Food

1860

Dinner Wine, or English Patent Wine, from the stem of the
garden Rheubarb

An agreeable and healthful wine is made from the expressed juice of the garden Rheubarb, To each gal. of juice add 1 gal. of soft water in which 7 lbs. of brown sugar has been dissolved; fill a keg or a barrel with this proportion, leaving the bung out, and keep it filled with sweetened water as it works off until clear; then bung down or bottle as you desire. These stalks will furnish about 3-4 their weight in juice, or from 1600 to 2000 gallons of wine to each acre of well cultivated
plants. Fill the barrels, and let them stand until Spring and
bottle, as any wine will be better in glass or stone.

Some persons give Mr. Cahoon, of Kenosha, Wis. the credit of originating Pie-plant wine, but that is a mistake, it has long been made in England, and has even been patented in that country. They first made it by the following directions, which also makes a very nice article:

For every 4 lbs., of the stalks cut fine, pour on 1 gal. of boiling water, adding 4 lbs. brown sugar; let stand covered 24 hours, having also added a little cinnamon, allspice, cloves and nutmegs, bruised, as may be desired for flavoring; then strain and let it work a few days or weeks, and settle with isinglass. Bottle or bung tight, and the longer kept the better it will be for medicine, or for drink. Where wine or any drink is bottled, always lay them on the side, which upon the principle of keeping air from fruits, prevents the entrance of air through the cork; then upon the same principle if you have drank, or used, part of a bottle of wine, and wish to keep the balance fresh, cork it tight and turn the neck of the bottle into some dish which will keep it upright, then put in water sufficient to cover the neck of the bottle as recommended with Ale or Porter in the "Ale Recipe;" without this precaution it soon becomes flat, or stale, when it is only fit for Vinegar.