1903 The Flowing Bowl by Edward Spencer

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THE FLOWING BOWL

Orange Brandy should be made in the month of March, and, well-made, is the best of all cordials, being especially valuable ona cold morning just before proceeding with the hounds to draw Newton Wood. Take the thin rinds of six Seville oranges, and put them into a stone jar, with half a pint of the strained juice and half a gallon of good old brandy. Let it remain three days, then add one pound and a quarter of loaf-sugar—broken, not pounded and stir till the sugar is dissolved. Let the liquor stand a day, strain it through paper until quite clear, pour into bottles, and cork tightly. The longer it is kept the better. The ancients apparently interpreted the word "cordial" in a different way to our later way; and their cordials were chiefly used in the sick room. The Saffron Cordial^ for instance, was chiefly employed to cure faint ing fits, the ague, and the smallpox. I think I should have preferred all three complaints at once. Fill a large still with marigold flowers, and strew on it an ounce of ground nutmeg; beat them grosly, and take an ounce of the best English saffron, pull it, and mix with the flowers ; then take three pints of muscadine or tent, or Malaga sack, and with a sprig of rosemary dash it on the flowers ; then distil it off with a slow fire, and let it drop on