English Champagne or Currant Wine

Ingredients

• three gallons of water
• nine pounds of Lisbon sugar
• one gallon of currants pick’d
• half a pint of balm
• half an ounce of ising-glass
• a very small lump of double-refin’d sugar

Method

1. 1

   Boil water and sugar for half an hour, skimming it clean.

2. 2

   Pour boiling liquor over currants.

3. 3

   When cold, work with balm for two days.

4. 4

   Strain and put into a barrel with ising-glass.

5. 5

   After working, stop it for a month, then bottle with sugar.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Old Cookery Books and Ancient Cuisine (1886) by William Carew Hazlitt, page 47. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

three gallons of water nine pounds of Lisbon sugar ; boil the water and sugar half an hour, scum it clean, then have one gallon of currants pick’d, but not bruised, pour the liquor boiling-hot over them, and when cold, work it with half a pint of balm two days ; then pour it through a flannel or sieve, then put it into a barrel fit for it with half an ounce of ising-glass well bruised ; when it has done working, stop it close for a month, then bottle it, and in every bottle put a very small lump of double-refin’d sugar

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.