The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory;

White Currant Wine

To each sieve of currants take twenty-five pounds of moist sugar, and to every gallon of juice two gallons of water. Squeeze the fruit well with the hands into an earthen pan; then strain it through a sieve. Throw the pulp into another pan, filling it with water, which must be taken from the quantity of water allowed for the whole, and to every ten gallons of wine put one bottle of brandy. In making the wine, dissolve the sugar in the water above-mentioned, and put it into the cask; then add the remaining juice and water, stirring it well up frequently. Stir it well every morning for ten successive days, and as it works out fill up the cask again until it has done fermenting. Then put in your brandy, and bung it quite close. In about eight months it will be fit to drink; but, if you leave it twelve, it will be better.

Damson Wine

Take four gallons of water, and put to every gallon four pounds of Malaga raisins and half a peck of damsons. Put the whole into a vessel without cover, having only a linen cloth laid over it. Let them steep six days, stirring twice every day; then let them stand six days without stirring. Draw the juice out of the vessel, and colour it with the infused juice of damsons, sweetened with sugar till it is like claret wine. Put it into a wine vessel for a fortnight; then bottle it up; and it may be drunk in a month.

All made wines are the better for brandy, and will not keep without it. The quantity must be regulated by the degree of strength you wish to give to your wine.

Elder Wine. No. 1

Take elderberries, when ripe; pick them clean from the stalk; press out the juice through a hair sieve or canvas-bag, and to every gallon of juice put three gallons of water on the husks from which the juice has been pressed. Stir the husks well in the water, and press them over again; then mix the first and second liquor together, and boil it for about an hour, skimming it clean as long as the scum rises. To every gallon of liquor put two pounds of sugar, and skim it again very clean; then put to every gallon a blade of mace and as much lemon-peel, letting it boil an hour. After the sugar is put in, strain it into a tub, and, when quite cold, put it into a cask; bung it close down, and look frequently to see that the bung is not forced up. Should your quantity be twelve gallons or more, you need not bottle it off till about April, but be sure to do so on a clear dry day, and to let your bottles be perfectly dry; but if you have not more than five or six gallons, you may bottle it by Christmas on a clear fine day.

Elder Wine. No. 2

To a gallon of water put a quarter of a peck of berries, and three pounds and a half of Lisbon sugar. Steep the berries in water forty hours; after boiling a quarter of an hour, strain the liquor from the fruit, and boil it with the sugar till the scum ceases to rise. Work it in a tub like other wines, with a small quantity of yest. After some weeks, add a few raisins, a small quantity of brandy, and some cloves. The above makes a sweet mellow wine, but does not taste strong of the elder.

Elder Wine. No. 3

Take twenty-four pounds of raisins, of whatever sort you please; pick them clean, chop them small, put them into a tub, and cover them with three gallons of water that has been boiled and become cold. Let it stand ten days, stirring it twice a day. Then strain the liquor through a hair sieve, draining it all from the raisins, and put to it three pints of the juice of elderberries and a pound of loaf-sugar. Put the whole into the cask, and let it stand close stopped, but not in too cold a cellar, for three or four months before you bottle it. The peg-hole must not be stopped till it has done working.

The best way to draw the juice from the berries is to strip them into an earthen pan, and set it in the oven all night.

Elder Wine. No. 4

Mash eight gallons of picked elderberries to pieces, add as much spring water as will make the whole nine gallons, and boil slowly for three quarters of an hour. Squeeze them through a cloth sieve; add twenty-eight pounds of moist sugar, and boil them together for half an hour. Run the liquor through your cloth sieve again; let it stand till lukewarm; put into it a toast with a little yest upon it, and let it stand for seven or eight days, stirring it every day. Then put it into a close tub, and let it remain without a bung till it has done hissing. Before you bung up close, you may add one pint of brandy at pleasure.

Elder Wine. No. 5

Half a gallon of ripe berries to a gallon of water; boil it half an hour; strain it through a sieve. To every gallon of liquor put three pounds of sugar; boil them together three quarters of an hour; when cold, put some yest to it; work it a week, and put it in barrel. Let it stand a year. To half a hogshead put one quart of brandy and three pounds of raisins.

Elder-flower Wine

To six gallons of water put eighteen pounds of lump-sugar; boil it half an hour, skimming it all the time. Put into a cask a quarter of a peck of elder-flowers picked clean from the stalks, the juice and rinds of six lemons pared very thin, and six pounds of raisins. When the water and sugar is about milk warm, pour it into the cask upon these ingredients; spread three or four spoonfuls of yest upon a piece of bread well toasted, and put it into the cask; stir it up for three or four days only; when it has done working, bung it up, and in six or eight months it will be fit for bottling.

Sham Frontiniac

To three gallons of water put nine pounds of good loaf-sugar; boil it half an hour; when milk-warm, add to it nearly a peck of elder-flowers picked clear from the stalks, the juice and peel of three good-sized lemons, cut very thin, three pounds of stoned raisins, and two or three spoonfuls of yest; stir it often for four or five days. When it has quite done working, bung it up, and it will be fit for bottling in five days.

Mixed Fruit Wine

Take currants, gooseberries, raspberries, and a few rose-leaves, three pints of fruit, mashed all together, to a quart of cold water. Let it stand twenty-four hours; then drain it through a sieve. To every gallon of juice put three pounds and a half of Lisbon sugar; let it ferment; put it into a cask, but do not bung it up for some time. Put in some brandy, and bottle it for use.

Ginger Wine. No. 1

With four gallons of water boil twelve pounds of loaf-sugar till it becomes clear. In a separate pan boil nine ounces of ginger, a little bruised, in two quarts of water; pour the whole into an earthen vessel, in which you must have two pounds of raisins shred fine, the juice and rind of ten lemons. When of about the warmth of new milk, put in four spoonfuls of fresh yest; let it ferment two days; then put it into a cask, with all the ginger, lemon-peel, and raisins, and half an ounce of isinglass dissolved in a little of the wine; in two or three days bung it up close. In three months it will be fit to bottle. Put into each bottle a little brandy, and some sugar also, if not sweet enough.

Ginger Wine. No. 2

Twenty-six quarts of water, eighteen pounds of white Lisbon sugar, six ounces of bruised ginger, the peel of six lemons pared very thin: boil half an hour, and let it stand till no more than blood warm. Put it in your cask, with the juice of six lemons, five spoonfuls of yest, and three pounds of raisins. Stir it six or seven times with a stick through the bung-hole, and put in half an ounce of isinglass and a pint of good brandy. Close the bung, and in about six weeks it will be fit for bottle. Let it stand about six months before you drink it. If you like, it may be drawn from the cask, and it will be fit for use in that way in about two months.

Ginger Wine. No. 3

To ten gallons of water put eight pounds of loaf-sugar and three ounces of bruised ginger; boil all together for one hour, taking the scum off as it rises; then put it into a pan to cool. When it is cold, put it into a cask, with the rind and juice of ten lemons, one bottle of good brandy, and half a spoonful of yest. Bung it up for a fortnight: then bottle it off, and in three weeks it will be fit to drink. The lemons must be pared very thin, and no part of the white must, on any account, be put in the cask.

Ginger Wine. No. 4

To every gallon of water put one pound and a half of brown sugar and one ounce of bruised ginger, and to each gallon the white of an egg well beaten. Stir all together, and boil it half an hour; skim it well while any thing rises, and, when milk-warm, stir in a little yest. When cold, to every five gallons, put two sliced lemons. Bottle it in nine days; and it will be fit to drink in a week.

Gooseberry Wine. No. 1

To every pound of white amber gooseberries, when heads and tails are picked off and well bruised in a mortar, add a quart of spring water, which must be previously boiled. Let it stand till it is cold before it is put to the fruit. Let them steep three days, stirring them twice a day; strain and press them through a sieve into a barrel, and to every gallon of liquor put three pounds of loaf-sugar, and to every five gallons a bottle of brandy. Hang a small bag of isinglass in the barrel; bung it close, and, in six months, if the sweetness is sufficiently gone off, bottle it, and rosin the corks well over the top. The fruit must be fall grown, but quite green.

Gooseberry Wine. No. 2

To three quarts of full grown gooseberries well crushed put one gallon of water well stirred together for a day or two. Then strain and squeeze the pulp, and put the liquor immediately into the barrel, with three pounds and a half of common loaf-sugar; stir it every day until the fermentation ceases. Reserve two or three gallons of the liquor to fill up the barrel, as it overflows through the fermentation. Put a bottle of brandy into the cask, to season it, before the wine; this quantity will be sufficient for nine or ten gallons. Be careful to let the fermentation cease, before you bung down the barrel.

The plain white gooseberries, taken when not too ripe, but rather the contrary, are the best for this purpose.

Gooseberry Wine. No. 3

A pound of sugar to a pound of fruit: melt the sugar, and bruise the gooseberries with an apple-beater, but do not beat them too small. Strain them through a hair strainer, and put the juice into an earthen pot; keep it covered four or five days till it is clear: then add half a pint of the best brandy or more, according to the quantity of fruit, and draw it out into another vessel, letting it run into a hair sieve. Stop it close, and let it stand one fortnight longer; then draw it off into quart bottles, and in a month it will be fit for drinking.

Gooseberry Wine. No. 4

Proceed as directed for white currant wine, but use loaf-sugar. Large pearl gooseberries, not quite ripe, make excellent champagne.

Grape Wine

Pick and squeeze the grapes; strain them, and to each gallon of juice put two gallons of water. Put the pulp into the measured water; squeeze it, and add three pounds and a half of loaf-sugar, or good West India, to a gallon. Let it stand about six weeks; then add a quart of brandy and two eggs not broken to every ten gallons. Bung it down close.

Lemon Wine

To every gallon of water put three pounds and a half of loaf-sugar; boil it half an hour, and to every ten gallons, when cold, put a pint of yest. Put it next day into a barrel, with the peels and juice of eight lemons; you must pare them very thin, and run the juice through a jelly-bag. Put the rinds into a net with a stone in it, or it will rise to the top and spoil the wine. To every ten gallons add a pint of brandy. Stop up the barrel, and in three months the wine, if fine, will be fit for bottling. The brandy must be put in when the wine is made.

Sham Madeira

Take thirty pounds of coarse sugar to ten gallons of water; boil it half an hour; skim it clean, and, when cool, put to every gallon one quart of ale, out of the vat; let it work well in the tub a day or two. Then put it in the barrel, with one pound of sugar-candy, six pounds of raisins, one quart of brandy, and two ounces of isinglass. When it has done fermenting, bung it down close, and let it stand one year.

Orange Wine. No. 1

Take six gallons of water to twelve pounds of lump-sugar; put four whites of eggs, well beaten, into the sugar and water cold; boil it three quarters of an hour, skim while boiling, and when cold put to it six spoonfuls of yest, and six ounces of syrup of citron, well beaten together, and the juice and rinds of fifty Seville oranges, but none of the white. Let all these stand two days and nights covered close; then add two quarts of Rhenish wine; bung it up close. Twelve days afterwards bottle and cork it well.

Orange Wine. No. 2

To make ten gallons of wine, pare one hundred oranges very thin, and put the peel into a tub. Put in a copper ten gallons of water, with twenty-eight pounds of common brown sugar, and the whites of six eggs well beaten; boil it for three quarters of an hour; just as it begins to boil, skim it, and continue to do so all the time it is boiling; pour the boiling liquor on the peel: cover it well to keep in the steam, and, two hours afterwards, when blood warm, pour in the juice. Put in a toast well spread with yest to make it work. Stir it well, and, in five or six days, put it in your cask free from the peel; it will then work five or six days longer. Then put in two quarts of brandy, and bung it close. Let it remain twelve or eighteen months, and then bottle it. It will keep many years.

Orange Wine. No. 3

To a gallon of wine put three pounds of lump sugar; clarify this with the white of an egg to every gallon. Boil it an hour, and when the scum rises take it off; when almost cold, dip a toast into yest, put it into the liquor, and let it stand all night. Then take out the toast, and put in the juice of twelve oranges to every gallon, adding about half the peel. Run it through a sieve into the cask, and let it stand for several months.

Sham Port Wine

Cover four bushels of blackberries with boiling hot water, squeeze them, and put them into a vessel to work. After working, draw or pour off the liquor into a cask; add a gallon of brandy and a quart of port wine; let it work again; then bung it up for six months, and bottle it.

Raisin Wine. No. 1

Take one hundred weight of raisins, of the Smyrna sort, and put them into a tub with fourteen gallons of spring water. Let them stand covered for twenty-one days, stirring them twice every day. Strain the liquor through a hair-bag from the raisins, which must be well pressed to get out the juice; turn it into a vessel, and let it remain four months; then bung it up close, and make a vent-hole, which must be frequently opened, and left so for a day together. When it is of an agreeable sweetness, rack it off into a fresh cask, and put to it one gallon of British brandy, and, if you think it necessary, a little isinglass to fine it. Let it then stand one month, and it will be fit to bottle; but the longer it remains in the cask the better it will be.

Raisin Wine. No. 2

Take four gallons of water, and boil it till reduced to three, four pounds of raisins of the sun, and four lemons sliced very thin; take off the peel of two of them; put the lemons and raisins into an earthen pot, with a pound of loaf-sugar. Pour in your water very hot; cover it close for a day and a night; strain it through a flannel bag; then bottle it, and tie down the corks. Set it in a cold place, and it will be ready to drink in a month.

Raisin Wine. No. 3

To one hundred pound of raisins boil eighteen gallons of water, and let it stand till cold, with two ounces of hops. Half chop your raisins; then put your water to them, and stir it up together twice a day for a fortnight. Run it through a hair-sieve; squeeze the raisins well with your hands, and put the liquor into the barrel. Bung it up close; let it stand till it is clear; then bottle it.

Raisin Wine. No. 4

Take a brandy cask, and to every gallon of water put five pounds of Smyrna raisins with the stalks on, and fill the cask, bunging it close down. Put it in a cool dry cellar; let it stand six months; then tap it with a strainer cock, and bottle it. Add half a pint of brandy to every gallon of wine.

THE END