1891 Drinks à La Mode by Mrs de Salis

44 DRINKS A LA MODE ficient water to cover them, and let them boil. After bringing to boil they must gently simmer till tender, when the skins must be removed. Boil and clarify the sugar, and pour it through a colander over the fruit, and let it remain to soak for a day and a half ; then put the apricots into bottles. Add syrup and brandy in quantities half and half. Secure the corks well, and bottle a year before using. Black Currant Gin. To every quart of fruit put a pound of broken sugar candy ; add three cloves and a pint and a half of gin and place in a stone jar, which must be very tightly covered, and shake it constantly. It will not be fit for drinking for three months, when the liquid ought to be very clear after it is strained from the fruit. Take ten pounds of blackberries and mash them with the juice of ten oranges and five lemons. Pound in a mortar a quarter of a pound of bitter almonds, the same of nutmeg, one pod of vanilla, half an ounce of coriander seeds, and two sticks of Jamaica ginger. Put this with the fruit and a pint of syrup. Put it all into a well-corked stone bottle and stand it near the fire for a fortnight, when the liquor can be strained off, and to each quart add one of best brandy ; then let it stand another fort- night, and clear it by running it two or three times through a jelly, bag. Blackberry Ratafia.