230. Ananas Cordial

Cut one-fourth of an unpeeled pineapple into small pieces; boil one quart of water with six ounces of lump-sugar; skin carefully; add the pineapple, and put all in a great stone jar or a demijohn; pour three pints of old Jamaica rum or brandy over it; let it soak a fortnight on a warm place; filter and fill into bottles.

231. Angelica Cordial

Cut one ounce of fresh or dried angelica into small pieces, put it with one-sixth ounce of cloves, one-sixth ounce of cardamom, one-third ounce of stick cinnamon in a demijohn; pour over it three pints of cognac; let it stand about four weeks in a warm place: sweeten with one pound of lump-sugar refined and cleared in one pint of boiling water.

232. Anisette Cordial

A fine French cordial; the best one comes from Bordeaux; it is to be warmly recommended after rich dinners, as it helps digestion.

Take six quarts of cognac, four ounces of pulverized star anise, four ounces of ordinary anise, the peel of two lemons, one ounce of stick cinnamon; let this stand four weeks in the sun, or in a warm place; sweeten with two and a half pounds of lump-sugar, refined and cleared in three quarts of boiling water; filter and bottle.

233. Apricot Cordial

Twenty-five apricots are cut in two; mash their pits, and put all in a stone jar; add half a pound of sugar, six cloves, and half a stick of cinnamon; pour one quart of cognac over it, cover or cork it well; let it stand about three weeks in a warm place, shake it once in a while; filter, and bottle.

234. Arrack

Arrack is a strong, alcoholic beverage of light yellow color; it is prepared in the East and West Indies from the juice of the areca palm-tree, from the sugary juice of the blossoms of the cocoa palm-tree, which is called toddy, from sugar-molasses or from rice with palm-juice.

The arrack of Goa and Batavia are the best brands and of very delicious odor and taste. The manufacturing is mostly done in very simple, imperfect apparatus, chiefly on Java: the best brand there is called Kiji, the second, Taupo, the last, Sichow.

233. Balm Cordial

Infuse in one quart of fine cognac a handful of balm-leaves for twenty-four hours in the sunlight or upon the stove; remove the leaves, add one pound of powdered sugar, expose the cordial two days to the sun, until the sugar is all dissolved; filter, and bottle.

236. Basle Kirschwasser

This well-known, famous liquor is obtained in Switzerland, mainly in the vicinity of Basle and in the Black Forest from the black and very sweet berries of the wood-cherries; gather them when they are very ripe in dry weather; free them from their stalks, and mash them in large tubs with wooden mashers; mash also a part of the pits; then fill the entire substance into casks, each two-thirds full, and cover the bunghole.

The fermentation begins soon, and lasts nearly three weeks; after fermentation is done, bring the whole into a distilling apparatus; continue distilling while slowly heating, until absolutely light, colorless kirschwasser is distilled over to the condenser. This distillate is distilled over again, and filled into bottles.

Many trials have been made to find an equivalent for this excellent cordial, but in vain; never take any but the genuine imported Basle kirschwasser.