1553. Claret - Artificial

Distil in a cold still one part of clary water, half a part of rad-streak cyder, and put them with six pounds of Malaga raisins beaten in a mortar, and one pound of the fat mother of claret in a close vessel to ferment; when it has stood a fortnight draw it off, and for every gallon put half a pint of mulberry, blackberry, or gooseberry-juice, and a pint of spirit of clary; to the whole put three spoonfuls of flour, the whites of two eggs, a dram of isinglass, and two pounds of syrup of clary; mix the whole well together, and let it stand, when quite clear bottle it.

1554. Clary Wine

Boil six gallons of water, a dozen pounds of sugar, the juice of six lemons, and four well beaten whites of eggs for half an hour, skimming it carefully; then pour this, while boiling hot, on a peck of fresh clary flowers, with the peels of the lemons used above, and stir it well; add a thin dry toast covered with yeast. When it has worked two or three days, add to it six ounces of syrup of lemons, and a quart of Rhenish wine. Squeeze the clary through a cloth, strain the liquor through a flannel bag in a cask, lay the bung on loosely, and if in the course of a few days it does not work, bung it quite close. The wine may be bottled in three months.

1555. Currant Wine

Take sixteen pounds of currants, three gallons of water; break the currants with your hands in the water, strain it off; put to it fourteen pounds of sugar, strain it into a vessel, add a pint of brandy, and a pint of raspberries; stop it down, and let it stand three months.

1556. Currant Wine - Red Or White

Take thirty pounds of either red or white currants, and an equal quantity of black currants, and small cherries not stoned, and leaving on the stalks; put the whole into a cask, and bruise them with a large stick; then boil half a quarter of juniper berries in five or six pints of water, to which add half a pound of honey to make the juniper berries ferment; when they have fermented mix them with the juice of the fruits. Stir it together during four and twenty hours two or three times, then fill up the cask with water, and close it. This quantity will make 150 bottles of excellent wine; if you wish to make it stronger put in a pint or two of brandy.

1557. Currant Wine - Black

Take three pounds of ripe black currants, pick and bruise them, and put them into a deep basin with four bottles and a half of brandy; add, if you please, some cloves and a little bruised cinnamon, and set the jar in a place for two months. At the end of that time strain off the liquor, press the currants well in order to extract all the juice, which put again into the jar with a pound and three quarters of sugar; leave it until the sugar is melted, and then strain through paper and bottle off. This liquor becomes excellent after three or four years' keeping.

1558. Cowslip Wine

One gallon of water, three pounds of lump sugar, one Seville orange, and one lemon to every gallon of cowslip pips. First boil the water and sugar an hour, skim it clear and boil, pour it out, let it stand till nearly cold, then put it in the barrel upon the pips, with a teacupful of yeast to eight gallons of wine. Peel half the number of oranges and lemons, squeeze the juice into the cask, cut the remainder into slice's, which add with the peels. When the fermentation ceases or has lasted long enough, put to the whole a little brandy.