Original White House Cookbook

Berries should be ripe and plump. Put into a large wood or stone vessel with a tap ; pour on sufficient boiling water to cover them ; when cool enough to bear your hand, bruise well until all the berries are broken ; cover up, let stand until berries begin to rise to top, which will occur in three or four days. Then draw off the clear juice in another vessel, and add one pound of sugar to every ten quarts of the liquor, and stir thoroughly. Let stand six to ten days in first vessel with top ; then draw off through a jelly bag. Steep four ounces of isinglass in a pint of wine for twelve hours; boil it over a slow fire till all dissolved, then place dissolved isinglass in a gallon of blackberry juice, give them a boil together and pour all into the vessel. Let stand a few days to ferment and settle ; draw off and keep in a cool place. Other berry wines may be made in the same manner. GRAPE WINE. Mash the grapes and strain them through a cloth; put the skins in a tub, after squeezing them, with barely enough water to cover them ; strain the Juice thus obtained into the first portion; put three pounds of sugar to one gallon of the mixture; let it stand in an open tub to ferment, covered with a cloth, for a period of from three to seven days ; skim off what rises every morning. Put the juice in a cask and leave it open for twenty-four hours ; then bung it up, and put clay over the bung to keep the air out. Let your wine remain in the cask until March, when it should be drawn off and bottled. FLORIDA ORANGE WINE. Wipe the oranges with a wet cloth, peel off the yellow rind very thin, squeeze the oranges, and strain the juice through a hair-sieve ; measure the juice after it is strained and for each gallon allow three pounds of granulated sugar, the white and shell of one egg and one-third of a gallon of cold water ; put the sugar, the white and shell of the egg (crushed small) and the water over the fire and stir them .every two minutes until the eggs begin to harden ; then boil the syrup until it looks clear under the froth of egg which will form on the surface ; strain the syrup, pour it upon the orange rind and let it stand over night; then next add the orange juice and again let it stand over night ; strain it the second day, and put it into a tight cask with a small cake of compressed yeast to about ten gallons of wine, and leave the bung out of the cask until the wine ceases to ferment ; the hissing noise continues as long as fermentation is in progress; when fermentation ceases, close the cask by driving in the bung, and let the wine stand about nine months before bottling it ; three months after it is bottled, it can be used. A glass of brandy added to each gallon of wine after fermentation ceases is generally considered an improvement. There are seasons of the year when Florida oranges by the box are very cheap, and this fine wine can be made at a small expense. METHELIN, OR HONEY WINE. This is a very ancient and popular drink in the north of Europe. To some new honey, strained, add spring water; put a whole egg into it ; boil