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Cider, to Preserve and Keep Sweet

A historical recipe from Old-time recipes for home made wines, cordials and liqueurs from fruits, flowers, vegetables, and shrubs, by Wright, Helen S. (Helen Saunders) (1909).

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A historical recipe

Old-time recipes for home made wines, cordials and liqueurs from fruits, flowers, vegetables, and shrubs, by Wright, Helen S. (Helen Saunders) (1909). Project Gutenberg eBook #75708.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards. Its words name: preserving or pickling, food kept without cooking or cold storage. Check current food-safety guidance before following this.

  • Preserving. Old preserving methods may not make food safe to keep. Use current tested guidance.
  • Storage. The keeping times and places here are from before refrigeration. Follow current storage guidance.

Ingredients 5 ingredients

  1. one pound of mustard-seed
  2. two pounds of raisins
  3. one-quarter pound of
  4. an ounce of the oil of sassafras
  5. a pint of alcohol

Possible health benefits

General information, not medical advice.

  1. Raisin High in potassium · High in copper · Source of iron

    High in potassium · 825 mg per 100 g, 41% of the reference intake per 100 g

    • Potassium contributes to normal functioning of the nervous system.
    • Potassium contributes to normal muscle function.
    • Potassium contributes to the maintenance of normal blood pressure.

    Potassium is a mineral found in many foods. Your body needs potassium for almost everything it does, including proper kidney and heart function, muscle contraction, and nerve transmission. NIH fact sheet

    High in copper · 0.3 mg per 100 g, 30% of the reference intake per 100 g

    • Copper contributes to maintenance of normal connective tissues.
    • Copper contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism.
    • Copper contributes to normal functioning of the nervous system.
    5 more authorised claims
    • Copper contributes to normal hair pigmentation.
    • Copper contributes to normal iron transport in the body.
    • Copper contributes to normal skin pigmentation.
    • Copper contributes to the normal function of the immune system.
    • Copper contributes to the protection of cells from oxidative stress.

    Copper is a mineral that you need to stay healthy. Your body uses copper to carry out many important functions, including making energy, connective tissues, and blood vessels. NIH fact sheet

    Source of iron · 2.6 mg per 100 g, 19% of the reference intake per 100 g

    • Iron contributes to normal cognitive function.
    • Iron contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism.
    • Iron contributes to normal formation of red blood cells and haemoglobin.
    4 more authorised claims
    • Iron contributes to normal oxygen transport in the body.
    • Iron contributes to the normal function of the immune system.
    • Iron contributes to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue.
    • Iron has a role in the process of cell division.

    Iron is a mineral that the body needs for growth and development. Your body uses iron to make hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body, and myoglobin, a protein that provides oxygen to muscles. NIH fact sheet

    Nutrients per 100 g of “Raisins, seeded”, USDA FoodData Central.

Claims: EU Register of health claims (Regulation (EU) No 432/2012, © European Union, CC BY 4.0), shown only where the ingredient meets the claim's conditions (Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006). Nutrients: USDA FoodData Central (CC0). Facts: NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (public domain).

Cook safely

  • Sharp knives. Cut on a board that doesn't slip (a damp cloth under it helps), and curl the fingers of the hand that holds the food.

Method

  1. 1.
  2. To one barrel of cider, put in one pound of mustard-seed, two pounds of raisins, one-quarter pound of the sticks (bark) of cinnamon.
  3. 2.
  4. When the cider in the barrel is in a lively fermentation, add as much white sugar as will be equal to one-quarter or three-quarters of a pound to each gallon of cider (according as the apples are sweet or sour);
  5. let the fermentation proceed until the liquid has the taste to suit, then add one-quarter of an ounce of sulphite (not sulphate) of lime to each gallon of cider, shake well, and let it stand three days, and bottle for use.
  6. The sulphite should first be dissolved in a quart or so of cider before introducing it into the barrel of cider.
  7. 3.
  8. When fermentation commences in one barrel, draw off the liquor into another one, straining through a flannel cloth.
  9. Put into the cider three-quarters of an ounce of the oil of sassafras, and the same of the oil of wintergreen, well shaken up in a pint of alcohol.
  10. But one difficulty is said to pertain to this preparation of cider.
  11. It is so palatable that people won’t keep it long.

Plating

Cookware for this recipe

  • Mortar and pestle
  • Chef's knife
  • Sieve
Source Public domain in the USA
Credit

From Old-time recipes for home made wines, cordials and liqueurs from fruits, flowers, vegetables, and shrubs, by Wright, Helen S. (Helen Saunders) (1909). Digitised by Project Gutenberg, eBook #75708 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75708). Public domain in the USA; its status may differ elsewhere.

What was changed: As printed, from the book's text; Project Gutenberg's header and licence removed. Ingredient lines were read out of the text by a program. A historical recipe, not current advice.