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148
FRUIT WINES.
499. <!ti()cr.
Cider is chiefly produced in large quant1t1es by pressing
apples with an addition of water; yet one may obtain smaller
quantities for the family use without too great trouble, by
grating fine, juicy peeled apples on a grater; filter the juice
through a cloth, pour it into stone jars, and add some roasted
apples to hasten fermentation. When, after a couple of days, a
skin appears on the juice, fermentation is complete; remove the
skin, bottle the cider, and keep it in a cool place.
Larger quantities of cider are obtained by mashing good,
juicy apples; press them, and fill the juice into a small Rhine
wine cask. Place this cask in a cool room upon a skid, when
the juice will soon begin to ferment; fermentation will take about
a fortnight; during this time remove with a clean piece of linen
all stuffs thrown to the surface; as soon as fermentation is done
fill the cask up with water, bung it well, and let it lie in the cel–
lar half a year; decant it into another cask, let it lie for another
two months, and fill into bottles.
5(10. <!tnrrant h1inc.
Collect the perfectly ripe currants on a sunny day, clean, and
put them in a trig earthen or wooden pot, and mash them with
a wooden ma!>_her; let ferment in a cellar, and strain through a
hair-sieve with a wooden spoon; never use your hands; decant
into a little cask; add to each quart of juice half a pound of
powdered sugar, and to each twelve quarts of juice one quart of
brandy or arrack; let the wine stand six weeks, bottle, and use
after two months.
501. <!tnrrant lUinc m
t~c <!Englis~
5t!Jlc.
From twelve to fourteen quarts of currants are mashed, the
juice pressed out, and the remnants covered with eighteen quarts
of.cold water; stir repeatedly, press out again the following day,
mi.x:
with the juice, ano fourteen pounds of loaf-sugar; when the