Original White House Cookbook

this liquor till the egg swims above the liquor ; strain, pour it in a cask. To every fifteen gallons add two ounces of white Jamaica ginger, bruised, one ounce of cloves and mace, one and a half ounces of cinnamon, all bruised together and tied up in a muslin bag ; accelerate the fermentation with yeast ; when worked sufficiently, bung up ; in six weeks draw off into bottles. Another Mead. — Boil the combs, from which the honey has been drained, with sufficient water to make a tolerably sweet liquor ; ferment this with yeast and proceed as per previous formula. Sack Mead is made by adding a handful of hops and sufficient brandy to the comb liquor. BLACK CURRANT WINE. Four quarts of whisky, four quarts of black currants, four pounds of brown or white sugar, one tablespoonful of cloves, one tablespoonful of cinnamon. Crush the currants and let them stand in the whisky with the spices for three weeks ; then strain and add the sugar ; set away again for three weeks longer; then strain and bottle. RAISIN WINE. Take two pounds of raisins, seed and chop them, a lemon, a pound of white sugar and about two gallons of boiling water. Pour into a stone jar and stir daily for six or eight days. Strain, bottle and put in a cool place for ten days or so, when the wine will be ready for use, CHERRY BOUNCE. To ONE gallon of wild cherries add enough good whisky to cover the fruit. Let soak two or three weeks and then drain off the liquor. Mash the cherries without breaking the stones and strain through a jelly-bag ; add this liquor to that already drained off. Make a syrup with a gill of water and a pound of white sugar to every two quarts of liquor thus prepared; stir in well and bottle, and tightly cork. A common way of making cherry bounce is to put wild cherries and whisky together in a jug and use the liquor as wanted. BLACKBERRY CORDIAL. Warm and squeeze the berries ; add to one pint of juice one pound of white sugar, one-half ounce of powdered cinnamon, one-fourth ounce of mace, two teaspoonfuls of cloves. Boil all together for one-fourth of an hour ; strain the syrup, and to each pint add a glass of French brandy. Two or three doses of a tablespoonful or less will check any slight diarrhoea. When the attack is violent, give a tablespoonful after each discharge until the complaint is in subjection. It will arrest dysentery if given in season, and is a pleasant and safe remedy. Excellent for children when teething. HOP BEER. Take five quarts of water, six ounces of hops, boil it three hours ; then strain the liquor, add to it five quarts of water, four ounces of bruised ginger root ; boil this again twenty minutes. Strain and add four pounds of sugar. When luke-warm put in a pint of yeast. Let it ferment ; in twenty-four hours it will be ready for bottling. GINGER BEER. Put into a kettle two ounces of powdered ginger root (or more if it is not very strong), half an ounce of cream of tartar, two large lemons, cut in slices, two pounds of broken loaf sugar and two gallons of soft boiling water. Simmer them over a slow fire for half an hour. When the liquor is nearly cold, stir into it a large tablespoonful of the best yeast. After it has fermented, which will be in about twenty-four hours, bottle for use. SPRUCE BEER.