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Elder Wine with Cider

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United Kingdom

Known as a British recipe, with similar versions prepared across other nations.

  • Preserving. Old preserving methods may not make food safe to keep. Use current tested guidance.
  • Additives or old utensils. The text names something no longer considered safe in food or for cooking in, such as lead, alum, borax, bitter almonds or copper pans. Don't use it.

Ingredients 13 ingredients

  1. a pint of brandy
  2. Yeast
  3. a slice of toasted bread
  4. two ounces of mace
  5. two ounces of bitter almonds
  6. four pounds of raisins stoned
  7. Must
  8. two pounds of the best Lisbon sugar
  9. one pint of
  10. three quarts of cider
  11. two ounces of nutmegs ground
  12. one ounce of cassia
  13. two ounces of cloves
Contains GlutenTree nutsSulphites Read from the ingredients, not verified. Check labels.

Cook safely

Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.

  • Oven and hot trays. Use dry oven gloves for trays and dishes: a hot tray looks just like a cold one. Open the oven door away from your face and let the first rush of heat out.
  • 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. Bake the elderberries in a large stone jar well stopped down ;
  2. to each quart of juice put three quarts of cider;
  3. to every gallon put two pounds of the best Lisbon sugar, four pounds of raisins stoned and chopped fine, two ounces of nutmegs ground, two ounces of cloves, two ounces of mace, and one ounce of cassia, all slightly bruised in a mortar, and two ounces of bitter almonds.
  4. Put all into a cask except the liquid which you must work in a tub.
  5. Put a slice of toasted bread and a large spoonful of yeast on it, let it work for one day and a night, then take off the scum, and put it also into the cask.
  6. When it ceases to hiss, put in half a pint of brandy to every gallon of liquor.
  7. If not made with very good strong cider, one pint of the best brandy will not be too much for each gallon.
  8. Stop it down close ;
  9. let it remain in the cask two months, then bottle it.
  10. The longer it is kept, the better it becomes.

Plating

Cookware for this recipe

  • Mortar and pestle
  • Chef's knife
  • Cutting board