282. Maraschino

One of the finest liquors which is prepared in Italy and Dal-matia from the berry of the mahaleb cherry, equally excellent for its odor and taste; this fruit is black, berry-like, flat above and oval below; it tastes bitter, but contains a pit of great fragrance. When these fruits are perfectly ripe, they are gathered, and mashed together with the pits; best white honey of their own weight is added; the fluid undergoes first a fermentation, and is then subject to distillation. This first distillate has to lie for a year; then it is distilled twice more, and is now a very delicious liquor, which, however, is but the basis of the real maraschino di Zara. Take, now, sugar one-third of the liquor's weight, dissolve it in one-third of its weight of water; refine this sugar syrup by the white of one egg or more; boil it to the consistency of a thick syrup, filter through a flannel bag, and mix this with the liquor; bottle, let the bottles lie for a year, and they are filled then into the well-known straw-covered bottles that are exported from Trieste, Austria.

There is a number of recipes to imitate this cordial, but we must abstain from publishing them, as being too difficult to prepare.

283. Mint Liqueur

Infuse two handfuls of fresh mint leaves in two quarts of the best brandy, three or four weeks, in a well-corked bottle, in the sun or in a warm place; add a cold syrup of three-fourths to one pound of sugar; filter and bottle.

284. Nalifka

A kind of a light fruit liquor; it is made mostly of berries and cherries, but also of plums and apples, and is very highly estimated in Russia, and prepared there in almost all houses, especially in the country. The best nalifkas are won of the Rubus Chamcc-moniSy which grows only in Russia, Norway, Sweden, East Prussia, and the northern part of England, of the black and red currants, of the berries of the mountain ash, and of cherries. All these fruits must be very ripe; those of the mountain must , not be gathered before the first frost.

Fill a big glass jar two-thirds full with berries, and pour over it cognac to fill the jar; close the jar with a piece of muslin; expose it from two to three months to the direct action of the sunlight, and shake every second or third day. Then filter the nalifka through a funnel covered with linen and absorbent cotton, until it flows off perfectly clear; fill into ordinary wine bottles. Add to each three or four bottles of nalifka one bottle of water, and to each bottle of the thinned liquor four ounces of sugar that has been refined in boiling water to a consistent syrup. Add to this syrup the whole quantity of nalifka, heat the fluid, while constantly stirring, nearly to the boiling-point; take it from the fire, and pour it into an earthen or china pot. After cooling, bottle, cork and seal; you may either use it right away, or keep it.

285. Nonpareil Liqueur

Peel a perfectly ripe pineapple, cut it into slices and mash them; add twenty of the best white plums, cut in two, and without the pits - and one dozen of very aromatic pears. To each four pounds of fruit take six pounds of loaf-sugar, and one and a half quarts of water; boil all this for three-quarters of an hour in an enameled pot; pour it into a tureen, add three quarts of fine cognac, cover it air-tight, let it stand for six weeks, filter through a jelly-bag, and bottle.