The complete servant / Being a practical guide to the peculiar duties and business of all descriptions of servants, from the housekeeper to the servant of all-work, and from the land steward to the foot-boy. With useful receipts and tables

by servant Samuel Adams; Sarah Adams

231. BARLEY WINE.

Boil half a pound of fresh barley in three waters, and save three pints of the last water. Mix it with a quart of white wine, half a pint of borage water, as much of clary water, a little red rose-water, the juice of five or six lemons, three quarters of a pound of fine sugar, and the thin yellow rind of a lemon. Mix all these well together, run it through a strainer, and bottle it. It is pleasant in hot weather, and very good in fevers.

232. ENGLISH FIG-WINE.

Take the large blue figs, when pretty ripe, and steep them in white wine, having made some slits in them, that they may swell and gather in the substance of the wine. Then slice some other figs, and let them simmer over a fire in water until they are reduced to a kind of pulp. Then strain out the water, pressing the pulp hard, and pour it as hot as possible on the figs that are imbrewed in the wine. Let the quantities be nearly equal, but the water somewhat more than the wine and figs. Let them stand twenty-four hours, mash them well together, and draw off what will run without squeezing. Then press the rest, and if not sweet enough, add a sufficient quantity of sugar, to make it so. Let it ferment, and add to it a little honey and sugar-candy; then fine it with whites of eggs, and a little isinglass, and draw it off for use.

233. SYCAMORE WINE.

Boil two gallons of the sap half an hour, and then add to it four pounds of fine powdered sugar. Beat the whites of three eggs to froth, and mix them with the liquor; but take care that it is not too hot, as that will poach the eggs. Skim it well, and boil it half an hour. Then strain it through a hair sieve, and let it stand till next day. Then pour it clean from the sediment, put half a pint of yeast to every twelve gallons, and cover it close up with blankets. Then put it into the barrel, and leave the bung-hole open till it has done working. Then close it up well, and when it has stood two months, bottle it. The fifth part of the sugar must be loaf; and if raisins are liked, they will be a great addition to the wine.

234. BALM WINE.

Take forty pounds of sugar and nine gallons of water; boil it gently for two hours, skim it well, and put it into a tub to cool. Take two pounds and a half of the tops of balm, bruise them, and put them into a barrel, with a little new yeast; and when the liquor is cold, pour it on the balm. Stir it well together and let it stand twenty-four hours, stirring it often. Then close it up, and let it stand six weeks. Then rack it off and put a lump of sugar into every bottle. Cork it well, and it will be better the second year than the first.

235. SCURVY-GRASS WINE.

Scurvy-grass, or spoonwort, is a very sovereign medicinal herb, appropriated chiefly to the health of invalids.