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Home-made Beverages.
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Vespetro.
Put 2 quarts of good brandy into a jar with
half oz. each of angelica, aniseed, coriander,
caraway, and fennel seeds. Infuse for six
weeks, keeping the jar tightly covered and
shaking it occasionally, then strain through
filtering paper. Put one and a half lb. cane
sugar into a pan with a gill of water and boil
togetherfor five minutes,skimming when neces
sary; when cold add it to the liqueur, pour into
bottles, and cork and seal them securely.
Walnut Liqueur.
Gather 60 green walnuts in June, cut them
into small pieces, and put them into a jar with
J oz. cloves, an inch of bruised cinnamon, 3
pints of unsweetened gin and 1 lb. crushed
sugar candy. Infuse for a month, then filter
and bottle.
Wassail Bowl.
Put 2 cloves, J oz. root ginger, half a small
grated nutmeg, a blade of mace, and 2 corian
der and cardamom seeds into a pan with one and
a half gills of water, and boil for 5 minutes,then
add 12 oz. of loaf sugar previously rubbed
on the rind of a large lemon, and two bottles of
sherry. Put the whites of 3 eggs and the yolks
of six into a bowl, and add gradually two and a
half gills of the warm liquid, boil the rest of the
liquid and pour into the bowl, stirring and
beating vigorously to froth the liquid. Add
6 cored and roasted apples, and serve very hot.
Whisky Cordial.
Strip a pint of ripe sound white currants from
their stalks, bruise them and put them into a
jar with 3 pints of good old whisky, 1 lb. cane
sugar, the thinly pared rind of two lemons,
and an inch of bruised root ginger. Infuse for
a fortnight, then filter and bottle.
Whisky Shrub.
Boil 2 lb. of brown cane sugar and half a
pint of water together for 10 minutes,skimming
when necessary. When cold pour into ajar,add
the strained juice of two pounds of lemons, and
J lb. of Seville oranges, the thinly pared rind of
4 lemons, a gill of porter and two quarts of
F