The Virginia Housewife Part 27

Boil two quarts of milk with a stick of cinnamon and let it stand to be quite cold, first taking out the cinnamon; blanch four ounces of the best sweet almonds, pound them in a marble mortar with a little rose-water; mix them well with the milk, sweeten it to your taste, and let it boil a few minutes only, lest the almonds should be oily; strain it through a very fine sieve till quite smooth, and free from the almonds, serve it up either cold or lukewarm, in gla.s.ses with handles.

CHERRY SHRUB.

Gather ripe morello cherries, pick them from the stalk, and put them in an earthen pot, which must be set into an iron pot of water; make the water boil, but take care that none of it gets into the cherries; when the juice is extracted, pour it into a bag made of tolerably thick cloth, which will permit the juice to pa.s.s, but not the pulp of your cherries; sweeten it to your taste, and when it becomes perfectly clear, bottle it--put a gill of brandy into each bottle, before you pour in the juice--cover the corks with rosin. It will keep all summer, in a dry cool place, and is delicious mixed with water.

CURRANT WINE.

Gather full ripe currants on a dry day, pick them from the stalks, and weigh them; then crush them with your hands, leaving none whole; for every two pounds of currants put one quart of water; stir all well together, and let it stand three hours, and strain the liquor through a sieve; then, for every three pounds of currants, put one pound of powdered loaf sugar; stir it till the sugar is dissolved, boil it, and keep skimming it, as long as any sc.u.m will rise; let it stand sixteen hours to cool, before you put it in the cask--stop it very close. If the quant.i.ty be twenty gallons, let it stand three weeks before you bottle it; if it be thirty gallons, it must remain a month; it should be perfectly clear when drawn off--put a lump of sugar in each bottle, cork it well, and keep it in a cool place, or it will turn sour. This is a pleasant and cheap wine--and if properly made, will keep good for many years. It makes an agreeable beverage for the sick, when mixed with water.

TO MAKE CHERRY BRANDY.

Get equal quant.i.ties of morello and common black cherries; fill your cask, and pour on (to a ten gallon cask) one gallon of boiling water; in two or three hours, fill it up with brandy--let it stand a week, then draw off all, and put another gallon of boiling water, and fill it again with brandy--at the end of the week, draw the whole off, empty the cask of the cherries, and pour in your brandy with water, to reduce the strength; first dissolving one pound of brown sugar in each gallon of your mixture. If the brandy be very strong, it will bear water enough to make the cask full.

ROSE BRANDY.

Gather leaves from fragrant roses without bruising, fill a pitcher with them, and cover them with French brandy; next day, pour off the brandy, take out the leaves, and fill the pitcher with fresh ones, and return the brandy; do this till it is strongly impregnated, then bottle it; keep the pitcher closely covered during the process. It is better than distilled rose water for cakes, &c.

PEACH CORDIAL.

Gather ripe cling-stone peaches, wipe off the down, cut them to the stone in several places, and put them in a cask; when filled with peaches, pour on as much peach brandy as the cask will hold; let it stand six or eight weeks, then draw it off, put in water until reduced to the strength of wine; to each gallon of this, add one pound of good brown sugar--dissolve it, and pour the cordial into a cask just large enough to hold it--when perfectly clear, it is fit for use.

RASPBERRY CORDIAL.

To each quart of ripe red raspberries, put one quart of best French brandy; let it remain about a week, then strain it through a sieve or bag, pressing out all the liquid; when you have got as much as you want, reduce the strength to your taste with water, and put a pound of powdered loaf sugar to each gallon--let it stand till refined.

Strawberry cordial is made the same way. It destroys the flavour of these fruits to put them on the fire.

RASPBERRY VINEGAR.

Put a quart of ripe red raspberries in a bowl; pour on them a quart of strong well flavoured vinegar--let them stand twenty-four hours, strain them through a bag, put this liquid on another quart, of fresh raspberries, which strain in the same manner--and then on a third quart: when this last is prepared, make it very sweet with pounded loaf sugar; refine and bottle it. It is a delicious beverage mixed with iced water.

MINT CORDIAL.

Pick the mint early in the morning while the dew is on it, and be careful not to bruise it; pour some water over it, and drain it--put two handsful into a pitcher, with a quart of French brandy, cover it, and let it stand till next day; take the mint carefully out, and put in as much more, which must be taken out next day--do this the third time: then put three quarts of water to the brandy, and one pound of loaf sugar powdered; mix it well together--and when perfectly clear, bottle it.

HYDROMEL, OR MEAD.

Mix your mead in the proportion of thirty-six ounces of honey to four quarts of warm water; when the honey is completely held in solution, pour it into a cask. When fermented, and become perfectly clear, bottle and cork it well. If properly prepared, it is a pleasant and wholesome drink; and in summer particularly grateful, on account of the large quant.i.ty of carbonic acid gas which it contains. Its goodness, however, depends greatly on the _time_ of bottling, and other circ.u.mstances, which can only be acquired by practice.

TO MAKE A SUBSt.i.tUTE FOR ARRACK.

Dissolve two scruples flowers of Benzoin, in one quart of good rum.

LEMON CORDIAL.

Cut six fresh lemons in thin slices, put them into a quart and a half of milk, boil it until the whey is very clear, then pa.s.s it through a sieve; put to this whey, one and a half quarts of French brandy, and three pounds of powdered loaf sugar; stir it till the sugar is dissolved--let it stand to refine, and bottle it; pare some of the yellow rind of the lemons very thin, and put a little in each bottle.

GINGER BEER.

Pour two gallons of boiling water on two pounds brown sugar, one and a half ounce of cream of tartar, and the same of pounded ginger; stir them well, and put it in a small cask; when milk warm, put in half a pint of good yeast, shake the cask well, and stop it close--in twenty-four hours it will be fit to bottle--cork it very well, and in ten days it will sparkle like Champaigne--one or two lemons cut in slices and put in, will improve it much. For economy, you may use mola.s.ses instead of sugar--one quart in place of two pounds. This is a wholesome and delicious beverage in warm weather.

SPRUCE BEER.

Boil a handful of hops, and twice as much of the chippings of sa.s.safras root, in ten gallons of water; strain it, and pour in, while hot, one gallon of mola.s.ses, two spoonsful of the essence of spruce, two spoonsful of powdered ginger, and one of pounded allspice; put it in a cask--when sufficiently cold, add half a pint of good yeast; stir it well, stop it close, and when fermented and clear, bottle and cork it tight.

MOLa.s.sES BEER.

Put five quarts of hops, and five of wheat bran, into fifteen gallons of water; boil it three or four hours, strain it, and pour it into a cask with one head taken out; put in five quarts of mola.s.ses, stir it till well mixed, throw a cloth over the barrel; when moderately warm, add a quart of good yeast, which must be stirred in; then stop it close with a cloth and board. When it has fermented and become quite clear, bottle it--the corks should be soaked in boiling water an hour or two, and the bottles perfectly clean, and well drained.

TO KEEP LEMON-JUICE.

Get lemons quite free from blemish, squeeze them, and strain the juice; to each pint of it, put a pound of good loaf sugar pounded; stir it frequently until the sugar is completely dissolved, cover the pitcher closely, and let it stand till the dregs have subsided, and the syrup is transparent; have bottles perfectly clean and dry, put a wine gla.s.s full of French brandy into each bottle, fill it with syrup, cork it, and dip the neck into melted rosin or pitch; keep them in a cool dry cellar--do not put it on the fire--it will destroy the fine flavour of the juice.

Pour water on the peels of the lemons, let them soak till you can sc.r.a.pe all the white pulp off, then boil the peel till soft; preserve them with half their weight of sugar, and keep them for mince pies, cakes, &c.

They are a very good subst.i.tute for citron.

SUGAR VINEGAR.