Beverages Part 3

Continuing with Beverages these recipes involve adding fruit syrups to iced water and or soda water:

It is to be regretted that fruit syrups are not more extensively used in this country, as the addition of a few tablespoonfuls of a good fruit syrup to a glass of iced water, or soda water, produces a refreshing summer beverage that is far more desirable for general use than the majority of the liquids employed in this country. For the use of ladies and children, and all persons by whom intoxicating beverages are not used, they are strongly to be commended.

CURRANT SYRUP
—One pint of juice, two pounds of sugar. Mix together three pounds of currants, half white and half red, one pound of raspberries, and one pound of cherries, without the stones. Mash the fruit, and let it stand in a warm place for three or four days, keeping it covered with a coarse cloth or piece of paper with holes pricked in it to keep out any dust or dirt. Filter the juice, add the sugar in powder, finish in the water-bath, and skim it. When cold, put it into bottla, fill them, and cork well.

MORELLO CHERRY SYRUP
—Take the stones out of the cherria, mash them, and press out the juice in an earthen pan. Let it stand in a cool place for two days, then filter; add two pounds of sugar to one pint of juice, finish in the water-bath, or stir it well on the fire, and give it one or two boils.

MULBERRY SYRUP
—One pint of juice, one pound twelve ounces of sugar. Press out the juice, and finish as cherry syrup.
Gooseberry Syrup.—One pint of juice, one pound twelve ounces of sugar. To twelve pounds of ripe gooseberries add two pounds of cherries without stones, squeeze out the juice, and finish as others.

LEMON SYRUP
—One pint and a quarter of juice, two pounds of sugar. Let the juice stand in a place to settle. When a thin skin is formed on the top pour it off and filter; add the sugar, and finish in the water-bath. If the flavor of the peel is preferred with it, grate off the yellow rind of the lemons and mix it with the juice to infuse, or rub it off on part of the sugar, and add it with the remainder when you finish it.

RASPBERRY VINEGAR SYRUP
—One pint of juice, two pints of vinegar, four pounds and a half of sugar. Prepare the juice as before, adding the vinegar with it. Strain the juice and boil to the pearl. A very superior raspberry vinegar is made by taking three pounds of raspberries, two pints of vinegar, and three pounds of sugar. Put the raspberries into the vinegar without mashing them, cover the pan close, and let it remain in a cellar for seven or eight days; then filter the infusion, add the sugar in powder, and finish in the water-bath. This is superior to the first, as the beautiful aroma of the fruit is not lost in the boiling.

SOUR ORANGE SYRUP
—Peel the oranges carefully, then squeeze the juice and strain it, so as to extract the seed and white fibrous substances, which are very bitter. Add one pound of loaf sugar to one pint of juice, and boil it in a preserving kettle. Stir frequently, and skim well. Boil until it is a rich syrup. When nearly cold, bottle, cork, and seal.
Syrup of Cloves
—Put a quarter of a pound a of cloves to a quart of boiling water, cover close, set it over a fire, and boil gently half an hour; then drain and add to a pint of the liquor two pounds of loaf sugar, clear it with the whites of two eggs, beaten up with cold water, and let it simmer till it is strong syrup. Preserve it in phials, close corked.

ORANGE SYRUP
-Select ripe and thin-skinned fruit. Squeeze the juice through a sieve, and to every pint add one pound and a half of loaf sugar. Boil it slowly, and skim as long as the scum rises; then take it off, let it grow cold, and bottle it. Two tablespoonfuls of this syrup mixed with melted butter make a nice sauce for plum or batter puddings. Three tablespoonfuls of it in a glass of ice water make a delicious beverage.
Source: The Godey's Lady's Book Receipts ©1870