Culinary Chemistry / The Scientific Principles of Cookery, with Concise Instructions for Preparing Good and Wholesome Pickles, Vinegar, Conserves, Fruit Jellies, Marmalades, and Various Other Alimentary Substances Employed in Domestic Economy, with Observations on the Chemical Constitution and Nutritive Qualities of Different Kinds of Food.

by Friedrich Christian Accum

METHOD OF MAKING GOOSEBERRY VINEGAR.

Take gooseberries, when full ripe, mash them in a tub or marble mortar, and to every quart of the mashed fruit, put three quarts of water, stir the pulp well together, let it stand 24 hours, and press it through a coarse bag. To every gallon of the strained liquor add four pounds of brown sugar, or four pounds and a half of honey, the latter is preferable; put the mixture into a barrel, which it should fill about three fourths, and add to eight or nine gallons of it one pint of good ale yeast; cover the bung hole of the cask with a slate, to exclude dust, and place the barrel in the sun in summer, or a little away from a fire in winter. The mixture will soon begin to ferment; keep up the fermentation by keeping the liquor at the same temperature, till the taste and odour indicate that the vinegar is complete. When the liquor has become perfectly clear, draw it off into bottles. It will keep much better if it be heated nearly to the boiling point, which is best accomplished by putting the bottles containing it in a saucepan with water, and causing the water to boil for about one quarter of an hour. When this has been done, remove the bottles, and when quite cold cork them. Earthenware bottles are much less liable to crack, during this process, than glass bottles.