IMITATION LEMON SYRUP.—Break up twelve pounds of the best double-refined loaf-sugar. Put it into a preserving-kettle, and pour on it a gallon of very clear soft water. When it has dissolved set it over a moderate fire, and boil and skim it till the scum ceases to rise. Then take it off, and stir in immediately, while the syrup is hot, six large tea-spoonfuls of the best oil of lemon, and a quarter of an ounce of tartaric acid. When cold, bottle the liquid, and cork it tightly. The bottles for this purpose should either be quite new, or such as have been used before for lemon syrup. Mixed with ice-water it is a wholesome and refreshing beverage, and if you stir into a half tumbler of the mixture a half tea-spoonful, or more, of carbonate of soda, it will foam up, and be just like the soda-water you buy in the shops at six cents per glass.
The above is the lemon syrup generally used for this purpose by the druggists and confectioners.
CARBONATED SYRUP WATER.—Put into a tumbler lemon, raspberry, strawberry, pine-apple, or any other acid syrup, sufficient in quantity to flavour the beverage very highly. Then pour in very cold ice-water till the glass is half full. Add half a tea-spoonful of bi-carbonate of soda, (to be obtained at the druggists’,) and stir it well in with a tea-spoon. It will foam up to the top immediately, and must be drank during the effervescence.
By keeping the syrup, and the carbonate of soda in the house, and mixing them as above with ice-water, you can at any time have a glass of this very pleasant drink; precisely similar to that which you get at the shops. The cost will be infinitely less.
FINE RASPBERRY CORDIAL.—Fill a large stone jar with ripe raspberries. Cover the jar closely, and let it stand in a corner of the hearth near the fire, or on the top of a stove, till the fruit is heated so as to break. Then put the raspberries into a linen bag, and squeeze the juice into a pan beneath. Measure the juice, and to every quart allow a pound of loaf-sugar, broken very small. Do not use the white sugar that is sold ready-powdered; it is generally so adulterated with pulverized starch, as to be unfit for any thing that is to be set away for keeping. Put the juice and sugar (well mixed) into a preserving-kettle. Give it a boil, and skim it well. When it has come to a boil, and the scum has ceased to appear, take off the kettle; measure the liquid; and pour it carefully into a large vessel; allowing an equal quantity of the best French brandy. Stir it well, and when cold, put it into a demijohn, or a large stone jug, and cork it tightly. Let it stand undisturbed a fortnight; then, if it is not perfectly clear, filter it through blotting-paper pinned inside the bottom of a sieve. Bottle it, and seal the corks. Instead of brandy, you may use the best Jamaica spirits.
Currant or cherry cordial may be made in the above manner: first stoning all the cherries, which should be fully ripe, and of the largest and best kind; either red or black, or a mixture of both. The flavour will be much improved by cracking the stones, and putting them into the demijohn before you pour on the liquid.