The Lady's Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life RationallyLoudon, Mrs. (Jane)
General
The Lady's Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally
Loudon, Mrs. (Jane)
Cooking; Country life; Home economics
_Ripe Gooseberry wine_ is made with hot water; first crushing the
fruit, and, after letting it stand twenty-four hours, pressing the
juice through a linen cloth. Hot water is then poured over the marc,
in the proportion of two quarts of water to every gallon of the fruit
before it was crushed; and, after remaining in the tub twelve hours,
the marc is again pressed, and the liquor from it mixed with that
produced by the fruit. Two and a half or three pounds of lump sugar
should now be added to every gallon of the liquor, and the whole left
to ferment. If moist sugar be used, the quantity should be four pounds
to every gallon of the liquor. The rest of the process is the same as
before; but when the fermentation has ceased it is usual to add British
brandy, in the proportion of one quart to two gallons and a half of
the wine.
When _Currant wine_ is made, it is said to be best to boil the liquor
after the sugar is added, before fermenting it in the cask.
_Elderberry wine_ is generally made with moist sugar, and ginger and
other spices are added to it.
_Cowslip wine_ is made by boiling sugar and water together, and
pouring the liquor over the rind of lemons and Seville oranges, in the
proportion of four of these fruits to a gallon of sugar and water: the
juice of the oranges and lemons is added, and the whole is fermented
with yeast. The cowslip flowers are then put into the wine, in the
proportion of one quart to every gallon of liquor, and stirred up well
till they sink. When the wine is tunned, a few sprigs of sweet briar
are often put into the cask, and one ounce of isinglass for every
gallon of liquor; in a few days it is bunged up close. In six months it
will be fit to bottle; but it will be better for remaining longer in
the cask.
Any other kind of wine may be made when the wine is to be made of
English fruit, either as was directed for the green or the ripe
gooseberry wines; and when not made of English fruit, by boiling sugar
and water, and fermenting it, before adding the substance that is to
give the flavour as directed for the Cowslip wine.
_Cider_ is made by grinding apples, and then expressing the juice,
which is fermented with yeast, but without sugar. _Perry_ is made in
the same way; and both may be made on a small scale by bruising apples
or pears in a deep tub, as was recommended for bruising fruit in made
wines.
_A brick oven for baking Bread_ is often placed in the scullery. The
ordinary size of an oven of this kind is about six feet long by four
feet deep; and it is about eighteen inches high in the centre of the
arch: the floor (which generally inclines a little from the head of
the oven to the mouth) is laid with tiles, and the arch is formed of
fire-brick, set in fire-clay or in loam mixed with powdered brick; the
whole being surrounded by a large mass of common brickwork, to keep in
the heat.
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