Ratafia Of Four Fruits

Take ten pounds of very ripe cherries, two pounds and a half of raspberries, five pounds and a half of red and two pounds of black currants; pick, and mix these fruits together, press the juice from them, measure it, and for every quart of juice, take half a pound of sugar, and an equal quantity of brandy; dissolve the sugar in the juice, then put in the brandy, a drachm of mace, and two drachms of cloves. Let the whole stand some time, filter, and bottle it. Keep them well corked.

Citron Ratafia

Pare seven or eight citrons very thin; cut the peel into small pieces, and put them into a jar, with three pints of brandy, and let them infuse for three weeks; then add to this a pound of sngar, boiled in half a pint of water, and well skimmed; let it stand twelve or fifteen days longer, when it may be bottled.

Ratafia Pudding

Pound, with a little rose-water, two ounces of blanched sweet almonds, and half a quarter of a pound of ratafia cakes, add the well-beaten yolks of six, and the whites of two eggs, a pint of thick cream, two glasses of white wine, and one ounce of pounded loaf sugar. Bake it in a dish, lined with puff" paste, for three-quarters of an hour.

Apricot Ratafia

Peel and cut into pieces as many ripe apricots as you may require, and boil them in while wine (about a pint to four dozen;) strain and mix it with an equal quantity of brandy; put the whole into a jar, with the kernels bruised, add a quarter of a pound of sugar to each pint. Let it infuse for three weeks, then filter and bottle it.

Angelica Ratapia

Take six pints of brandy, a pint of river water, three pounds of sugar, two ounces of fresh gathered angelica-roots, the same quantity of angelica seed; mace and clove, a drachm of each. Wash and dry the roots well, cut them in slices, and put them, with the seeds and spices bruised, into the brandy, to infuse for twenty days; then strain it, and having added to it the sugar dissolved in river water, filler and bottle your ratafia.

Angelica Ratafia

Strip the angelica stalks of their leaves, and cut them into small pieces, which put into the best brandy and water, in the proportion of four lilies of brandy and two of water to one pound of angelica, and four pounds of sugar to the same quantity; add cloves and cinnamon; let it stand six weeks, then filter and bottle it.

Aniseed Ratafia

To make a quart of this liqueur, boil a pound of sugar with a demisetier of water, until the sugar is quite clear; then heat another demisetier of water, and put in it three ounces of anise; take it from the fire before it boils; let it stand a quarter of an hour, and then pour it with three pints of brandy into the sugar; mix all well together, and then pour into a vessel, which must be closed tight, and placed in the sun. Let it stand three weeks, and then bottle it.

Grapes Ratafia

Take some fine muscadine grapes, pick them from the stalks; bruise and press them, so as to extract all their juice; then dissolve some sugar in the grape juice, adding to it brandy and cinnamon; let the whole infuse for a fortnight; then strain it through a filtering bag, and bottle it off. The proper proportions are one pint of brandy, and ten ounces of sugar to one pint of grape juice.

Citronnelle Ratafia

For two quarts of the best brandy, take the zestes or rinds of a dozen fine sound lemons, two drachms of bruised cinnamon, an ounce of coriander, and two pounds of sugar, dissolved in a pint and a half of water; infuse the whole for a month, then strain and bottle it.

Cherry Ratafia

Crush ten pounds of cherries, and put them into a jar with a quart of brandy; cover the jar close, and infuse the cherries for five or six days; at the end of that time put the fruit into a cloth, and press the juice out through. Boil five pounds of fine currants, with three pounds of sugar, and press out the juice as you did that of the cherries; mix the two juices, measure them, and for every pint allow a pint of brandy. Add a pound of the kernels of the cherry-stones, half a pound of coriander, a little mace, some cloves and cinnamon, all well pounded, put them into a jar, and pour the liquor over them; cover it close and let it infuse for six weeks, after which, pass the whole through a jelly-bag, and bottle it; cork it carefully.