1922 Home-Made Beverages and American Drinks by M E Steedman

Home-made Beverages.

13

Beetroot Wine. Well wash 15 lb. of beetroots without break ing the skins, and boil them gently until tender. Pound 6 pints of sloes in a mortar till the stones are broken, then place them in a preserving pan with a quart of water, and boil for twenty minutes, then strain. When the beetroots are cold peel and slice them,and place them in a large earthenware vessel with the sloe juice. Cover over with a folded cloth, and next day add 6lb. of halved sultana raisins, and the thinly pared rind of 2 Seville oranges and 2 small lemons. Boil 4^ gallons of water and 13 lb. of pure cane sugar together for 40 minutes, skimming well, then pour it over the beetroot, and when lukewarm, stir in 4 table- spoonfuls of yeast, cover over, and leave for 3 days. Strain the liquid into a cask, and keep back about a gallon to fill up the cask as the fermentation subsides. When this has ended, add a pint ,of good brandy and 3 oz. of sugar candy, bung the cask, and leave it undisturbed for a month, then rack it off, filter the lees, and return the whole to the cask with 1 oz. of dis solved isinglass and 1 oz.of blanched andshredded bitter almonds. Bung the cask tightly,and leave it for 18 months, then bottle, and in a year it will be ready for use. Birch Beer. Boil 1 lb. of black birch bark in 7 pints of water for 1 hour, then strain, and boil rapidly until the liquid is of the consistency of treacle. Boil 2 oz. of hops, J lb. of ginger, J lb. of pimiento and 3 gallons of water together for 25 minutes, strain on to the bark liquor, return to the pan and bring to boiling point (stirring frequently), then add 6 quarts of golden syrup, and when dissolved, strain into a clean cask. Add20gallonsofboiled water,and whenthe whole is lukewarm stir in a pint of liquid yeast. Bung the cask loosely till fermentation has quite ceased, then bottle the beer, cork and seal, and store in a cool place. Birch Wine. Boil 9 gallons of sap from the birch tree, 9 quarts of honey(or 23 lb. of pure cane sugar),