Sage
Wine
Shred
a bushel of red sage very small, and having boiled six gallons
of water a quarter of an hour, take it off the fire, and let
it stand until it is about as warm as milk from the cow.
Put
into it twenty-five pounds of Malaga raisins, picked and rubbed
very clean, and then through in the bushel of sage which you
have already cut very small.
Stir
all the ingredients together, and let them stand for a week
in a cool place.
Then
strain your liquor through a sieve into a cask, work it with
yeast for four days, then stop it up close and let it stand
for a week more.
At
the end of this time add to it two quarts of Malaga wine, and
when the liquor looks clear bottle it.
Of
all English wines this is deemed the most wholesome, as sage
is the most wholesome herb that grows in a garden.
from
The
Farmer's Wife
or, the Complete Country Housewife
London, c. 1780
