516. Sloe Wine

Fresh, ripe sloes are put in a tub, for each quart of sloes one quart of water; boil the water and pour it boiling over the sloes; let that stand five days; stir daily. Add to each quart of fluid one pound of loaf-sugar; dissolve by continually stirring; fill all in a cask, add one pint of brandy to each six quarts of fluid; let it lie in the cask for a year, at least, before bottling; let the bottles lie for another year, when the wine will have the gout of port wine.

517. Spiced Wine

Wash one-fourth of an ounce of cloves, as much ginger, twice as much cinnamon and nutmeg; pour over it ten or twelve quarts of Madeira and let it stand for a few days in moderate warmth; strain it through blotting-paper and drink it in very small doses.

518. Strawberry Wine

Pour over twelve quarts of strawberries twelve quarts of cold water and let stand twenty-four hours. Strain, add eight pounds of sugar, eight quarts of apple cider, the thin peel of a lemon and one ounce of cremor tartari; fill all in a barrel; it must occupy not more than three-fourths of the barrel's volume; bung, and bore a hole beside the bung with a gimlet; let the barrel stand four weeks on a temperate place. Then add three pounds of sugar, shake the barrel well and bung again. After six to eight weeks decant, add one quart of cognac, fill back the wine into the cleaned barrel, place it two months in the cellar; after this time decant into a smaller cask, which must be filled entirely; bung well; bottle after three years and use.

519. Wischniak

(CHERRY WINE WITH HONEY A LA RUSSE.)

Into a strong little cask, well bound with iron bands, you fill ripe sour cherries, so that only about two inches room is left; then pour slowly over the cherries clean, white, unboiled honey containing no particles of wax, and fill each empty space between the cherries with honey. As soon as the upper layer of cherries is nearly covered by honey, put the cover tightly on the cask, bung and seal well bung-hole and lid, or best cover the entire surface with pitch to prevent any air from entering; then sink the cask in sand or earth for three months; during this time the fermentation is going on; there is great danger the cask might burst, unless it be of very strong material. After three months the wine is filtered, bottled, and is ready for use.