1919 Home made beverages

Syrups

and it may be carried out in various ways. For instance, fill the syrup while hot in quart bottles, previously wanned, and fill them almost full. Cover or cork the bottles tem- porarily until the syrup cools a little and contracts in volume; then, having heated a small quantity of the syrup, refill the bottles, cork them securely and wax them. A great variety of syrups are made by the addition of proper flavoring ingredients to simple syrup, but in other cases, especially when the juices of fruits are employed, the syrup is not first prepared and then flavored, but the processes go hand in hand. In such instances specific instructions will be given. It is always advisable, when fresh fruit can be obtained, to use it in preference to the essence. One general recipe, which answers for nearly all fresh fruit, is as follows: Use nothing but the very best fresh fruit, which must be freed from stocks, etc., and crushed with a wooden instrument (not metal). When well mashed, let it stand in a room of even temperature (about 68° F.) for 4 days, which will give sufficient time for fermentation to take place; press out the juice from the fruit and let it settle in a cool cellar for 2 days, after which 5 pounds of the clear juice is to be simmered with 9 pounds of loaf sugar. While warm strain through flan- nel. The color may be improved by a solution of some coloring agent. It is advisable to add to the fresh fruit, before setting it for fermentation, about 2 pounds of powdered loaf sugar for every 100 pounds of fruit. When cold, it is ready for bottling. Cleanliness should be strictly ob- served in all the utensils used. When bottling for storing, skim the top of any floating matter from the syrups in the large pan, and see that no residue at the bottom goes into the bottles. Most of the syrups not made of fruit may have a little mucilage of gum arabic added, in order to produce a rich froth. The following recipes comprise syrups made from the fruit and also from essences. These may be varied to suit taste and requirements. A variety of syrups have been brought into use by adding the 27