HOUSEHOLD NOTES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 161, 31 March 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

HOUSEHOLD NOTES.

PARSNIP WINE. An old-fa.shioned recipe for parsnip wine advises: "To every pound of parsnips, cleaned and quartered, put a gallon ol' water, boil till they are quite •-oft, ant.' stram the liquor clear off without crushing the parsnips. To evcrv gallon of the l:quor put 31bs. of loaf sugar and soz. of crude tartar; when really cold, putj'resh yeast to it; let it stand for four days in a warm room, then bung it up.'' Another ota-time recipe for parsnip wine states that "about lb. of parsnips should b.e boiled, after having been peeled and sliced, in one gallon ot water for 20 minutes. Then rather less than a quarter of an ounce of hops should be added and the liquid boiled for five mmutes more, after which the latter should be strained over iilbs of brown sugar, and, when luke-warm, fermented. After 36 hours, it should be put in a cask, which it should nil. and left to work, and the cask chould be filled up every morning. When still, bottle and bung the wine and leave it for a year, then draw it off and bottle it with powdered sugar candy in each bottle."' Yet a third method is as follows: The sugar and water are in the same proportions as in the above recipe, but foz. of ginger to 2 gallons of the wine is added, together with six clove*. The boiling sugar aiui' water should be put to the other materials and the ginger must be very thoroughly brinsed. Finish off as before. It is very important that th,e cask is not bunged until the wine has quite done working, or the latter will go sour. In making damson wine, the proport'oiis should be about 4 gallons of iruit to the same measure of water and 31 lbs. of sugar to every gallon of liquor. Only sound, ripe damsons should lie us hi, the stalks must be rejected, and if a "rough" wine is wanted, a pound of sloes to every gallon or ha'f-gallon oi damsons may be adt.ed. Boil the sugar and water, then add the fruit and bo;! again until it is a pulp. When casked. yeast may be added to hasten fermentation, and when bottled, the wine should be ctra.ned through llanivl. A quick way of making fruit drinks i> to mash the selected fruit well, and to each pound' allow half the weight of sifted sugar. P ! ac.e the sugar and fruit in a saucepan, and to each pound add three quarters of a pint of water. Simmer all gently for half an hour, strain through a .ielly bag and bottle. TO CLEAN A SPONGE. An excellent way of cleaning a spongy is to immerse it in cold buttermilk and let it soak for a few hours: then wasli it out in clean water. It should thus bo perfectly clean and soft. A THOUGHT I'OR THE WEEK. Patience is the finest and worthiest part of fortitude, and the rarest, too. - Rusk in.