CHAPTER XI 
HOME-MADE WINES 
In these days, the delicious home-made wines which 
some of us so well remember in the days of our youth 
are not to be found in many households; they are old- 
fashioned and therefore considered out of date. The 
rush of the present day is so great that nobody has the 
time to make them, but they are none the less good for 
all that, and every home that has a fruit garden attached 
ought to utilise a certain amount of the often surplus 
fruit in this manner. But it is not even necessary to 
have a garden. One of the most delicious of home-made 
wines is elderberry and another blackberry. Elderberry 
is particularly valuable for its medicinal qualities. In 
cases of severe cold if taken hot on going to bed at 
night it will be found to be most efficacious. Some 
recipes for the best home-made wines will now be given. 
Currant Wine.-—Take 12 gallons of ripe currants, wash 
the fruit if at all dusty, and pick it off the stems. Put into 
a pickling pan and mash well with a wooden masher. 
Pour over 5 gallons of boiling water. Leave the fruit 
thus for twelve hours, then strain, taking care to press 
out all the juice. Put into a preserving pan and add 
31 lb. of brown sugar. Boil together for five minutes 
and put away in a stone jar to ferment. After fermenta- 
tion, strain carefully and bottle. Keep the bottles lying 
on their sides. 
Elderberry Wine (American recipe). —Gather the berries 
when quite ripe. Remove all stems. Measure the fruit 
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