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Home-made Beverages.
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Beetroot Wine.
Well wash 15 lb. of beetroots without break
ing the skins, and boil them gently until
tender. Pound 6 pints of sloes in a mortar
till the stones are broken, then place them in a
preserving pan with a quart of water, and boil
for twenty minutes, then strain. When the
beetroots are cold peel and slice them,and place
them in a large earthenware vessel with the
sloe juice. Cover over with a folded cloth, and
next day add 6lb. of halved sultana raisins, and
the thinly pared rind of 2 Seville oranges and
2 small lemons. Boil 4^ gallons of water and
13 lb. of pure cane sugar together for 40
minutes, skimming well, then pour it over the
beetroot, and when lukewarm, stir in 4 table-
spoonfuls of yeast, cover over, and leave for
3 days. Strain the liquid into a cask, and keep
back about a gallon to fill up the cask as the
fermentation subsides. When this has ended,
add a pint ,of good brandy and 3 oz. of sugar
candy, bung the cask, and leave it undisturbed
for a month, then rack it off, filter the lees, and
return the whole to the cask with 1 oz. of dis
solved isinglass and 1
oz.ofblanched andshredded
bitter almonds. Bung the cask tightly,and leave
it for 18 months, then bottle, and in a year it
will be ready for use.
Birch Beer.
Boil 1 lb. of black birch bark in 7 pints of
water for 1 hour, then strain, and boil rapidly
until the liquid is of the consistency of treacle.
Boil 2 oz. of hops, J lb. of ginger, J lb. of
pimiento and 3 gallons of water together for
25 minutes, strain on to the bark liquor, return
to the pan and bring to boiling point (stirring
frequently), then add 6 quarts of golden syrup,
and when dissolved, strain into a clean cask.
Add20gallonsofboiled water,and whenthe whole
is lukewarm stir in a pint of liquid yeast. Bung
the cask loosely till fermentation has quite
ceased, then bottle the beer, cork and seal, and
store in a cool place.
Birch Wine.
Boil 9 gallons of sap from the birch tree,
9 quarts of honey(or 23 lb. of pure cane sugar),