1939 The Gentleman's Companion volume II Beeing an Exotic Drinking Book

THE EXOTIC DRINKING BOOK

tender herbs to be dried, much of the fragrant volatile oil dissipates itself on the morning air as soon as the sun beats down on blooms or leaf tips. Separate the petals, discard dewdrops, and inferior petal specimens, and snip off yellow or white areas around the stamen region. Now put petals in a jar with I qt of really decent cognac poured over them. Be sure it is covered tightly, and agitate it with a gentle and considerate hand every week. After a month of this scented bath add a gomme syrup generated from the wedding of 3 cups of sugar with 2 cups of distilled water, and handled as follows. . . . Boil briskly for 20 min– utes, skimming off scum, then put in the selected petals of I doz more red roses, dusted and tossed first with powdered sugar. Let the saucepan boil up again, then simmer gently for I hr tightly covered. Now filter the 1st rose petal-brandy infusion from the jar, and rack it into a large sterile bottle. A filter paper is of course best here. Then add the rose petal syrup, likewise filtered through a tammy or several thicknesses of cloth, working it through with a spoon. Stir the final mixture, then let stand uncorked except for a bit of cloth over bottle neck for 12 hrs, then cork and seal with wax. . . . Our experience has been that there is a very slight sedimen t which settles out of this blend, and if the bottles are once more filtered after a couple of weeks stand– ing undisturbed, the result is all the heart could desire. . . . Receipt for the Vicomte's Cocktail, made of this rose brandy, may be found on Page 135. NOW to CREATE a WORTHY CIDER-which ls CERTAINLY as IMPORTANT an EVENT as FABRICATING a PROFITABLE MousE TRAP, or HoT WATER BAG, or HAm ToNIC The Normandy chateau country is famous for its apples, for its Calvados apple brl:tndy, for its cider; for its cider champagne which, if properly made and aged, is as fine in its own manner as champao-ne made from Rheims grapes, for instance. This is an old French rec:ipt we picked up in Paris 12 years back, and although cider making differs in its finer tr'immings between France and-let's say-the Yakima • 1 57 .