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.