Preliminaries to the making of Currant Wine.
It is to be noted, that tho' there are two sorts of Currants, which may be used for making of Wine, that is, the Red and the White; yet the Taste and Goodness will be the same, whether 'tis made of the White or the Red, for they have both the same Qualities, except in the Colour. Observe also, that the Fruit be gather'd in a dry time, and that if you make a large Quantity, it must stand longer in the Vessel, before bottling, than a small Quantity.
To make Currant Wine.
When your Currants are full ripe, gather them, and pick them from the Stalks and weigh them, in order to proportion your Water and Sugar to them. When this is done, bruise them to pieces with your Hands, and add to every three Pounds of Currants a Quart of Water, stirring all together, and letting it stand three Hours, at the end of which time, strain it off gently thro' a Sieve, and put your Sugar into your Liquor, after the rate of a Pound to every three Pounds of Currants. This Sugar should be powder Sugar, for Lisbon Sugar would give the Wine an ill Taste. Stir this well together, and boil it till you have taken off all the Scum, which will rise plentifully; set it then to cool, at least sixteen Hours, before you put it into the Vessel. If you make the Quantity of twenty Gallons, it may stand in the Vessel three Weeks before it will be fit for bottling; and if you make thirty Gallons, then it must stand a Month before it be bottled off, observing then to put a small Lump of Sugar into every Bottle; it must be kept in a cool place, to prevent its Fretting. By this Method it will keep good many Years, and be a very strong and pleasant Wine, at a very cheap rate.
It is necessary to observe, that the same sort of Currant is not always of the same Sweetness when it is ripe, those growing in the Shade will be less sweet than those that are more exposed to the Sun. And when the Summer happens to be wet and cold, they will not be so sweet as in a dry warm Season; therefore tho' the Standard of the above Receipt be one Pound of Sugar to three Pounds of pick'd Currants, yet the Palate of the Person who makes the Wine should be the Regulator, when the Sugar is put to the Juice, considering at the same time, that it is a Wine they are making, and not a Syrup. The Sugar is only put to soften and preserve the Juice, and too much will make the Wine ropey.
This Season is proper for making Cherry Wine, the Kentish and Flemish
Cherries being now full ripe, which are much the best for this purposes:
This is a very pleasant strong Wine.
To make Cherry Wine.
Gather your Cherries in dry Weather, when they are full ripe, pick them from the Stalks, and bruise them well with your Hands till they are all broken; then put them into a Hair Bag, and press them till you have as much Liquor from them as will run without breaking the Stones. To every Gallon of this Juice, put one Pound of powder Sugar, and having stirr'd it well together, boil it and scum it as long as any Scum will rise; then set it in a cool Place till it is quite cold, and put it into your Vessel, when it will presently begin to work. When the Working is over, slop the Vessel close, and let it stand four Months; if it holds the Quantity of twenty Gallons, or more or less, as the Quantity happens to be, then bottle it off, putting a Lump of Loaf-Sugar into each Bottle. It will keep two or three Years, if it be set in a cool Place.
I have now done with the Wines that are to be made in this Month: I shall in the next place set down the Method of keeping or preserving Fruits for Tarts all the Year about, as I had it from a very curious Person, in whose House I have seen it practised with extraordinary Success. The Fruits which are chiefly to be put up this Month, are Goosberries, Currants and Cherries.
To preserve Fruits for Tarts all the Year.