its lees into clean casks, which may be rinsed with brandy. After a month, it should be examined to see if it is sufficiently clear for bottling; if not, it must be fined with isingla.s.s, which may be dissolved in some of the wine: 1 oz. will be sufficient for 9 gallons. In March or April, or when the gooseberry bushes begin to blossom, the wine must be bottled, in order to insure its being effervescing.
_Seasonable_.--Make this the end of May or beginning of June, before the berries ripen.
LEMON SYRUP.
1822. INGREDIENTS.--2 lbs. of loaf sugar, 2 pints of water, 1 oz. of citric acid, 12 drachm of essence of lemon.
_Mode_.--Boil the sugar and water together for 1/4 hour, and put it into a basin, where let it remain till cold. Beat the citric acid to a powder, mix the essence of lemon with it, then add these two ingredients to the syrup; mix well, and bottle for use. Two tablespoonfuls of the syrup are sufficient for a tumbler of cold water, and will be found a very refreshing summer drink.
_Sufficient_--2 tablespoonfuls of syrup to a tumbler-ful of cold water.
LEMON WINE.
1823. INGREDIENTS.--To 4-1/2 gallons of water allow the pulp of 50 lemons, the rind of 25, 16 lbs. of loaf sugar,--1/2 oz. of isingla.s.s, 1 bottle of brandy.
_Mode_.--Peel and slice the lemons, but use only the rind of 25 of them, and put them into the cold water. Let it stand 8 or 9 days, squeezing the lemons well every day; then strain the water off and put it into a cask with the sugar. Let it work some time, and when it has ceased working, put in the isingla.s.s. Stop the cask down; in about six months put in the brandy and bottle the wine off.
_Seasonable_.--The best time to make this is in January or February, when lemons are best and cheapest.
MALT WINE.
1824. INGREDIENTS.--5 gallons of water, 28 lbs. of sugar, 6 quarts of sweet-wort, 6 quarts of tun, 3 lbs. of raisins, 1/2 lb. of candy, 1 pint of brandy.
_Mode_.--Boil the sugar and water together for 10 minutes; skim it well, and put the liquor into a convenient-sized pan or tub. Allow it to cool; then mix it with the sweet-wort and tun. Let it stand for 3 days, then put it into a barrel; here it will work or ferment for another three days or more; then bung up the cask, and keep it undisturbed for 2 or 3 months. After this, add the raisins (whole), the candy, and brandy, and, in 6 months" time, bottle the wine off. Those who do not brew, may procure the sweet-wort and tun from any brewer. Sweet-wort is the liquor that leaves the mash of malt before it is boiled with the hops; tun is the new beer after the whole of the brewing operation has been completed.
_Time_.--To be boiled 10 minutes; to stand 3 days after mixing; to ferment 3 days; to remain in the cask 2 mouths before the raisins are added; bottle 6 months after.
_Seasonable_.--Make this in March or October.
HOME-MADE NOYEAU.