Vinetum Britannicum, or, A treatise of cider and such other wines and drinks that are extracted from all manner of fruits growing in this kingdom together with the method of propogating all sorts of vinous fruit-trees, and a description of the new-invented ingenio, or mill, for the more expeditious and better making of cider : and also, the right method of making metheglin and birch-wine : with copper-plates / by J.W., gent.

CHAP. V. Of making Cider and other Liquors of Apples and other Fruits. (Book 5)

SECT. I. Of gathering and preparing Apples, &c.

AFter you have thus brought your Plantation to perfection, that you can gather Fruit enough of your own to make Cider or other Liquors, according to the nature of the Fruit; the first thing to be considered of, is its Maturity; there being * 1.1 much Cider spoiled in most parts of England, through that one general errour of gather∣ing of Fruit before its due Maturity. For there is scarce any Fruit in the world, but yields very different Liquors, according to the different degrees of Maturity of the same Fruit. As the Juice of the Coco-nut whilst green, is a pleasant thin Drink, but when through ripe, becomes a rich Oyl or Milk: So the Juice of our European Fruits which, when most mature, yields a plea∣sant

Drink; if pressed before, yield but a crude and sowre Liquor.

This errour or neglect (occasioned part∣ly because the several sorts of Apples ripen not at the same time, or that the Wind pre∣vents their hanging long enough on the Trees, or the gross ignorance of the Opera∣tour, or his covetousness of having more Liquor than otherwise he should expect) hath not onely been the occasion of much thin, raw, phlegmatick, sowre, and unwhol∣some Cider, but hath cast a reflection on the good report that Cider well made most rightly deserves.

Therefore, in case your Fruit be not ripe all at one time, select such sorts that are of a like degree of Maturity, and according to the quantity of them, and so propor∣tion your Vessels; and you were better make it at several times, than spoil your whole Vintage.

Or if the Winds should beat down many of your Apples, and you are unwilling to spoil or loose them, you may let them lie dry as long as you can before you grinde them, that they may obtain as great a degree of Maturity as they can; and let that Cider be throughly fermented before it be bar∣rel'd, according to the Rules hereafter set

down, and not kept too long, to acquire too much acidity.

Let not any think that they advantage themselves any thing by mixing unripe with ripe Fruit, or by grinding their Ap∣ples too soon; for they were better loose a part of their Cider, than spoil the whole.

To prevent which ill effect, let your Fruit be through ripe; which is known, First, By the colour of them, if you are acquainted therewith, else that may de∣ceive you; some Apples appearing brighter before they are ripe, than others when full ripe: the same may be observed in Pears, and especially Cherries; some sorts requi∣ring twelve or fourteen days throughly to maturate them after they seem to be as ripe as the ordinary Flanders. Secondly, By the smell, most Apples and Pears casting a fragrant Odour when ripe, and is a very good signe of their maturity, although some Apples and Pears have but little smell; but such for this purpose are to be rejected. Thirdly, By the blackness of their Kernels, which when they are of that colour, it doth signifie that the Fruit is inclining to be ripe; for after the Kernels are black, the Fruit ought to hang on the Trees some time to perfect their Maturity; the Liquor

within them being better digested and con∣cocted by the vertue of the Sun on the Tree, than by any Artifice whatsoever after∣wards.

On the other hand, be cautious of letting Fruit hang on the Trees too long, lest they grow pulpy, which some Summer-Apples and Pears are apt to do: it so u∣nites the Juice with the fleshy part of the Fruit, that it is difficult to separate the one from the other.

When your Fruits are in a good condi∣tion * 1.2 as to Maturity, and the weather fair, then gather them by hand; which if your stock be not greater than your number of hands, is a much better way than to beat or shake them down; but if your stock ex∣ceed, then shake them down, so that the ground be dry. For this purpose low Trees are to be prefer'd, as before was ob∣served.

If any of your Fruit happen to be bro∣ken, lay them by themselves, an ordinary bruise not much injuring the Fruit; but where the skin is broken, the Spirits exhale, for the bruise begets a fermentation, after which the Spirits first rise, being, where the skin is whole, detained.

In some parts of England their ignorance,

or rather laziness, is such, that they scarce bestow the gathering of their Fruit to keep for their Table; how then can you expect their care for Cider?

Some do prefer the grinding of Ap∣ples * 1.3 immediately from the Tree, so soon as they are throughly ripe, because they yield the greater quantity of Liquor: They al∣so pretend, though erroneously, that the Cider will drink the better, and last longer than if the Apples were hoarded.

But if you intend to have your Cider pleasant and lasting, let them lie some time in a heap out of the Sun and Rain, and on a dry floor, on dry Rye, Wheat, or Oaten∣straw is best, until they have either sweat out, or digested a certain crude Phlegmatick humour that is in most of our Fruits: the same you may observe in Nuts and all sorts of Grain. The time for this, must be re∣ferr'd to your discretion; some prescribing a month or six weeks, others but a fort∣night: Be sure not to let them lie too long lest they grow pulpy, which will very much incommode your Cider, although some are of another opinion; In medio virtus: from ten to twenty days are the best times: the harsher the Fruit, the longer the time.

Let them not lie on a Floor of ill sa∣vour, nor on Deal-boards, but with Straw under them, lest they contract an ill re∣lish, which an Apple will do in a sweat: nor let them lie abroad, as some will do, ex∣cept on dry ground, and in dry weather, and covered. Although Rain can do them no more hurt than fair Water mixt with the Cider, yet every sort of Apple will not bear it.

For, from the due time, place and man∣ner of hoarding of the Fruit, is oftentimes the Cider very good, which otherwise might have proved very bad.

By hoarding only of your Windfalls for some time, or until the time that it was ex∣pected they should have been Ripe in, doth very much meliorate the Cider made of them, which otherwise might have been very bad.

Thus when your Fruit is duely ripe, ga∣thered, and preserved, it is ready for the Mill.

SECT. II. Of Grinding of Apples.

One great impediment in the improve∣ing of this most excellent drink, hath been the want of a convenient way of grinding or bruising the Fruit. It having been the usage or custome in most places of En∣gland, where but small quantities of this Liquor hath been made, for the Operators to beat their Fruit in a Trough of Wood or Stone, with Beaters like unto Wooden Pestles, with long handles. By which means three or four Servants or Labourers might in a days time beat twenty or thirty Bushels of Apples: some part thereof into a Jelly, being often under the Beaters, whilst other part of the Fruit by its slippe∣riness escapes the Beaters; much of it also by dashing being wasted: yet by this means are made very great quantities of Cider in several places.

But where the Fruit increased, that this way became too tedious for the Ciderist, the Horse-Mill was and is still much in use, Grinding for the whole Parish: That is, by placing a large Circular Stone on edge in a round Trough, made also of Stone,

in which the Fruit is put, and Ground by the single upright Stone moved round by a Horse, as the Tanners Grind their Bark; in which Mill may be Ground sometimes three or four Hogsheads a day; and some are so large, that they Grind half a Hogshead at a Grist.

These Mills are very chargeable to make for any one that hath but an ordinary Plan∣tation; and to carry your Fruit to a Pa∣rish-Mill, and bring back your Cider, &c. is troublesome, if at any distance: And the Cider made therein, accused of an un∣pleasant taste, acquired from the Rinds, Stems, and Kernels of the Fruit which in these Mills are much bruised.

Some have taken the pains to Grate Apples on a Grater made of perforated Lat∣ten, such that House-wives use to Grate Bread on; Others, to beat them on a Table with Mauls: but these ways are to be re∣jected as idle and useless, where you have any considerable plenty of Fruit.

To remedy the inconveniencies, trouble and expences in those several ways that have been hitherto used, you may erect a Mill, the Ichnography whereof, you have in the following Figure.

The Description of the Ingenio▪ or Cider-Mill in Fig. 1.

LEt there be two Planks a a a a, of a∣bout three Foot in length or more, and about sixteen Inches in depth, in case your Cylinder or Roll be but one Foot Di∣ameter, else according to the Diameter of your Cylinder, that there be about two Inches above and below the same. If your Planks will not bear the breadth desired, they may be enlarged by addition of a piece of the same thickness, without any inconvenience. Let the Planks be about two and a half, or three Inches thick, and made to quadrate each to other. Let there be four Mortoises in each Plank, as at b b b b, for four Transomes, to keep the two sides at an equal distance, about half an Inch wider than the length of the Cylinder, that it may have the more liberty to move easie without Grating. The four Tran∣somes may be pinn'd fast into that Plank that is next you when you turn, and their Tenons made long at their other ends, that they may be two or three Inches with∣out the other Plank, that they may be

key'd at the farther side, the better to take to pieces when occasion requires.

c Is the Center of the Cylinder: in each Plank exactly one against the other, there must be a hole for the Axis to run in, which ought to be strengthned with a small Plate of Iron or Brass, to prevent wearing.

d d Shews only the Circumference of the Cylinder, which at e appears more plainly, being made of solid Oak, or Beech, the dryer the better, and freer from shrinking, of about a Foot or eighteen Inches in length; and if a Foot in length, then eighteen Inches in Diameter; if eighteen Inches in lenth, then a Foot in Diameter; after which rate you may vary as you please. This Roll or Cylinder must be turned ex∣actly on its Axis, which must be made of Iron of about an Inch square, and fixed through the Center of the Cylinder: then turning it on that Axis, with a turning Goudge and Chisel, will cause it to run true; which is principally to be observed. The Axis must extend beyond the Cylinder six or seven Inches at the one end, where it must be flatned an Inch or two, with an Eye, that the Hand-wheel may be key'd on there, as at f.

This Cylinder after it is placed between

the two Planks in its Frame, must be knock'd full of small Peggs of Iron, of a∣bout three quarters of an Inch in length, made flat, and tapering like a Wedge, as at g. They must not stand or appear a full quarter of an Inch above the superficies of the Cylinder: for the shorter they are, the finer will your pulp or Murc be; and the higher, the courser: you may place them in such order, that the one may stand against the space last preceding, in a Quin∣cunxial Order; about four or five hundred of them will serve for a Cylinder of a Foot in length, and of the like Diameter, and so after that rate for a greater or lesser. Thus will this Cylinder be made rough to Grind your Apples as fine as you please. Then cut a piece of Wood of the length of the Cylinder, and about a fourth part of its Circumference, hollow almost to the Circumferential line of the Cylinder, as at h: this piece must have a Pin at each side neer the upper part of it, as at i i, which must have holes in the two Planks for them to move easie in, as at k. The use where∣of is to keep the Apples close to the rough Cylinder, that they may be throughly Ground; this is also govern'd by a move∣able Transome that extends from the one

Plank to the other, through the Mortoises at l, which Mortoises are made broad, to admit of Key's to force the Regulator or piece of Wood neerer or farther as you please.

There must also be another piece of Wood cut hollow, made to move neerer or farther, as occasion requires, as m, which serves as a Regulator to keep the Apples from feeding too fast. This also may have some Iron Pegs on the under-side of it, the better to preserve the Apples steady to their work. Which Regulator may be for∣ced neerer or farther by Wedges as the O∣perator pleases.

The prickt lines shew the Boards that descend from the Hopper or Bin, to direct the Apples to their work.

Note, that the greatest inconveniency that ever hapned in several years experience of this Ingenio, was, that mellow Apples being Pulpy and light, would stick to the Cylinder, that it would much impede the Operation; which is easily prevented by making the Cylinder smooth, and placing the Pegs of Iron not too neer, but leaving sufficient spaces; that when the Cylinder is wet with the Juice of the Apples, the Pulp may fall from it in its motion; which it will

easily do, and the better, if the Pegs be not flat headed: always observing, that the distances or spaces of one Row, may be fil∣led or supplied in the next two or three Rows, that the Apple may not wear in Ridges.

By this Ingenio, have been Ground ve∣ry fine, sometimes four, and sometimes five Bushels of Apples in an hour, and with no harder labour, then that two ordinary Labourers may, the one feeding, and the other grinding, hold it, by interchanging, all the day.

But if your Stock be so great, that this small and easie Ingenio will not dispatch them fast enough, or that you intend it for a general use; Then may you make your Planks the longer, and place two Rolls or Cylinders, each with a handle as the former, the one handle on the one side, and the other on the other side; which Rolls may be cut in Groves like the Teeth of a Wheel, and made to fall the one Tooth in the other space, according to a in the second Figure.

In this form the Center or Axis of the one Cylinder must be moveable, by means of pieces in the inside of the Planks, made to be wedged neerer or farther as occasion

requires, as b b in Figure the second.

These Teeth on the Cylinders when they are moved the one against the other, forci∣bly attract the Apples which are emitted under, throughly bruised.

Also you may turn those Teeth with a Gouge and Chisel the other way, as it ap∣pears at c, in Figure the second, and make rough either by notching or pegging the outward edges of both Rolls, by which means the Apples will be attracted and throughly Ground.

By this Ingenio may two Workmen and one Feeder Grind twenty Bushels of Ap∣ples in an hour; always observing, that you feed it no faster than it can well dispatch them, because it is apt to choak. Many profitable additions may be added to either of these ways by the ingenious, but the ignorant contemns any thing that is novel, though nere so excellent.

When you bring your Apples to the Mill, * 1.4 as you fill them up, cast by all such that are green and unripe, rotten, or otherwise naught, and all Stalks, Leaves, &c. that may injure yoor Cider: for it is better to want a small quantity of your liquor, than to spoil the whole.

Some are of opinion, that Rottenness in

the Apple injureth not the Cider, but that a convenient quantity of rotten Apples mixt with the sound, is a great help to the fermentation and clarification of the Cider. But I presume, they mean such Apples one∣ly that have been bruised in gathering, sha∣king down, or carrying, which will by lying become rotten, and (the skin being whole) be not much the worse, onely the Cider will retain a smack of them: yet let me advise, that you admit not them a∣mongst your Cider that you intend for keeping, but rather make Cider of them for a more early spending: for others af∣firm, that one rotten Apple corrupts a whole Vessel; which I suppose is intended onely of the putrid Rottenness.

When your Apples are grinding, it is not good to grind them too small, for then too much of the Pulp passes with the Li∣quor; but if they are not too small ground, you will have but little the less of Cider, (although the contrary be commonly be∣lieved) because in the more vulgar way of grinding or beating, much of the Apple escapes unbruised, unless the whole be very much bruised.

After your Fruit is ground, 'tis good to let it stand 24 or 48 hours, according as

your time or conveniencie will admit, so that it be all together, or in good quantities in large Vessels; for standing thus, it not onely undergoes one degree of fermenta∣tion or maturation, but acquires colour, much commended in Cider, and also causes the lesser parts of the Apple unbruised, easily to part with its Juice in the Press: although the general advice be, to press it immediately from the Mill.

You may leave a passage open in the bottom of your Vat, wherein you keep your bruised Apples, during the time of its being therein. Some of the Cider may spontaneously distill into a Receiver placed under it; or you may have a false bottom in the inside full of holes, that the greater quantity may be had, which may run through some Tap or other passage into your Receiver.

Which Cider so obtained, far exceeds that which is forc'd out; as the Wines of France that are unpress'd, are by much preferr'd to those that are press'd; and live Honey that distills of it self from the Combs, is much better than that which remains.

As for your Press, there is no form yet * 1.5 discovered that exceeds the Skrew-press, of which sort there are very large, that a

Hogshead may be pressed at once; and as some report, that a Hogshead or two runs out commonly before the Apples suffer any considerable pressure.

In those large Presses, the usual way is to press it in Straw, by laying clean Wheat-straw in the bottom of the Press, and a heap of bruised Apples upon it; and so with wisps of Straw, by twisting of it, and taking the ends of the Bed of Straw, with it you go round your heap of Apples, which are to be encreased, until by wind∣ing round the Straw, and addition of Ap∣ples, you have raised it two foot or more, as your Press will give leave: then apply your Board and Skrew over it, and you may press it dry in form of a Cheese, which is the most expeditious way, and most for advantage, of any way yet known; for a small single Mill, after the form before de∣scribed, will grinde in one day, as much as a man can well press in a good Skrew-press in another. Some of these large Skrew-presses are made of two Skrews, and some but of one: but in case your stock be but small, a less Skrew, and of much less price may serve, made after the form of that in the Frontispiece; and in stead of Straw, you may have a Basket or Crib well made,

and put Straw round it in the inside, to preserve the Pulp, which would otherwise either run through, in case the passage be wide, or choak them, in case they be nar∣row; or a Hair-bag placed in a Crib or Frame made under the Skrew, to preserve the Bag from tearing.

In your pressing, in case you intend not to use your Pulp afterwards for the making of Water-cider, usually called Purre, then is it best to press it as dry as you can; but in case you resolve to adde wa∣ter to your Murc, and to press it again, then you need not press it too hard; for your Cider will then be the worse, and so will your Purre: For the last squeezing is the weakest, and makes your Cider the rougher; and if any thing will, that gives it a woody taste, unless it be prevented in the easie grinding.

SECT. III. Of purifying your Cider.

As your Vessel fills under your Press, pour it through some Streyner into a large Vat, onely to detain gross pieces of Ap∣ple, &c. from intermixing in the Vat; from whence most prescribe to tun it im∣mediately

into the Barrels wherein it is to be kept, lest its Spirits should evaporate: which is a mistake; for if a Cloath onely be cast over the Vat or Tun, it is sufficient to preserve it; for there is in it a wilde Spirit, that if detained, will break any Vessel whatever that you shall strictly en∣close it in; therefore to waste that, is no injury to your Cider.

Now when it is in your Tun or Vat, it ought to be there fermented, and in some degree purified, and from thence the pure separated from the impure, and so Tun'd in∣to the Vessels wherein it is to be preserved, that the Dregs may not pass with it, which will very much incommode your Cider.

In order to which, it is to be understood, that the juice of ripe Pulpy Apples, as Pip∣pins, Renetings, &c. is of a syrrupy and te∣nacious nature, that whilst it is cold, doth deteyn in it dispersed those particles of the Fruit, that by the pressure comes with the Liquor, and is not by standing or frequent percolations separable from it; which par∣ticles, or flying Lee, being part of the flesh or body of the Apple, is (equally with the Apple it self, when bruised) subject to putrifaction: by which means, by degrees, the Cider becomes hard or acid; but if it be

pressed from other Apples, as Readstreak, Gennet-moyle, &c. that more easily part with their Liquor, without the adhesion of so much of the Pulp, & which is of a more thin body; This Liquor shall not be so subject to reiterated fermentation, nor so soon to aci∣dity, because it wants that more corrupt part that in the other comes with it.

For Wine, Ale, Beer, and other Liquors, in every degree that they tend to acidity, they become more cleer, by the precipitation, of the more gross parts that are first subject to putrefaction by the vertue & heat whereof, the Spirits are chased away; & so in time, as those corrupt particles were more or less in it, is the Liquor sooner or later become Vi∣negar.

As Beer, whereof Vinegar is intended to be made, is never fermented, nor the feces pre∣cipitated at the first, as it is when it is to be preserved for drinking. And Claret-wine percolated through Rape, or the acid Murc of Grapes, becomes a White Vinegar; so that the precipitation that is in both those Liquors, happens by reason of their becoming acid.

If therefore you intend your Cider shall retain its full strength and body, and to preserve it so for any considerable time, endeavour to abstract from it that flying

Lee, or Materia Terrestris, that floats in it (as sometimes it does in Must pressed from Grapes, that hath in it more of an active principle than that from Apples) lest your Cider be thereby impaired.

Neither is it to be imagined, that that sort of Cider that is of that tenacious na∣ture as to keep up its Lee, is therefore stronger than that which more easily lets it subside; any more than that thick small unfermented Ale, should be stronger than that which hath more of the Spirit or Tincture of the Mault, and well defecated; or that Wine should be smaller than Cider for the same reason.

Now rightly to understand the cause of this detention of Lee in the body of the Liquor, you are to consider, that there are several sorts of Fruits that yield a cleer and limpid Juice, as a Grape, and a Com∣mon English and Flanders Cherry, and some others; and other sorts of Fruit that yield a more gross Juice, as a Rasberry, Black-Cherries, Plums, and some others: and that there are some Fruits that yield a very thin and clear Juice at a certain degree of ma∣turity; which a little after, when more ripe, it becomes more thick and gross; as a Gooseberry, Currant, and some species of Apples and Pears.

In the Grape, and English and Flanders Cherry, the cause that the Liquid part so easily parts from the more solid, may be from the great inequality in the proportion of the parts, the liquid being the more, and overcoming the lesser: which in the other, Cherries, Rasberries, and Plums, the con∣trary happens, that much of the Pulp ad∣heres to the Liquor.

Also in the other Fruits, as Gooseberries, Currants, and some Apples and Pears, by the length of time, a thorow maturation causes a solution of the more gross parts, being of themselves tender, which makes them so acceptable to the Palate; which in Fruit more insoluble doth not so happen; yet may the Juice of those Fruits that thus may be extracted more pure and limpid, be more excellent, and be preferr'd to those more gross, as it usually happens, because of the difficulty of defecation.

One principal help to purify any Liquor, or to provoke fermentation, is warmth, as is vulgarly practised amongst Housewives, who in fermenting both Bread and Beer, preserve it warm during that operation. For any liquid Body, wherein fermentati∣on is required, by warmth becomes more thin, that it easily admits of a separation

of the feculent parts; and like unto a glutinous Body, the colder it is, the thick∣er it is, and doth not so easily part with its Feces.

As hath been sometime experienced in Cider, by heating a small portion of it * 1.6 scalding hot, and casting it into the Tun on the new Must, stirring it together, and cover∣ing it over, hath caused a good fermenta∣tion, and separation of its Lee, making it much more fit for preservation, than if it had been Barrel'd without any fermenta∣tion at all. It hath been also observ'd, that cool Cellars do protract the fining of Cider: And that Cider exposed to the Sun, or other warmth, hath more easily fer∣mented, and become fine, for the reasons aforesaid.

But to ferment and purify this British-Wine, or any other Vinous Liquor effectual∣ly, * 1.7 you may take of Gluten piscis, Water-Glew, or Isinglass, as it is usually termed, about the proportion of three or four Oun∣ces to a Hoshead, rather more than less; beat it thin on some Anvil, or Iron-wedg; cut it in small pieces, and lay it in steep in White-Wine (which will more easily dis∣solve it than any other Liquor, except Vi∣negar, Spirits, &c. that are not fit to be

used in this Work) let it lie therein all night; the next day keep it some time o∣ver a gentle Fire, till you find it well dis∣solved; then take a part of your Cider, or such liquor you intend to purify, in pro∣portion about a Gallon to twenty Gallons; in which boyl your dissolved Water-glew, and cast it into the whole mass of Liquor, stirring it well about, and covering it close. So let it stand to ferment, for eight, ten, or twelve hours, as you please; during which time, the Water-glew being thinly and ge∣nerally dispersed through the whole Mass of Liquor, and assisted by the warmth and pretenuity of it, precipitates a part of that gross Lee, that otherwise would have de∣cayed it, and raiseth another more light part of it, as a Net carrieth before it Leaves or any other gross matter in the Water through which it is drawn, and leaveth not any part of its own Body in the purified Liquor, to alter or injure the Substance or Taste of it. Which, when you observe that it hath done working, you may draw out at a Tap below from the Scum, or may first gently take off the Scum as you please.

This Liquor thus gently purified, may you in a full Vessel well closed, preserve a long time, if you please, or draw it and

bottle it in a few days, there being no more Lee in it than is necessary for its preser∣vation.

But if you will have it yet clearer and finer, you may encrease your proportion of Water-glew to double that proportion before mentioned, and make it thereby perfectly limpid; which is but an over∣racking of it, and makes it too lean and thin of substance.

This very way or Method of purification will serve in all sorts of Liquors, and is much to be preferred in the Juices of Fruits, to that vulgar way of making them ferment by the addition of Yeast or Tosts therein dipp'd, as is usually prescribed; that being but an acid Excitation to Fermentation, all things tending to Acidity being (as much as may be) to be avoided in our operati∣ons.

This way also is better than the tedious ways of percolation, and racking from Vessel to Vessel; which wasts not only the Spirits, but substance of the Liquor it self, and leaves you but a thin and flat Drink, hardly ballancing your trouble.

After you have thus purified your Li∣quor * 1.8 in what Vessel soever, and are un∣willing, or cannot well draw it out at a

Tap near the bottom, as is usual, You may draw it from the feces over the brim of the Vessel, by a Siphon made of Latten, or of Glass, which is the best, because you may observe by your Eye, what impurities ascend, and avoid them by raising or de∣pressing your Instrument at your discretion. The Siphon is after this form, the one end three or four Inches longer than the other, and the hollowness of the Pipe according to the use you intend to put it into, whether out of a great or small Ves∣sel.

Liquors thus purified, leave behind them on their superficies, and at bottom, a great quantity of gross and impure feces; which if from Cider, you may cast on the press'd Murc, to meliorate your Ciderkin, or Wa∣ter-Cider, if you intend to make any.

These impurities, which are in great plenty in pulpy Fruit, and also in Rasberies, Currants, &c. are the principal cause of the decaying of those Liquors by their corrupt and acid nature, exciting the more vivous parts to a continual fermentation, as is evident from the effect, and from the breaking of Bottles (wherein this Lee re∣mains) on the motion of a Southerly Air.

After your Liquors are thus purified and drawn off, they are to be enclosed in some Vessel for some Weeks or Months, accor∣ding as the nature of the Liquor or your occasions will permit or require. Before that be done, it will not be amiss to insert some observations concerning Vessels.

SECT. IV. Of Vessels for the keeping and preserving Cider.

It hath been no small occasion of the * 1.9 badness of this Liquor, and thereby gi∣ving it an ill name, that it hath been usu∣ally ill treated, and entertained (after it hath been indifferently well made) in ill∣shaped, corrupt, faulty and unsound Ves∣sels; Vinous Liquors being full of Wild Spirits that easily find Vents, through which the Air corrupts the whole remaining Bo∣dy, and also more easily, especially the Cider, like the Apple, attracting any ill savor from the Vessel. Therefore care is to be taken about the choise of them.

It hath been observed, that the larger any Vessels is, the better Liquors are pre∣served in them. In some forreign Coun∣tries Vessels being made, that one of them

will contain many Hogsheads of Wine; which being therein in so great a quantity, is preserved much better than if divided into lesser Vessels.

Also the form of a Barrel hath been found to be very material: although the vulgar round Barrel be most useful and necessary for Transportation from one place to ano∣ther; yet is the upright Vessel, whose Ribs are streight, and the head about a fourth or fifth part broader than the bottom, and the height equal to the Diameter of the upper part, the best form to stand in a Cellar. The bung-hole of about two Inches Diameter, is to be on the top, with a Plug of Wood turn'd round exactly to fit into it, near unto which must be a small Vent-hole, that after the Cider is tunn'd up, and stopt at the Bung, you may give it Vent at pleasure; and that when you draw it forth, you may thereby admit Air into the Vessel. This form is preferr'd, be∣cause that most Liquors contract a Skin or Cream on the top, which helps much to their preservation, and is in other forms broken by the sinking of the Liquor, but in this is kept whole; which occasions the freshness of the Drink to the last.

It is also observed, that a new Vessel

made of Oak, tinges any Liquor at the first with a brown Colour; wherefore it is con∣venient thorowly to season your new Ves∣sels with scalding water, wherein you may boyl Apple-pumis if you please, before you put your Cider in them; which when so season'd, are to be preferr'd to any that have been used, unless after Canary, Malaga, or Sherry Wines, or after Metheglin; which will much advance the colour and savour of your Cider: but Vessels out of which Strong-Beer or Ale have been lately drawn, are to be rejected, unless thorowly scald∣ed and season'd as before, which then will serve indifferently well, nothing agreeing worse with Cider than Malt; for of Cider or Water-Cider, boyl'd and added to Malt, hath been made a Liquor not at all grate∣ful. Small-Beer-Vessels well scalded, are not amiss: White or Rhenish-Wine-Vessels may do well for present drinking, or for a Luscious Cider, else they are apt to cause too great a fermentation.

If your Vessel be musty, Boyl Pepper in * 1.10 Water after the Proportion of an Ounce to a Hogshead; fill your Vessel therewith scalding hot, and so let it stand two or three days; or else

Take two or three Stones or more of

Quick-lime to six or seven gallons of Wa∣ter, which put into a Hogshead, and stop it close, and tumble it up and down till the Lime be throughly slak'd.

Glass-bottles are preferr'd to Stone-bot∣tles, * 1.11 because that Stone-bottles are apt to leak, and are rough in the mouth, that they are not easily uncork'd; also they are more apt to taint than the other; nei∣ther are they transparent, that you may discern when they are foul or clean: it being otherwise with the Glass-bottles, whose defects are easily discern'd, and are of a more compact metal or substance, not wasting so many Corks.

To prevent the charge of which, you * 1.12 may, with a Turn made for that purpose, grinde or fit Glass-stopples to each Bottle, so apt, that no Liquor or Spirit shall pene∣trate its closures; always observing to keep each Stopple to its Bottle: which is easily done, by securing it with a piece of Packthread, each Stopple having a Button on the top of it for that end. These Stop∣ples are ground with the Powder of the Stone Smyris, sold at the Shops by the vulgar name of Emery, which with Oyl will exquisitely work the Glass to your pleasure.

The onely Objection against this way of Closure, is, That not giving passage for any Spirits, the Liquors are apt to force the Bottles; which in Bottles stopt with Cork rarely happens, the Cork being somewhat porous, part of the Spirits, though with difficulty, perspire.

If Glass-bottles happen to be musty, they are easily cured by boyling them in a Vessel of water, putting them in whilst the water is cold, which prevents the danger of breaking; being also cautious that you set them not down suddenly on a cold Floor, but on Straw, Board, or such-like.

SECT. V. Of Tunning, Bottleing, and preserving Cider.

Having your Cider purified and pre∣pared * 1.13 in the Tun, and your Vessels season∣ed and throughly dried, and fix'd in their places, then Tun it up into them until the Cider be within an inch or less of the top of the Vessel, that there may be space for a Skin or Head to cover it. Be sure to leave the Bung open, or onely cover'd two or three days, that the Cider may have liberty to finish its sermentation; but if it be so

cleer that it will not again ferment, and that you are willing or intend to keep it long, put in unground Wheat after the pro∣portion of a Quart to a Hogshead, which will give it a head sufficient to preserve it. This artificial head is onely where an ad∣mission of Air may probably be into the Vessel.

After you have thus closed up your Bung, you ought yet to leave open the small Vent-hole onely loosely, putting in the Peg, lest otherwise the wilde Spirit of the Cider force a passage, as I have known it a week after its tunning to have heav'd up the head of the Barrel almost to a Rupture; which by the easie stopping this Vent, and sometimes opening it, may be prevented until you finde it hath wasted that wilde Spirit. For the Vulgar advice of barrel∣ling up Cider from the Press, and then stopping it close, is pernicious to this Li∣quor, many having spoil'd it by this means: the Spirits seeking for a vent will finde it, and the more they are pent, the longer will they be before they are expended; which vent being neglected by the Ciderist, be∣comes a passage for the best Spirits of the Cider many times, to its absolute spoiling.

The vulgar opinion of the sudden de∣caying

or flatning of Cider, is to be re∣jected, scarce any Drink being more easily preserv'd than this; and though much of its Spirits be lost, yet out of its own body, whilst new, may they be again reviv'd, it suffering much more by too soon detain∣ing its Spirits, than by too lax a closure.

Stopping of Cider with Clay, if you designe to keep it long, cannot be good, it having so strong a Spirit that it will ea∣sily raise it on every Southerly Air; nothing being better than a wooden Plug turn'd fit to the Bung-hole, and covered about with a single Brown-paper wet, before you wring it into its place.

Drawing of Cider into Bottles, and * 1.14 keeping it in them well stopt for some time, is a great improver of Cider. This is done after it is throughly purified, and at any time of the year: if it be bottled early, there needs no addition, it having Body and Spirit enough to retrive in the Bottle what it lost in the Barrel; but if it hath been over-fermented, and thereby become poor, flat, and eager, then in the bottling if you adde a small quantity of Loaf-su∣gar, more or less according as it may re∣quire, it will give a new life to the Cider, and probably make it better than ever it

was before, especially if it were but a little acid, and not eager.

When your Cider is thus bottled, if it were new at the bottling, and not absolute∣ly pure, it is good to let the Bottles stand a while before you stop them close, or else open the Corks two or three days after to give the Cider air, which will prevent the breaking the Bottles against the next change of the wind into the South.

Great care is to be had in choosing good Corks, much good Liquor being absolutely spoiled through the onely defect of the Cork; therefore are Glass Stopples to be pre∣ferr'd, in case the accident of breaking the Bottles can be prevented.

If the Corks are steep'd in scalding wa∣ter a while before you use them, they will comply better with the mouth of the Bot∣tle, than if forc'd in dry: also the moisture of the Cork doth advantage it in detaining the Spirits.

Therefore is laying the Bottles sideways to be commended, not onely for preserving the Corks moist, but for that the Air that remains in the Bottle is on the side of the Bottle where it can neither expire, nor can new be admitted, the Liquor being against the Cork, which not so easily passeth

through the Cork as the Air. Some place their Bottles on a Frame with their noses downwards for that end; which is not to be so well approved of, by reason that if there be any the least settling in the Bot∣tle, you are sure to have it in the first Glass.

Placing the Bottles on a Frame, as is usual, or on Shelves, is not so good as on the ground, by reason that the farther from the earth they stand, the more subject they are to the variation of the Air, which is more rare in the upper part of a Cellar or other Room, than in the lower; and a few inches will occasion a great change, unless in a Room arched or vaulted with Stone: but where Room is wanting, this inconve∣nience may be easily born withal.

Setting Bottles in Sand is by many not onely made use of, but commended, al∣though without cause, it not adding that coldness to the Bottles as is generally ex∣pected, being rather of a dry and tempe∣rate quality than cold; if there be any convenience in it, it is because it defends them from the too sudden changes of Air into heat or cold, which in open and not deep Rooms it is often subject unto.

The placing of Bottles in Cisterns of

Spring-water, either running or often changed, is without all Peradventure the best way to preserve Cider or any other Vinous Liquors. A Conservatory made where a recruit of a cool refrigerating Spring-water may conveniently be had, will so long preserve Cider until it be come to the strength even of Canary it self. Bottles let down into Wells of water where Pumps are, that the frequent use of Buckets may not injure them; or little Vaults made in the sides of Wells neer the bottom, may supply the defect of Spring-water in your Cellar. The reason why Water is to be preferr'd for such a Con∣servatory, is, because the closeness of its body admits not of a sudden rarefaction of Air, as other Materials do, but is general∣ly of an equal degree of coldness, and that colder than commonly the Liquor is that is preserv'd; which so condenseth its Spirits, that they seek not any exition or expansion, but acquiesce in their own pro∣per body, where they multiply and be∣come more and more mature, by vertue of that innate heat the Liquor received whilst in its Fruit. Quaere whether the warmth that is in Wells or deep Springs, in frosty weather, incommode not these Liquors?

Also Quaere whether these cool Conserva∣tories prevent not the breaking of Bottles stopt with Glass Stopples, by the conden∣sing power of the water. My self being destitute of any opportunity to make those experiments, cannot at present re∣solve these Quaeries.

In some places the conveniencie of Wa∣ter may easily be had for such a Refrigera∣tory, both for the constant supply of cool Spring-water, and for its evacuation again, which is as necessary as its supply: and in many places the Ciderist may command a Spring from some place a little distant from his Refrigeratory, but cannot so easily be rid of it again; which must be as well con∣sidered of as the other. Therefore if you can conveniently make a Cistern in the bottom or on the side of your Cellar that will hold water, either of Stone or Brick well cemented, and if of Brick, plaistered with Plaister of Paris, or with a Cement made of Linseed-oyl and Lime newly flak∣ned, with a little Cotton-wool beat into it, and can, as occasion requires, supply it with a descent of cool Spring-water; your way to evacuate the same, will be with a small Hand-pump, such as they usually use in small Vessels at Sea, and may be had in

[illustration] depiction of vessel

The Forme of the Vessell

• a. The Bung hole.
• b. a small vent hole.
• c. the Tap.

P. 100

Maritime Towns at an easie rate, with which you may pump your Cistern or Con∣servatory dry once a week, oftner or more seldome, as the warmth or coldness of the Air seems to require; and supply it again from your Spring, or in defect thereof from some Well or Pump, whence you draw your Water for other occasions. But if your Cistern be made in the Ground un∣der your Cellar, you need only lay your Brick or Stone in Clay well tempered, and laid thick under the Brick or Stone, and on the sides of the Cistern.

Where you have not the conveniency of Water, or are unwilling to be at the ex∣pence, as in some places it may require, of making such Conservatories; there the best way is to dig Vaults in your Cellars, under the Level of the bottome, or to make Niches in the Walls near the Ground, and in them place your Bottles leaning: for the more they are remote from the Air, and the more encompassed with Stone or Earth, the cooler they will continue, and the less subject to the inconveniencies that happen from the mutability of the Ambi∣ent Air.

To accelerate maturity in your Bottle-drink, you may place them above Stairs

in some Room warm'd by the Beams of the Sun; which will much hasten its maturity, and is easier performed than any Agitation can be: but thus it will not long conti∣nue, and caution must be had to your Bottles.

Binding down the Corks of your Bot∣tles in case of danger, is not so much to be commended, as well fitting them in by full Corks; because the Liquor were better fly the Cork than break the Bottle, which must be, in case the Cork be tyed down, and the Liquor not well qualified.

In many places they boyl their Cider, * 1.15 adding thereto several Spices, which makes it very pleasant, and abates the unsavory smack it contracts by boyling, but withal gives it a high Colour. This way is not to be commended, because the Juice of the Apple is either apt to extract some ill sa∣vour from the Brass or Copper, we being not acquainted with any other Vessels to boyl it in, or the feces or sediment of it apt to burn by its adhering to the sides of the Vessel, it being boyl'd in a naked Fire.

But if you are willing to boyl your Ci∣der, your Vessel ought to be of Latten, which may be made large enough to boyl

a good quantity, the Tin yielding no bad Tincture to the Liquor. The Vessel also ought to be broad and open, for the more expeditious wasting of the aqueous and Phlegmatick part of the Liquor, which first flies, in case the Must be newly taken from the Press, and the Apples ripened on the Tree, ground as soon as gathered, and pressed as soon as ground: For it is not the boyling only, but the sudden wasting of the Phlegmatick part, that meliorates the remainder; the Spirits in all Liquors reti∣ring and contracting themselves before Fer∣mentation, as in all Musts, and after putre∣faction, as in Vinegar, and all acid eager Liquors. For observe, how much soever you wast in this evaporation of any sort of Must, or new Wurt, by so much is that which remains the stronger; so that you need not be so intent to procure Ebulliti∣on, as expence of the meaner part of your Liquor. Also you may place this Latten Vessel in another Vessel of Water, or in a thin Bed of Ashes, to prevent the too fierce heat of the naked Fire; also you may keep it stirring, which will expedite the Opera∣tion. Before it be quite cold, you may ferment or purify it to what degree you please.

This Cider thus boyl'd and purified, to the expence of the one half, will keep ve∣ry long, and be exceeding rich and strong, and not so ill qualifyed, as hath usually been, in case you use caution in the ope∣ration, which is to be preferr'd to those Spicy Additions.

It many times happens, that Cider that * 1.16 hath been good, by ill management or other accident becomes dead, flat, sowre, thick, muddy, or musty; all which in some sort or other may be cured.

Deadness or Flatness in Cider, which is often occasioned from the too free admissi∣on of Air into the Vessel, for want of right stopping, and is cured by grinding a small parcel of Apples, and putting them in at the Bunghole, and stopping it close, only sometimes trying it by opening the small vent, that it force not the Vessel: but then you must draw it off in a few days, either into Bottles or another Vessel, lest the Murc corrupt the whole Mass; which may also be prevented, in case you press your Apples, and put up only the new Must that comes from them on the decayed Cider. The same may be done in Bottles, by adding about a spoonful or two of new Must to each Bottle of dead Cider, and

stopping it again. Cider that is dead or flat will oftentimes revive again of it self, if close stopt, upon the revolution of the year and approaching Summer.

If Cider be acid, as sometimes it happens by reason of the immaturity of the Fruit, too nimble an Operation, too great a Fer∣mentation in the Vessel, or too warm a Scituation of your Vessels wherein it is kept; this sometimes becomes pleasant a∣gain, in case its Lee be yet in the Vessel, as is supposed by a second operation on it, but in case it doth not, if you add about a Gallon of unground-Wheat to a Hogshead of it, it will very much sweeten it, and make it pleasant. The same effect will two or three Eggs put in whole, or a pound of Figgs slitt, produce, as is report∣ed. But the surest remedy is Botling it with a Knob of Sugar, in proportion ac∣cording to the occasion.

There is some difference between a sharp or acid Cider, and a Cider that is eager or turn'd. The first hath its Spirits free and volatile, and may easily be retriv'd by a small addition of new Spirits, or some edul∣corating matter; but the latter hath part of its Spirits wasted, and part retired, that all additions are vain attempts to recover it.

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If your Cider be Musty, which happens either from the places the Fruit lay in be∣fore Grinding, or from the Vessels through which the Pulp or Must hath past, or that the Cider is contain'd in; the Cure there∣of is very difficult. Although in some measure the ill savour of it may be correct∣ed by Mustard-Seed ground with some of the same Cider.

Thick Cider is easily cured at what Age soever, by exciting it to a fermentation, ei∣ther by the addition of Mustard made with Sack, or by the addition of new Pulp or Must, or of rotten Apples; Or (which will do it when all fails) by purifying it with Isinglass, or Fish-glew, as before is directed.

Racking of Cider is much commend∣ed by some, but the operation tedious, troublesome, and costly, by reason of the change of Vessels of different sizes, the latter being to be less than the former. And therefore not to be endured amongst true Ciderists, Purifying the Liquor before Tunning, being much to be preferred.

If the Vessel before Cider be tunned up * 1.17 into it, be fumed with Sulphur, it much conduceth to the preservation of this or any other kind of Liquor: which may be

done by laying Brimstone on a Rag, or by dipping a Rag in melted Brimstone, and by a Wire letting it down into the Vessel, being fired, will fill the Vessel full of smoak; then take it out, and immediately tun up your Liquor, which gives it no ill taste nor savour, and is an excellent preserver of your health, as well as of the Liquor.

But the better way for this operation is, by making a little Earthen pot wherein to burn your Brimstone, the cover of it to extend in a Pipe about two Foot for your Mouth, and another Pipe to go out of the side of the Pot into the Bung-hole of the Vessel, in which the Cider is put to be pre∣served: about half way deep into the Liquor, put your Rags dipp'd in Brimstone, into the pot, add Fire to it, cover your pot, blow at your Pipe, which will encrease the Fire, and drive the Fume into the middle of the Liquor in the Barrel, and also fill the Va∣cancies of the Vessel; Then stop it close, by which means the Cider is impregnated with the Spirit of Sulphur, which will give it no alteration, save only for its salubrity and duration.

It is evident, that Cider by time changes its greenish Colour, for a bright yellow, in∣clining to redness.

SECT. VI. Of making Water-Cider.

It is observ'd that many sorts of Apples thorowly mature, will endure some ad∣dition of Water, without any prejudice to the Drink, especially in the Island of Jer∣sey, where they frequently give it a dash. This dilution is only with Apples of a mel∣low and rich Juice, and is necessary to help its clarification; the Cider it self be∣ing of too glutinous a substance, and they not acquainted with any other way of at∣tenuating it.

To some sorts of Fruit that are of them∣selves acid, crude, or of a thin Juice, di∣lution is very improper; but if the Water be boyl'd, and let stand till it be cold, it will be the better; that abating much of its crudity.

Water mixt with the Fruit in the Grind∣ing, incorporateth better with the Cider, than if added in the Vessel; and if mixt in the Vessel, better than if added in the Glass. By the Addition of Water can no other advantage be expected than the en∣crease of the Liquor, as we usually make more Small Beer than Strong, of the same

quantity of Malt, for the ordinary ex∣pence in Oeconomy.

After you have pressed out your Cider, * 1.18 you may also put the Murc up into a large Vat, and add thereto what quantity you think convenient of boyl'd Water (being first cold again:) if about half the quanti∣ty of the Cider be pressed from it, it will be good; if as much as the Cider, then but small: let this Water stand on it about forty-eight hours, and then press it well. That which comes from the Press, Tun up immediately, and stop it up, you may drink it in a few days. This being the most part Water, will clarify of it self, and sup∣plies the place of Small-Beer in a Family, and to many much more acceptable.

You may amend it by the addition of the Setling or Lee of your Cider that you last purifyed, by putting it up on the Pulp before pressure, or by adding some over∣plus of Cider, that your other Vessels will not hold, or by Grinding some falling or refuse Apples that were not fit to be added to your Cider, and pressing it with this.

This Ciderkin or Purre may be made to keep long, in case you boyl it af∣ter pressure, with such a proportion of Hops as you usually add to your Beer that

you intend to keep for the same time, and it will be thus very well preserv'd; but then you need not boyl your Water before the adding it to your Murc.

SECT. VII. Of Mixtures with Cider.

There is not any Liquor that hath less need of Mixtures than Cider, being of it self so excellent, that any addition whatso∣ever maketh it less pleasant: but being so necessary a Drink for the preservation of health, and tending to Longaevity, it may be the most proper Vehicle to transfer the vertues of many Aromatick and Medici∣nal Drugs, Spices, Fruits, Flowers, Roots, &c. into every part of man, beyond any o∣ther Liquor whatsoever.

With it may be made Juniper-Cider, by the addition of the Berries dried, six, eight, or ten to each Bottle in the bottling of it, or else a proportionable quantity in the Barrel: the taste whereof is somewhat strange, which by use will be much aba∣ted.

Ginger may be added with good success, it making the Cider more brisk and lively than otherwise it would be.

Dried Rosemary may be added in the Vessel, and doth not make it very unplea∣sing.

Wormwood imbib'd therein, produceth the effect that it doth in Wine.

The Juice of Currants preserv'd sim∣ply, without any Sugar or Water, a few of the cleer drops of it, tingeth and matureth early Cider, which to some might otherwise seem too luscious.

The Juice of Rasberries preserv'd, or the Wine thereof, gives an excellent tincture to this Liquor, and makes it very pleasant, if the Cider be not too new or too luscious.

For cooling Tinctures to Cider, the Juice of the Mulberry is to be preferr'd.

And next to that, the Juice of the Blackberry; both ripening about the time of making Cider.

Elder-berries are much commended by some to be pressed amongst your Apples, or the Juice of them added to your Ci∣der.

The Clove-July-Flower dried and steep'd in Cider, gives it an excellent Tincture and Flavour.

Thus may the Vertues of any dried Flowers, Leaves, Roots, &c. be extracted

and convey'd into our bodies by the most pleasant Vehicle that can be obtained.

SECT. VIII. Of making other sorts of Wines or Drinks of Fruits.

Besides Cider, there are many other cu∣rious Drinks that may be prepared out of our British Fruits: As Perry, whereof there * 1.19 is a great quantity made yearly in several places of this Kingdom; and its operation so much like unto that of Cider, that we need say the less in this place.

Pears should not be too mellow when they are ground, for then they are so pulpy, that they will not easily part with their Juice.

If Crabs be mixt with Pears in grinding, it very much improves the Perry; the proportion must be with discretion, accor∣ding as the sweetness of the Pear requires.

Perry, if well made, and of good Pears, will keep equally with Cider. The Bos∣bury-Pear is esteemed the best to yield last∣ing Perry.

Although the Planting of Vineyards in this Island is not so much in use as in the more Southerly Countries, nor are our

seasons so constant for the maturation of the Fruit of the Vine, as they are in Con∣tinents of the same Latitude; yet may we propagate this Plant to a good effect in some warm Scituations, and especially on the sides of Buildings, Walls, &c. and where there are any store of them, very good Wine may be made of the great plen∣ty of their Liquor; and much better than any of the French Wines usually imported here, in case caution and skill be used in its preparation.

When you perceive your Grapes to be * 1.20 plump and transparent, and the Seeds or Stones to come forth black and cleer, and not clammy, and the Stalks begin to wi∣ther, then gather them, for they cannot be over-ripe; neither will Rain or Frost in∣jure them, so that the weather be dry some time before gathering.

Cut them off from the Branches, and not pull them, and in the Moons decrease, preserving them from bruises as much as you can.

Here in this cold Country they are sel∣dom * 1.21 all of a ripeness, and the Stalks con∣tain something of crudity in them; there∣fore it would not be lost labour to cull or separate the more ripe from the less, and

from the Stalks, before you press out your Wine; by which means some have had Wine comparable with the best French Wines that are press'd from the Grapes promiscuously; and this Wine thus made of selected Grapes, will last several years, as hath been experienced.

When your Wine is tunned, leave a part of the Vessel void or empty, and stop it up close immediately, and that very well, lest it loose its Spirits; which vacancie you may again supply after ten or twelve days with other Wine that hath been also fer∣mented: which repletion must be reitera∣ted as oft as there is occasion.

If you intend to make Claret, you must * 1.22 let your Murc or Chaff abide in the Must six or eight days, or as you will have it, more or less, ruff or tinctured, before you press it out; but in the interim be sure to cover your Vat close.

North-winds are reported to be very bad for the sowring of Wines; therefore be careful to keep them from it.

To purifie Wine, take the thin Shavings * 1.23 or Planings of Beech, the Rinde being peel'd off, and boyl them in water to abate the rankness of them; then dry them through∣ly; and with these may you purifie Wine:

about a peck will serve a Hogshead; which Chips will serve often times, being washed, dried, and preserved.

Some meliorate their Wine by pressing Raisons of the Sun with the Grapes a little plumped before-hand, or by boyling half the Must an hour together, scumming it, and adding it hot to the other half: this meliorates that half that is boyled, and causeth a fermentation in the other; but this is left to farther experience.

With well-ripened Grapes, diligent sor∣ting them, easie pressure, and well purify∣ing and preserving its Juice, Wine may here be made in goodness and duration equal to the best and most Southerly French Wines that are usually imported hither, as hath been divers times experienced for several years successively, by one that hath produced excellent Wine of several years preserving.

For against a Wall Grapes will ripen very well in most years, and the best of them separated from the more immature, and from the Stalks, yield a luscious Juice; and those gently bruised yield a thin Must that hath of it self but little of the flying Lee in it; and that also being precipitated or taken off, the Wine will not be so apt

to ferment; which is the principal cause of its sudden decaying. This Wine pre∣serv'd in your Refrigeratoty, will continue good for several years; its Spirits thereby multiplying and heightning, that makes it equal to those Wines that received a far greater degree of maturation in their Fruit more exposed to the perpendicular Beams of the Sun.

There is scarce any Fruit more easily pro∣pagated * 1.24 than the Cherry, nor any Fruit that bears more constantly and plentiful∣ly: that is a tall and Orchard-Tree, the Fruit whereof yields a fine acid pleasant Juice, and mix'd with the more fat and luscious Wines of Spain, make a very good Wine, by the addition of Sugar whereby to preserve it.

Or the Juice it self, gently pressed from the Fruit, may, by a convenient addition of Sugar, make a very pleasant Wine, and durable, if boyled together; but in the boyling caution must be had, lest it attract some ill savour from the Vessel.

This Fruit is also easie of Propagation, * 1.25 and no doubt but some of the more juicie sort of them, especially the Damsin, would yield an excellent Liquor, but scarcely durable unless boyl'd with Sugar, and well

purifi'd, or else the Sugar boyl'd before∣hand in water, and then added: the Juice of the Plum being of a thick substance, will easily bear dilution. This is easily experimented where Plums are in great plenty.

The Red Dutch-Currant, or Corinth, * 1.26 yields a very rich and well-coloured Juice, which if suffered to hang on the Trees six or seven weeks after they are red, will yield a Vinous Liquor, which is to be dilu∣ted with an equal quantity of water boy∣led with refined Sugar, about the propor∣tion of one pound to a gallon of your Wine (when mixt with the water) and after the Water and Sugar so boyled toge∣ther is cold, then mix it with the Juice of the Currants, and purifie it with Isinglass dissolv'd in part of the same Liquor, or in Whitewine, as is before directed for the purifying of Cider, after the rate of an ounce to eight or ten Gallons; but boyl it not in a Brass Vessel, for the reasons before-mentioned. This will raise a Scum on it of a great thickness, and leave your Wine in∣different clear, which you may draw out either at a Tap, or by your Siphon, into a Barrel, where it will finish its Fermentation, and in three weeks or a Month become so

pure and limpid, that you may Bottle it with a piece of Loaf-Sugar in each Bottle, in bigness according to your discretion; which will not only abate its quick acidity that it may as yet retain, but make it brisk and lively.

At the time you Bottle it, and for some time after, it will taste a little sweet-sowre, from the Sugar, and from the Currant; but after it hath stood in the Bottles six or eight weeks, it will be so well united, that it will be a delicate, Palatable, rich Wine, transparent as the Ruby, of a full Body, and in a Refrigeratory very durable; and the lon∣ger you keep it, the more Vinous will your Liquor be.

By the letting your Currants hang on the Trees until they are through ripe, which is long after they are become red, digests and matures their Juice, that it needs not that large addition of Sugar, that other∣wise it would do, in case the Fruit had been gathered when they first seem'd to be ripe, as is vulgarly used, and the common Re∣ceipts direct. Also it makes the Liquor more spirituous and Vinous, and more capa∣ble of duration, than otherwise it would be, if the Fruit had not received so great a share of the Sun.

The Goosberry-Tree being one of the * 1.27 greatest Fruit-bearing Shrubs, yields a pleasant Fruit, which although somewhat luscious, yet by reason of its gross Lee, whereof it is full, it is apt to become acid, unless a proportion of Water sweetned with Sugar (but not with so much as the other acid-Liquors) be added unto it; this Liquor of any other will not bear a de∣coction because it will debase its colour from a Wine colour to a brown not plea∣sant in Whitish Wines or Liquors.

There is no Shrub yields a more pleasant * 1.28 Fruit than the Rasberry-Tree, which is ra∣ther a Weed than a Tree, never living two years together above-ground. Nor is there any Fruit that yields a sweeter and more pleasant Juice than this, which being extracted serves not only to add a flavour to most other Wines or Liquors, but by a small addition of Water and Sugar boyl'd together, and when cold, added to this Juice, and purified makes one of the most pleasant drinks in the World.

Having given you a taste of most Wines * 1.29 made by pressure of the Juices out of the Fruits. You may also divert your self with the blood of the Grape or any other of the before-mentioned Limpid Liquors,

ting'd with the flavour and spirituous haut-gust of other Fruits that cannot so easily and liberally afford you their Juices. As of the Apricock, which steep'd in Wine, gives the very taste of the Fruit; also Clove-July-Flowers, * 1.30 or other sweet-sented Flow∣ers doth the like. You may also make expe∣riment of some sorts of Peaches, Nectorines, &c. what effect they will have upon those sorts of drinks.

SECT. IX. Of making some other Drinks or Wines usually drank in this Island.

Besides such Drinks or Liquors that are commonly made of the Fruits of Trees or Shrubs, there are several other pleasant, wholesome, and necessary Drinks, made of Trees, Leaves, Grains, mixtures of several things, that are not to be omitted or want∣ing in your Conservatory to make it com∣pleat.

As Metheglin or Hydromel, that is pre∣pared out of Hony extracted by the dili∣gent Bee out of several Vegetables, be∣ing one of the most pleasant and univer∣sal Drinks the Northern part of Europe affords, and was in use among the An∣tients

that inhabited these colder Coun∣tries, before Wine or other Vinous Li∣quors became so generally used; and is yet in several cold Countries the most ex∣cellent Drink that they have of their own making, where Wines and other Vinous Liquors are not so easily nor well prepared. The Subject whereof it is made, Honey, be∣ing to be had in every part of Europe, from the most Southerly parts of Spain, Italy, &c. to the most Northerly. It being affirm'd by Historiographers, that there is Hony with∣in the Arctick-Circle or Frozen Zone.

Those that liv'd formerly in the more Southern parts (as Pliny reports) made a Drink compounded of Hony and tart Wine, which they term'd Melitites, by the additi∣on of a Gallon of Hony to five Gallons of their Wine, making thereof no doubt a very pleasant Liquor: to which Virgil seems to allude, when he sings

Dulcia mella premes; nec tantum dulcia quantum Et liquida, & durum Bacchi domitura saporem.

——Honey you may press, Not only sweet, but shall be purely sine, And sit to qualify your sharpest Wine.

This Drink was also called Oinomel by Dioscorides, and others in that Age.

In Swedeland, Muscovia, Russia, and as far as the Caspian Sea, they make great store of this Drink, and Meth, which is a smaller sort of it, made of the worst Honey, and of the refuse of all the rest.

This Metheglin or Hydromel, they pre∣fer in those cold Countries before any other Drinks, preparing it diversly to please their Palates; The best receipt whereof that I have observed to be made by them is thus.

They take Rasberries which grow plen∣tifully in those parts, and put them into fair Water, for two or three Nights (I suppose they bruise them first) that the Water may extract their taste and colour. Into this Water they put of the purest Honey, in pro∣portion about one pound of Honey to three or four of Water; according as they would have it stronger or smaller. Then to give it a fermentation, they put a Tost into it dipp'd in the Dregs or Grounds of Beer;

which when it hath set the Metheglin at work, they take out again, to prevent any ill Savour it may give; if they desire to ferment it long, they set in a warm place; which when they please to hinder or stop, they remove it into a cool place; after it hath done fermenting, they draw it off the Lee for present use; to add to its excellen∣cy, they hang in it a little bagg wherein is Cinamon, Grains of Paradice, and a few Cloves. This may do very well for present drinking. But if you would make your Metheglin of the same ingredients, and to be kept (time meliorating any sort of Drinks) you may preserve your Juice of Rasberries at their proper season. And when you make your Metheglin, decoct your Honey and Water together, and when it is cold, then add your Juice of Rasber∣ries which was before prepared to keep, and purify your Metheglin by the means be∣fore prescrib'd, or ferment it, either by a Tost dipped in Yest, or by putting a spoon∣ful of Yest unto it, to which you may add the little bag of Spices before mentioned. Then let it stand about a Month to be tho∣rowly purified, and then bottle it, and pre∣serve it for use, and it may in time become a curious Drink.

They also steep Rasberries in Aqua-Vitae twenty-four hours, and adde that to their Hydromel; which is a great amendment of it.

The same people also extract the Jui∣ces of Strawberries, Mulberries, and Cher∣ries, and make the same use of them in their Hydromel, as they did of the Ras∣berries.

Many Receipts are handed from one to another, for the making of Metheglin or Hydromel, wherein are several green Vege∣tables prescribed to be used, as Sweet-Bryar-Leaves, Thyme, Rosemary, &c. which are not to be used green, by them that intend to make a quick, brisk and lively Drink; green and crude herbs dulling and flat∣ning the Spirits of the Liquor to which they are added, as you will finde if you adde green Hops instead of dry to your Beer: neither will any green herb yield its vertue so easily as when dry. But Spices and Aromatick herbs are very necessary to adde a flavour to the Metheglin, and abate its too luscious taste.

It is usually also directed, that the Metheglin when boyling, should be scum∣med, to take off the filth that ariseth from it in the decoction: which is not

so necessary as it is pretended to be; for that scum remaining behind, will be of use, and a help to its fermentation, and makes the Liquor afterwards to become the more limpid; and doth not unite again with it, as is vulgarly believed, it being a Maxime in Philosophy, that Feces once separated, will never re-unite.

So that if you take Honey, Live-Honey, that naturally runs from the Combs, (and that from Swarms of the same year is the best) & adde so much Honey to clear Spring-Water, that when the Honey is dissolved thorowly, an Egg will not sink to the bot∣tome, but easily swim up and down in it; Then boyl this Liquor in a Brass, or rather Copper Vessel, for about an hour or more; and by that time the Egg will swim above the Liquor, about the breadth of a Groat, then let it cool; the next morning you may barrel it up, adding to the proportion of fifteen Gallons an ounce of Ginger, half an ounce of Cinamou, Cloves and Mace of each an ounce, all grosly beaten, for if you beat it fine, it will always float in your Metheglin, and make it foul; and if you put it in whilst it is hot, the Spices will lose their Spirits. You may also if you please adde a little spoonful of Yest at the Bung∣hole

to encrease its fermentation, but let it not stand too cold at the first, that being a principal impediment to its fermentation; as soon as it hath done working, stop it up close, and let it stand for a Month, then draw it into Bottles, which if set in a Re∣frigeratory, as before was directed for Cider, it will become a most pleasant Vinous Drink, dayly loosing its luscious taste; the longer it is kept, the better it will be.

By the sloating of the Egg you may judg of its strength, and you may make it more or less strong as you please by adding of more Honey, or more Water.

By long boyling it is made more pleasant and more durable.

As well in these Northern parts of Eu∣rope, as in many places of Asia, and Africa, * 1.31 may we extract the Blood of Trees them∣selves, and make them drinkable. The delicacy of our Liquors made of Fruits and Grains, very much abates the eager prose∣cution of such designes, yet the pleasant∣ness and salubrity of the Blood of several Trees, have given encouragement, to some Virtuosi, to bestow their labour and skill on them, and not in vain, The Sycomore and Wallnut-Trees are said to yield excel∣le at Juice, but we in England have not had so

great experience in any, as in that of the Birch-tree.

Which may be extracted in very great quantities where those Trees are plenty, many Gallons in a day may be gathered from the Boughs of the Tree by cutting them of leaving their ends fit to go into the mouths of the Bottles, and so by hang∣ing many Bottles on several Boughs, the Liquor will distil into them very plenti∣fully.

The season for this work, is from the end of February to the end of March, whilst the Sap rises, and before the Leaves shoot out from the Tree; for when the Spring is forward and the Leaves begin to appear, the Juice, by a long digestion in the Branch, grows thick and coloured, which before was thin and limpid. The Sap also distils not in cold weather, whilst the North and East-winds blow, nor in the night time, but very well and freely when the South or West-winds blow, or the Sun shine warm.

That Liquor is best that proceeds from the Branches, having had a longer time in the Tree, and thereby better digested and ac∣quiring more of its flavour, than if it had been extracted from the Trunk.

Thus may many Hogsheads soon be ob∣tain'd: Poor people will (where Trees are plenty) draw it for two pence or three pence the Gallon. To every Gallon where∣of, adde a pound of refined Sugar, and boyl it about a quarter or half an hour; then set it to cool, and adde a very little Yest to it, and it will ferment, and thereby purge it self from that little dross the Liquor and Sugar can yield: then put it in a Barrel, and adde thereto a small pro∣portion of Cinamon and Mace bruised, a∣bout half an ounce of both to ten Gallons; then stop it very close, and about a month after bottle it; and in a few days you will have a most delicate brisk Wine of a Fla∣vour like unto Rhenish. Its Spirits are so volatile, that they are apt to break the Bot∣tles, unless placed in a Refrigeratory, and give it a white head in the Glass. This Liquor is not of long duration, unless pre∣served very cool.

Instead of every pound of Sugar, if you adde a quart of Honey and boyl it as before, and adding Spice, and fermenting it as you should do Metheglin, it makes an admired Drink, both pleasant and medicinable.

Ale brewed of this Juice or Sap, is e∣steem'd very wholesome.

I cannot pass by naming this famous Li∣quor * 1.32 Chocolate, that was in a manner Meat and Drink to a great part of America, and is very much used in most parts of it. The principal Ingredient is the Kernel of the Cacao-nut, a Fruit growing in those parts very plentifully, yet in so great esteem a∣mongst them, that it was amongst the Na∣tives as their Coin.

To this Fruit they adde Achiote, which is made of the red Kernels of another Fruit there growing, by decocting them to a Pap, whereof they make Cakes. Also they adde Maiz, a Grain growing in that Country; and Macaxochite, a kinde of Pepper, which tempers the cooling pro∣perty of the other Ingredients: They mix therewith the Flowers of the Tree Xochinacatlis, and Tlilxochitle, and a Gum that drops from a Tree they call Holqua∣huitle, which have excellent vertues with them; of all which the Americans com∣pose a pleasant Drink, by decocting the same in Wine, or Milk, or other Liquidities: And without question, Kernels, Grains, and Flowers may here be found, that may make a counterfeit of it in taste, and equal to it in vertue. Quaere, whether the Ker∣nel of the Wallnut may not supply the de∣fect of the Cacao, if well ground.

In China, plentifully grows a Plant they * 1.33 call Thea, on a Shrub much like unto our Mirtle-tree which bears a Leaf, that the Chineses gather in the Spring one by one, and immediately put them to warm in an Iron Kettle over the fire; then laying them on a fine light Mat, roll them together with their hands. The Leaves thus roll'd are again hang'd over the fire, and then roll'd closer together till they are dry, then put up carefully in Tin Vessels, to preserve them from moisture. Thus they prepare and preserve their best Leaves that yield the greatest rates, but the ordinary they onely dry in the Sun; but in the shade is doubtless much better, the Sun having a great power to attract the vertue out of any Vegetable after its separation from its Nourisher.

Boyl a quart of clean water, and then adde to it a few of these dry Leaves, which you may take up at once between the tops of your fingers, and let them thus stand in a covered Pot two or three mi∣nutes, in which time the Leaves will be spread to their former breadth and shape, and yield their bitter, yet pleasant taste. This Liquor you may, if you please, edul∣corate with a little Sugar, and make it an acceptable Drink.

It's probable some English Plants may yield a Leaf that may, thus ordered, make a pleasant and wholesome Drink. Seve∣ral do use the Herb Betony, Sage, and o∣ther Herbs, after the same manner.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Of the ripe∣ness of Fruit.
• * 1.2

  Gathering of Fruit.
• * 1.3

  Hoarding of Apples.
• * 1.4

  Picking of Fruit.
• * 1.5

  The Cider-Press.
• * 1.6

  By warmth only.
• * 1.7

  By Isinglass.
• * 1.8

  Drawing it o••f with a Siphon.
• * 1.9

  Of Barrels.
• * 1.10

  Curing musty Cask.
• * 1.11

  Bottles.
• * 1.12

  Grinding Glass Stop∣ples.
• * 1.13

  Barrelling of Cider.
• * 1.14

  Bottling of Cider.
• * 1.15

  Boyling of Cider.
• * 1.16

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 of decay••d Ci∣der.
• * 1.17

  Preserving Cider by Sulphur.
• * 1.18

  Of making Ciderkin or Purre.
• * 1.19

  Of making Perry.
• * 1.20

  The time of gathering Fruit.
• * 1.21

  Making of the Wine.
• * 1.22

  Making of Claret.
• * 1.23

  Purifying of Wine.
• * 1.24

  Cherry-wine.
• * 1.25

  Plum-wine.
• * 1.26

  Currant-wine.
• * 1.27

  Goosberry-Wine.
• * 1.28

  Rasberry-Wine.
• * 1.29

  Apricock-Wine.
• * 1.30

  Clove-Ju∣liflower-Wine.
• * 1.31

  Of Birtch-Wine.
• * 1.32

  Chocolate.
• * 1.33

  Tea.