The American Pictorial Home Book
or Housekeeper's Encyclopedia - online book

A reference manual of household management in Victorian times.

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416
REFRESHING DRINKS.
Buttermilk, its properties.—Cooly.—If the butter be prepared from sweet cream, the buttermilk left from the operation is not only very delicious, but exceedingly wholesome and nutritious.
Caracoa.—Take i pint of brandy and put into it the rind of 6 oranges pared as thin as possible. Let this stand for 3 days, stirring it very often, then add the juice of the oranges, and 2 quarts of brandy, 5 lbs. of loaf sugar powdered, and 1 lb, of sugar candy powdered; stir it well for 1-2 hour and let it remain 2 days longer, stirring it during the time. Then strain and bottle it. It should not be opened for six months—the longer it is kept, the better.
To make a Sherry Cobler.—Reduce the ice into snowflakes by means of an ice-plane, or pound a quantity of ice quite fine in a coarse cloth by beating it with a mallet, half fill a large tumbler with this pounded ice, add one or two teaspoonfuls of powdered sugar, the rind of 1-2 lemon and one or two glasses of sherry. Stir them well together and drink through a small tube or straw.
Cherry Bounce.—Mrs. M. E. Upshur.—Fill your jug with cher­ries, (the May Duke are the best) sweeten your rum to taste; allow 1 lb. of sugar to 1 gal. rum; pour into the jug, or stone pot, the rum, and let it remain two months on the fruit, then pour it off and bot­tle it.
Peach Spongage.— Proportions: 5 gills of syrup at 38 degrees, 5 gills of pared raw peaches, 2 tablespoonfuls of maraschino and 1 gill of whites of eggs whipped. Place the peaches in a basin, dilute them with the white of eggs and the syrup, pass the preparation through a tammy, let freeze. Last of all, introduce into it the ma-rachino, mixed with a little syrup by degrees only.
Medicated or Spiced Wine.—In a mortar beat separately 1-4 ounce each of cinnamon, 12 blades of mace, 2 nutmegs and a tea-spoonful of coriander seeds. Mix them together and put them into a jar containing a quart of the best port wine. Add the rind and the juice of 4 large California lemons, mixed with 1-2 lb. of pow­dered loaf sugar. Cover the vessel closely, and let it steep a week or more, then strain the liquid through a linen bag and bottle it.
California Spiced Wine.—Infuse for a few hours in about 3 quarts of white wine 1 1-2 lb. of loaf sugar, 1 oz. cinnamon, 3 or 4 drops of sweet marjoram or sage, and a little white pepper, all beaten in a mortar. Run the liquor through a* filtering bag and add the juice of a large, ripe and juicy lemon; warm it moderately over the fire, pour it again on the spices, and when it has stood 3 or 4 days, strain off and bottle for use. If wanted to be red, port wine may be used, or the liquor colored with the juice of cider, or mulberries, cochineal, &c.
Common Punch.—Take a teaspoonful of the acid salt of lemons,