1857 The Bordeaux wine and liquor dealers' guide

16

A TREATISE OX

Cordials are prepared by either infusing the aro– matics in the spirit, and drawing off the essence by distillation, which is then sweetened, or without dis– tillation, by :flavoring the spirit with essential oiis, or simple digestion on the ingredients, adding sugar or syrup, as before. Pure spirit is the basis used in making all kinds of cordials, and for this purpose should be perfectly ftav07'kss; or, if not entirely so, the cordial will be inferior. The solid ingredients should be coarsely pounded or bruised before digestion in the spirit, and this should be done immediately before putting · them into the cask or vat ; as, after they are bruised: they rapidly lose their aromatic properties by expo– sure to the air. The practice of drying the ingredi– ents before pounding them, adopted by some work– men for the mere sake of lessening the labor, cannot be too much avoided, as the least exposure to heat tends to lessen their aromatic properties, which are very volatile. The length of time the ingredients should be digested in the spirit, should never be less than three or four days, but a longer period is pre– ferable when distillation is not employed. In either case, the time allowed for digestion may be advan– tageously extended to ten days or a fortnight, and frequent agitation should be had recourse to. W11en essential oils are employed to give the flavor, they

Google

Digitized by