~ Cowslip Wine ~
Boil two pounds of white sugar with five quarts of water and, while boiling, pour over a quart of the yellow part of fresh cowslip flowers. Leave for twenty-four hours then strain and add two tablespoons of yeast spread on a piece of toast. Leave covered, for ten days, stiring two or three times a day for the first four days. Strain and bottle.
~ Bee Wine ~
Into a syrup solution of two tablespoons of sugar to a pint of water, put a very small pinch of tartaric acid and a piece of yeast the size of a dime. Heat til warm but not hot and por into a glass jar. Stand the jar in the sunlight, near a window. In a day or two the yeast will grow and bubble floating the lump up and down, like a bee. You may flavor with fruit juices and let ferment until it turns to a rich sweet wine. Don't let it stand too long or it will turn to vinegar.
~ Tomato Wine ~
Cut several ripe tomatoes into pieces then mash them well and strain through a fine sieve. Season the juice with a little salt and sugar to taste. Pour into a glass jar and cover, leaving a small hole for fermenting. Let stand until fermentation has ended then pour off the clear liquid into bottles, cork tightly and store in a cool dark place until ready to serve.
~ Dandelion Wine ~
Start with a gallon of fresh petals. The flowers must be picked and petals stripped from the flowers. Mix the petals and a gallon of boiling water into a tub. Cover and leave for ten to twelve days, stiring now and then Then strain the liquid into a preserving pan and add three to four pounds of sugar, to taste. Also add the thinly pared rind of one orange and one lemon, and the rest of the fruit cut into pieces (remove all seeds and white areas first). Boil low for twenty minutes then remove from heat. When cooled to luke-warm, add one tablespoon of brewer's yeast and a quarter ounce of compressed yeast spread on a piece of toast. Cover again and leave for a few days. Pour into a cask and let stand in a cool dark place, bottle after two months.
~ Apple Beer ~
Pour four gallons of boiling water over four pounds of grated apples in a pan. Stir each day for two weeks then strain and add two pounds of sugar, two ounces of ginger and a tablespoon of cinnamon (or two to three sticks) and a tablespoon of whole cloves. Pour into a cask and cover tightly at once. Leave for six weeks then bottle.
~ Honey Beer ~
Boil an ounce of ground ginger with a half a gallon of water for thirty minutes. Pour into a pan with one pound of white sugar, two ounces of lime juice, four ounces of honey, juice from three lemons and a half-gallon of cold water. when mixture cools to lukewarm, add a large teaspoon n of yeast spread on a piece of toast. Leave for twelve hours then strain through clean muslin. Let settle for a couple of hours then bottle.
~ Mead ~
Dissolve four pounds of honey in a gallon of cold water. When the mixture is just luke-warm, add a large teaspoon of yeast spread on a piece of toast. Leave for twelve hours then strain through clean muslin. Let settle for an hour or two then bottle.
~ Locust Beer ~
Gather long black locust pods and break them into pieces. Layer in the bottom of a keg or crock. Add ripened persimmons or sliced apples and cover with boiling waater. Add two cups of molasses and let set for three to four days. Strain and serve or bottle.
~ Nettle Ale ~
Gather young tender nettles and wash well. Put two gallons of nettles into a pan with two gallons of water, half ounce of ginger root, four pounds of malt, two ounces of hops, and four ounces of sasaparilla. Boil for a quarter of an hour then strain into a pound and a half of castor sugar. Stir well until sugar dissolves, then add an ounce of creamed yeast. Set until it starts to ferment then bottle and cork.
~ Wassail Mead ~
12-1/2 pounds light clover honey
4 teaspoons acid blend
5 teaspoons yeast nutrient
wine yeast
Add honey, acid blend, and yeast nutrient to 2 gallons of water and boil for 1/2 hour. Add this to 1-1/2 gallons of cold water in the primary fermenter. Pitch yeast when the temperature reaches 70-75 degrees. Use a blow off tube if you use a carboy. Allow fermentation to proceed for 3 weeks or more (up to several months). When the mead becomes fairly clear, rack to secondary. Attach air-lock. Leave the mead to sit at least 3 weeks. When yeast settles to bottom and is clear, it is ready to bottle. Adding 3/4 cup of corn sugar at bottling will produce a sparkl- ing mead. Sparkling meads should not be made with an original gravity higher than 1.090.
~ Acorn Bread ~
2 cups of milk
2 tablespoons oil or butter
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons dry yeast
4 2/3 cups acorn flour (see below)
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup luke-warm water
To make Acorn flour:
Use white, burr, or chestnut acorns collected in the fall when ripe. Remove shells Boil acorns for two - two and a half hours, changing the water each time it turns brown. Remove from water and layer on a sheet pan and roast for one hour then chop finely and grind in a flour grinder or processor. Dry again in oven for one half hour then put through the grinder again at least twice more until very smooth.
Scald the milk then stir in oil or butter, honey, and salt. Pour into a large bowl and let cool to luke-warm. Dissolve yeast in warm water then add to mixture and gradually stir in the acorn flour. Cover bowl and let rise for two hours in a warm place, then knead for ten minutes and roll out like a thick pastery. Roll the dough like a jelly roll and shape into two loves. Place in buttered bread pans, cover and let rise for two hours. Bake for forty minutes at 375 degrees then remove and brush with melted butter. Serve warm.
~ Irish Oatcakes ~
3 cups oatmeal
1 stick butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cups of water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Mix 2 cups of oatmeal with salt and baking soda. Melt butter and add the water then stir into the oat mixture. Blend until you have a thick doughSprinkle work surface with rest of oatmeal and turn the dough on it then flatten and roll with rolling pin until about 1/4" thick. Use a very small cookie cutter or cut into small squares and bake in oven for twenty mintues at 300 degrees, then lower heat to 300 degrees and bake until light brown.
~ Scotch Oatcakes ~
1/4 cup butter
1 cup oat flour
1/4 cup bran
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking podwer
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
6 teaspoons sugar
Cut butter into oat flour and bran. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Drop batter by spoonfuls onto a greased muffin pans or cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes until light brown and serve with butter and jam.
~ Dorset Apple Cake ~
1 3/4 c All purpose flour
1/2 c Sugar
3 ts Baking powder
1/2 c Unsalted butter, cut up
1/2 lb Cooking apples, peeled,
Cored and finely chopped
1 x Egg
1/2 c Milk
Butter and flour 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 3/4 - inch loaf dish. Line bottom of dish with waxed paper. Butter and flour paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, sugar and baking powder into large bowl. With a pastry blender or knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles fine meal. Toss chopped apple in flour mixture. Set aside. In small bowl, whish together egg and milk until blended. Stir into apple mixture until mixed. (Batter will be stiff.) Spread batter evenly in dish. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes until skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven. Cool on rack 10 minutes. Remove from dish. Cook on rack.
Source: Victoria Magazine, March 1995, a favorite English recipe of Sue Clifford and Angela King of Common Ground, heritage apples orchard near London.
~ Scotch Scones ~
2 cups flour
3 tbsp. baking powder
3 tbsp. shortening
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup milk
2 eggs
currants
Sift flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add currants. Add shortening and mix in lightly. Beat eggs until light. Add milk to eggs and add slowly to mixture. Roll 1/2 inch thick on floured board. Cut in 2 inch squares and fold them over, making them 3 cornered. Brush with milk and dust with sugar. Bake in greased pan 25 minutes at 350.
~ Easy Banbury Tarts ~
2 pkgs. refrigerated pie crust (4 crusts)
1/2 C raisins
1/2 C currants
1/4 C chopped citron
1/4 C water
1 C sugar
2 tbps. all purpose flour
grated rind and juice of one lemon
1/2 C chopped English walnuts
Combine filling ingredients except the nuts in a small saucepan. Heat, stirring to mix, to a boil. Cook until thickened and then cool completely before using. Bring pastry to room temperature and spread out on lightly floured surface. Cut with 3 inch cookie cutter into rounds, gathering and rolling scraps until all used. Put about 2 tsp. filling incenter of each roudn. Cover with another round and press edges together and crimp with a fork. Brush over with beaten egg and Bake in preheated moderate oven for 15-20 minutes. To make them even faster, substitute canned Nonesuch mincemeat for filling.
© 1997 dkscastle@hotmail.com
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