139 



Currants will keep for years in bottles, re- 

 taining all their qualities for tarts, &c. if 

 they are gathered perfectly dry, and not too 

 ripe. They only require to b^ kept from the 

 air, and in a dry situation. I have found it 

 an advantage to pack them in a chest, with 

 the corks downwards ; and if the vacua be 

 filled up with dry sand, it would insure their 

 preservation. 



The red currant gives the finest flavour for 

 jelly. 



The wine made from the white currants, 

 if .rich of the fruit, so as to require little 

 sugar, is, when kept to a proper age, of a 

 similar flavour to the Grave and Rhenish 

 wines ; and I have known it preferred as a 

 summer table wine. Even in London this 

 agreeable beverage may be made at less ex- 

 pence than moderate cider can be bought for. 

 Diluted in water, this wine is an excellent 

 drink in the hot season, particularly to those 

 of feverish habits. It makes an excellent 

 shrub; and the juice is a pleasant acid in 

 punch, which, about thirty years back, was 

 a favourite beverage in the coffee-houses in 

 Paris. 



The best English brandy I have tasted, 

 was distilled from weak currant wine, by a 

 gentleman at Windsor ; and I have no doubt 



