Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Raisin Wine with Cider (a strong wine).^Take forty pounds of Malaga raisins, pick them from the stalks, cut them in halves, put them into a sweet eighteengallon cask, fill it up with good sound cider, and bung it tightly. After three or four days, secure the bung, and at the end of six months draw off into a tub all that runs clear ; press the liquor from the fruit into another vessel, filter this and the lees through a flannel bag, and put the whole into a ten-gallon cask, with two quarts of French brandy, the thin yellow rind of three fresh lemons and four Seville oranges, and half a pound of sugarcandy crushed small. Bung the cask securely ; after twelve months, bottle the wine, seal the corks, and keep it for two years. Raisins, Baba with {see Baba, &c.) Raisins, Varieties of.— The following interesting information about raisins is from " Borwick's Monthly Circular " — The muscatels are the most highly esteemed, and are prepared by cutting the stalk half off that bears the bunch when the grapes are fully ripe, removing all leaves that can shade them, and allowing them thus to dry in the sun. These are called "raisins of the sun." The bunches are carefully removed, and packed in boxes in layers, with a paper separating each layer. A more common kind called Lexias is prepared by collecting the grapes when ripe, and dipping them into a lye made from the ashes produced by burning the branches of the vine. These are mostly from Valentia, as the preceding kinds are from Malaga — both from Southern Spain. A small black raisin comes from Smyrna, in Asia Minor. It is dry, and generally used for culinary purposes. Another variety from Turkey in Asia, called Sultanas, is put up in drums, and although small, is delicious. What we call currants, from the Grecian Islands, are really raisins, and should be so designated. They are small, seedless grapes, growing on the Islands of Zante, Corfu, and Cephalonia, on the western coast of Greece. Raisins are imported in casks, barrels, boxes, and jars. The finest come in jars and quarter-boxes weighing about twentj'- five pounds. Some of the inferior sorts are brought to us in mats. The muscatels from Malaga fetch fully a third more than any other description of raisins. The Smyrna black is the cheapest variety. The price depends much on the season and the period of the year. Raisinee. — This is a rob, or sweetmeat, much thought of in France. Boil new wine, and skim it till only haK the quantity remains. Strain it, add apples pared and cut into quarters, and let it simmer gently till the apples are thoroughly mixed with the wine, which will then be found to have a very agreeable acid taste. Cider may be used instead of wine. Raisine de Bourgogne (a French recipe). — Press the juice from very ripe grapes, which put into a preserving-pan, and let it boil till it is reduced one-half ; skim and stir it all the time that it may not stick to the pan. Peel, quarter, and core some ripe pears, put them into the juice, and let them boil tiU it is again reduced by a third, when the pears will be done. You must keep stirring all the time. Put them into pots, and let them stand one night in the oven. — A. Von Kochheim. Ramakin or Cheese Pudding.— Grate