Food

1860

Blackberry Wine

-"There is no wine equal to the blackberry wine when properly made, either, in flavor, or for medicinal purposes, and all persons who can conveniently do so, should manufacture enough for their own use; every year, as it is invaluable in sickness as a tonic, and nothing is better for bowel disease. I therefore give the recipe of making it, and having tried it myself I speak advisedly on the subject: measure you
berries and bruise them; to every gallon adding 1 qt. of boiling
water, let the mixture stand 24 hours, stirring occasionally; then
strain all the liquor into a cask, to every gallon adding 2 lbs. of
sugar; cork tight, and let it stand until the following October, and you will have wine fit for use, without further straining or boiling, that will make lips smack as they never smacked under its influence before."

I feel assured that where this fruit is plenty, that this wine
should take the place of all other wines, unless a person raises
the grape, which by the way, are very scarce in the more Northern States. This is the original recipe as published in the " Dollar Times," of Cincinnati, 0.; but I find with 1 pt. of best rye whisky, or 1-2 pint of best Alcohol, to each gallon, will make a surer thing, as in some cases it has soured, but never with the spirits. Observe in making this wine to have the fruit ripe, and then make it before the fruit or juice begins to sour. This is one of six only, of recipes which I have found good as published in Newspapers, by over 20 years experimenting with such as they are constantly throwing upon the public without testing one in a thousand, if a person is to judge by their general failure. And yet I follow this with Newspaper remarks, hoping, that good will be the result.

An Editor of Coldwater, Mich., says of the Lawton Blackberry: “This fruit, where it is best known is one of the most popular small fruits that has ever been cultivated. It has been known to produce over 1,000 full grown ripe berries in one season on a single stock; the average size of fruit being from three-quarters to one and a half inches in diameter; quality excellent, very juicy, seeds very small, and few in number. Five quarts of berries will make one gallon of juice, which mixed with 2 gallons of water and 9 pounds of refined sugar, will make 3 gallons of wine, equally in quality to the best grape wine. Professor MAPES and many others, who have tested the qualities of the same as a
wine fruit, speak of it in terms of the highest praise."