Gather the damsons on a dry day, weigh them, and bruise them. Put them into a stein that has a cock in it, and to every 8 pounds of fruit add a gallon of water. Boil the water, skim it, and put it scalding hot to the fruit. Let it stand two days, then draw it off and put it into a vessel, and to every gallon of liquor put 2½ lbs. of fine sugar. Fill up the vessel, and stop it close, and the longer it stands the better. Keep it for twelve months in the vessel, and then bottle, putting a lump of sugar into every bottle. The small damson is the best for this purpose.
188. CHERRY WINE.
Take of cold soft water, 10 gallons,
cherries, 10 gallons.
Ferment.
Mix raw sugar, 30 lbs.
red tartar in fine powder, 3 oz.
Add brandy, 2 or 3 quarts.
This will make 18 gallons.
Two days after the cherries have been in the vat, Mr. Carnell says, we should take out about three quarts of the cherry stones, break them and the kernels, and return them into the vat again.
189. Another.
Take cherries, nearly ripe, of any red sort, clear them of the stalks and stones, then put them into a glazed earthen vessel, and squeeze them to a pulp. Let them remain in this state for twelve hours to ferment; then put them into a linen cloth not too fine, and press out the juice with a pressing board, or any other convenient instrument. Now let the liquor stand till the scum rises, and with a ladle or skimmer take it clean off; then pour the clearer part, by inclination, into a cask, where, to each gallon put a pound of the best loaf sugar, and let it ferment for seven or eight days. Draw it off, when clear, into lesser casks, or bottles; keep it cool as other wines, and in ten or twelve days it will be ripe.