Hi In one of my old letters dated November 17th 1881 from Milborne St Andrews it says "We have been only this week making cider, 6 ½ hogsheads , a nice quantity was it not, they are anxious to have it tapped ". Is anybody able to tell me how cider was made in Dorset in those days? Also from the same collection of letters I have a reference to elderberry wine. Does anyone have a contemporary recipe for this? A facsimile of Mrs Beeton's cookbook might be good for this! many thanks Caroline Ingram Western Australia -- I use Archive CD Books to help with my research http://www.archivecdbooks.org

From my Grandmothers, handed down Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book........... (undated) Elderberry Wine Ingredients - 7 lb. of elderberries, 3 gallons of water. To each gallon of liquid add 3 lb. of good loaf sugar, 1 lb. of raisins, 1/2 oz. of ground ginger, 6 cloves, 1/4 pint of brandy, 1/2 a teaspoonful of brewers' yeast. Method - Strip the berries from the stalks, pour the water, quite boiling, over them, let them stand for 24 hours, then bruise well and drain through a hair sieve or jelly-bag. Measure the juice obtained, put it into a preserving pan with sugar, raisins, ginger, and cloves in above-stated proportions, boil gently for about 1 hour, and skim when necessary. Let the liquid stand until milk-warm, then stir in the yeast and turn the whole into a clean, dry cask. Cover the bung-hole with a folded cloth, let the cask remain un-disturbed for 14 days, then stir in the brandy and bung tightly. In about 6 months the wine may be drawn off into bottles, tightly corked, and stored. Well, if you can achieve that to the letter today, I will be inpressed! Is Loaf Sugar, a block of raw sugar? Kim from the Blackmore Vale in Dorset, England kim@white.evesham.net I use Archive CD Books. All my incoming & outgoing mail is protected by Norton AntiVirus 2002. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Caroline Ingram" <cingram@iinet.net.au> To: <ENG-DORSET-LIFE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 10:39 AM Subject: [DOR-LIFE] cider and elderberry wine Hi In one of my old letters dated November 17th 1881 from Milborne St Andrews it says "We have been only this week making cider, 6 ½ hogsheads , a nice quantity was it not, they are anxious to have it tapped ". Is anybody able to tell me how cider was made in Dorset in those days? Also from the same collection of letters I have a reference to elderberry wine. Does anyone have a contemporary recipe for this? A facsimile of Mrs Beeton's cookbook might be good for this! many thanks Caroline Ingram Western Australia -- I use Archive CD Books to help with my research http://www.archivecdbooks.org ==== ENG-DORSET-LIFE Mailing List ==== For lots of useful Dorset information, see Brian Tomkins 'Dorset Page': http://www.thedorsetpage.com ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237