1896 Fancy Drinks and Popular Beverages by the Only William

95

LIQUORS AND RATAFIAS.

284. Nalifka.

A kind of a light fruit liquor; it is made mostly of berries and cherries, but also of plums and apples, and is very highly estim– ated in Russia, and prepared there in almost all_ houses, especially in the country. The best nalifkas are won of the Rubus Cha111a:– morus, which grows only in Russia, Nonvay, Sweden, East Prussia, and the northern part of England, of the black and red currants, of the berries of the mountain ash, and of cherries. All these fruits must be very ripe; those of the mountain must not be gathered before the first frost. Fill a big glass jar two-thirds full with berries, and pour over it cognac to fill the jar; close the jar with a piece of muslin; expose it from two to three months to the direct action of the sunlight, and shake every second or third day. Then filter the nalifka through a funnel covered with linen and absorbent cot– ton, until it flows off perfectly clear ; fill into ordinary wine bottles. Add to each three or four bottles of nalifka one bottle of water, and to each bottle of the thinned liquor four ounces of sugar that has been refined in boiling water to a consistent syrup. Add to this syrup the whole quantity of nalifka, heat the fluid, while constantly stirring, nearly to the boiling-point; take it from the fire, and pour it into an earthen or china pot. After cooling, bottle, cork and seal; you may either use it right away, or keep it.

285. Nonµareil 1J:.iqttenr.

Peel a perfectly ripe pineapple, cut it into slices and mash them; add twenty of the best white plums, cut in two, and with– out the pits-and one dozen of very aromatic pears. To each four pounds of fruit take six pounds of loaf-sugar, and one and a half quarts of water; boil all this for three-quarters of an hour in an enameled pot; pour it into a tureen, add three quarts of fine cognac, cover it air-tight, let it stand for six weeks, filter through a jelly-bag, and bottle.