BRANDIED FRUITS, WINES AND CORDIALS
PEACHES IN BRANDY
Soak fine peaches in lye until you can remove the fuzzy outside; wipe them, and turn them into cold water. When you have prepared as many as you desire, weigh them, and to every pound of fruit, put three quarters of a pound of white sugar. Make a syrup like that for preserves, only using less water; boil the peaches in the syrup until they are tender; then take them out of the kettle, and place them in jars; fill up the jars with a brandy syrup, made of a pint of brandy, to a pint of the sugar syrup from the peaches. Cook them very carefully, and dip the mouths of the jars in rosin melted, and keep them in a cool dark place.
APRICOTS IN BRANDY
Peaches and apricots are brandied the same way. Gather them as fresh as possible. Apricots should be taken from the tree as soon as ripe, as they soften so rapidly. Rub each one with a coarse towel, but do not peel it. Make a syrup of half the weight of the fruit in sugar, and just water enough to dissolve it. When the syrup is prepared and hot, put in the apricots, let them simmer until tender; then take the fruit out, and place it on dishes, then expose them to the sun, or in a warm oven to dry and harden. Boil the syrup again, after the fruit is out, until it is quite rich and thick. Skim it carefully. When the apricots are cold and firm, put them in white earthen preserve-jars and fill up with syrup and brandy, half and half. Tie up with bladder skin.
PEACHES AND APRICOTS IN BRANDY
Take nice smooth peaches not too ripe, put them in a vessel and cover them with weak lye; take them out in two hours, and wipe carefully to get off the down and outside skin, and lay them in cold water. Weigh the fruit, add their weight in sugar, and half a pint of water to each pound of sugar; boil and skim this syrup, put in the peaches; when the syrup is clear of scum, let them boil for twenty minutes or half an hour, then take them out and lay them on dishes to cool. Boil the syrup for an hour longer, or until reduced one-half and quite thick. When cold, put the peaches or apricots in jars, and cover them with equal quantities of the syrup and French brandy. If it is apricots, cook them very gently, or they will come to pieces in the syrup; ten minutes is long enough to stew them before bottling.
APRICOT AND PEACH WINE
Mash the apricots or peaches in a mortar, remove the stones, and to eight pounds of the pulp, add one quart of water; let this stand twenty-four hours; then strain, and to each gallon of the juice, add two pounds of loaf sugar. Let it ferment, and when perfectly clear, bottle it. Peach wine is very nice, and may have a few of the kernels added for flavoring, if wished.
RAISIN WINE WITH ELDER FLOWERS
Boil six pounds of raisins in six gallons of water. When soft, rub them to a pulp, and pass through a colander to get rid of the stones; add this pulp to the water it was boiled in, put to it twelve pounds of white sugar and a half-pint of yeast. When clear, suspend half a pound of elder flowers in it to flavor the wine; withdraw the flowers and bottle off the wine.
ORANGE AND LEMON WINE
Take the outer rind of one hundred oranges pared, so that no white appears; pour upon them ten gallons of boiling water, let it stand ten hours and keep slightly warm. While still warm, add the juice of the oranges, mixed with twenty-five pounds of lump sugar, and a few tablespoonfuls of good yeast; let it ferment five days, or until the fermentation has ceased, and the wine is clear; then bottle. Lemon wine can be made in the same way.
SOUR ORANGE WINE
Take one gallon juice of sour oranges, four gallons of water, and twenty pounds of sugar. Boil this mixture in a vessel large enough to hold it, and skim it as it boils until no more scum rises. Pour it into a flannel bag and strain; then put it in a cask, adding to it a quart of uncooked orange juice. Let it ferment, and when clear, bottle it. This will require about six months to finish. Keep in a cool closet or cellar during fermentation.
MIXED FRUIT WINE
Cherries, black currants and raspberries, mixed together, make a good wine. Dilute the juice and add the usual amount of sugar, and let it ferment; then bottle.
A SUPERIOR BLACKBERRY WINE
Bruise your berries, measure them, and to every gallon, add a quart of boiling water. Let this stand twenty-four hours, stirring it three or four times during this time. The third day strain off the juice, and to every gallon of this strained liquor, put two pounds of refined sugar. Cork it tight, and let it stand until cool weather; when you will have a wine that you will never voluntarily be without.
BLACKBERRY WINE
Mash the berries without boiling them; strain the juice, and to six pints of juice, add two pints of water and three pounds of sugar. Mix thoroughly and put it in a wide-mouthed stone jar to ferment. Cover it carefully with a cloth, to keep out all insects; open it and skim it every morning; then cover it up again carefully, for much of the bouquet of the wine depends on this. When it ceases to ferment, strain it and put it in a demijohn; do not cork it tightly, as it must have a little air, but cover the loose stopper with a piece of muslin or tarlatan, to keep out the insects. It will be ready to bottle in two months.
BLACKBERRY CORDIAL
Simmer nice ripe blackberries in water enough to cover them, and when they are tender take them out, mash them and strain them through a strong cloth; get all the juice out you can by squeezing, but do not let the pulp and seed come through the bag. Now add a little of the water they were boiled in, however not more than two tablespoonfuls to each pint of strained juice. To every pint of this liquor, add one pound of loaf sugar, one teaspoonful of mace, same of cloves and cinnamon. Boil all these together a few minutes, and strain it again to free it from the spice. When this syrup is cool, add to each pint a wineglass of good French brandy. If you cannot get brandy, substitute rum or whiskey, remembering to use twice as much as you would brandy. This is excellent for children during the prevalence of summer complaints, and an excellent tonic for all debilitated persons.
BLACKBERRY CORDIAL
Select fine, ripe fruit. Squeeze the berries without boiling, and to a quart of the strained juice, put a pound of loaf sugar; boil it for half an hour, and add a quart of brandy, some cloves and cinnamon, when on the fire. If the fruit thickens too rapidly while boiling, throw in a cup of hot water.
RASPBERRY CORDIAL
Squeeze the fruit through a flannel bag, and to every quart of juice to a pound of loaf sugar; put it in a stone jar and stir it constantly for half an hour; allow it to stand for three days, then strain it again and add to each quart of juice a quart of fine brandy.
TOMATO WINE
Let the tomatoes be very ripe; mash them well, let them stand twenty-four hours, strain, and to every quart of the tomato juice, add a pound of white sugar. This will ferment and should be allowed to do so, only keep it carefully covered from the flies. Skim off the foam as it rises, and when the liquor becomes clear, bottle it. This wine will be a pleasant acid, and should be served with sugar and water, in the tumbler with the wine.
ANOTHER TOMATO WINE
Bruise your berries, or small tomatoes; measure the juice, and add two pounds of sugar to each gallon; put it in a cask, adding two gallons of water to each four gallons of juice. Let it ferment like blackberry wine.
A FINE TEMPERANCE BEVERAGE
To the juice of a dozen lemons put one pound and a half of double refined sugar, and a picked quart of raspberries or strawberries; pare a ripe pineapple and slice it, put over it half a pound of sugar, stir the lemon juice with the sugar, crush in the berries slightly bruise the pineapple and chop it up in small pieces. Put the lemon juice in a large punch bowl, add to it three quarts of ice water, then put in the strawberry and pineapple juice, stir it until all the sugar is dissolved, and then set it on ice. Serve in punch glasses.
CHAMPAGNE PUNCH
Add to the above mixture a bottle of champagne, and a bottle of white wine, and you have a very delicious punch for festive occasions.