The "Queen" cookery books: Pickles and Preserves

It may be worth reminding thrifty housewives, that these liqueurs are well worth making for kitchen purposes, as they save the more expensive bought liqueurs and are very easily prepared, as being for use in flavouring sweet dishes there need be no syrup added; the method usually consists of adding a certain proportion of any sort of essence to the spirit, in about the proportion of ten to fifteen drops of any concentrated essence to taste, to one and a half pints of spirit, and infusing for a fortnight before bottling it off. (Remember the proportion must vary slightly with the strength and freshness of the essence used.) Or indeed any of the previous recipes may be followed, omitting the syrup. A very useful specimen of this class is Spirit of Curaçoa. — For this dry the thinly pared rind of four lemons, four sweet and four Seville oranges in the oven, then infuse them for a month in three pints of brandy or any spirit to taste, with a piece of stick cinnamon and a tiny blade of mace. Keep this closely covered and at the end of the time filter and bottle off in little bottles. Or Spirit of Bosolio. — Infuse for a fortnight fifty grammes of fresh orange blossom petals, five grammes of cinnamon, two of mace, two of cloves, ten grammes of rose and jessamine petals, half the thinly pared rind of one citron and one lemon, and a morsel of vanilla in a full quart of spirit, then filter and bottle. The addition of sufficient cold, clear syrup to taste will convert any of these socalled “ spirits ” into very nice liqueurs. CHAPTER VI. REQUEUES, WINES, &c. (Continued) . Formerly home-made wines were in great request, and every kind of fruit and, indeed, vegetable, was utilised for this purpose. The fashion has, however, somewhat died out, though here and there housewives still ask for recipes for cowslip, blackberry, and other wines of this kind, and recipes for these have frequently appeared in the columns of the Queen. Indeed, many of these are very useful in the kitchen. Home-made Red Wine. — Take of rhubarb (autumn), 141b. ; elderberries, one gallon ; bilberries, one gallon. Cut the rhubarb into inch pieces, pound it well with a wooden mallet, and put it in a very clean mash tub. Then add the elderberries, and, lastly, the bilberries, crushing both of these well in a bowl before adding them, being careful that each berry is crushed. Now, for this quantity of fruit, pour to it four and a half gallons of freshly boiled and boiling water, cover with a blanket or folded cloth, to keep out the dust, and let it stand four or five days, by which time it will have formed a thick crust on the top. (It will do this sooner if the weather is close.) Now draw off the liquor very carefully by means of