Part 9

Take ten Gallons of water; and to every Gallon of water a quart of honey, a handful and a half of Rosemary, one Ounce of Mace, one Ounce and a half of Nutmegs, as much Cinamon, half an Ounce of Cloves, a quarter of a pound of Ginger scraped and cut in pieces. Put all these into the water, and let it boil half an hour, then take it off the fire, and let it stand, till you may see your shadow in it. Then put in the honey, and set it upon the fire again. Then take the shells and whites of a dozen of Eggs, and beat them both very well together: and when it is ready to boil up, put in your Eggs, and stir it; then skim it clean, and take it off the fire, and put it into vessels to cool, as you do wort. When it is cold, set it together with some barm, as you do Beer. When it is put together leave the settlings behind in the bottom; as soon as it is white over, Tun it up in a vessel, and when it hath done working, stop it up as you do Beer. When it is three weeks old, it will be fit to bottle or drink.

ANOTHER WHITE MEATH

Take three Pound of White-honey, or the best Hampshire-honey, and dissolve it in a Gallon of water, and then boil it; and when it beginneth first to boil, put into it half a quarter of an Ounce of Ginger a little bruised; and a very little Cloves and Mace bruised, and a small quantity of Agrimony. Let all this boil together a full hour, and keep it constantly skimmed, as long as any Scum will rise upon it. Then strain it forth into some clean Kiver or other vessel, and let stand a cooling; and when it is cold, let it stand, till it be all creamed over with a blackish cream, and that it make a kind of hissing noise; then put it up into your vessel, and in two or three months time it will be fit to drink.

Look how much you intend to make, the same quantities must be allowed to every Gallon of water.

TO MAKE METHEGLIN

Take fair water, and the best honey; beat them well together, but not in a woodden vessel, for wood drinketh up the honey, put it together in a Kettle, and try it with a New-laid-egg, which will swim at top, if it be very strong; but if it bob up and sink again, it will be too weak. Boil it an hour, and put into it a bundle of herbs, what sort you like best; and a little bag of Spice, Nutmegs, Ginger, Cloves, Mace and Cinamon; and skim it well all the while it boileth: when it hath boiled an hour, take it off, and put it into earthen Pans, and so let it stand till next day. Then pour off all the clear into a good vessel, that hath had Sack in it, or White-wine. Hang the bag of Spice in it, and so let it stand very close stopp'd and well filled for a month, or longer. Then if you desire to drink it quickly, you may bottle it up. If it be strong of the honey, you may keep it a year or two. If weak, drink it in two or three months. One quart of honey, will make one Gallon of water very strong. A sprig or two of Rose-mary, Thyme and Sweet-marjoram, are the Herbs that should go into it.

TO MAKE SMALL METHEGLIN

Take to every quart of White-honey, six quarts of fair-water. Let it boil, until a third part be boiled away; skiming it as it riseth: then put into it a small quantity of Ginger largely sliced; then put it out into earthen Pans, till it be Luke-warm, and so put it up into an earthen stand, with a tap in it. Then put to it about half a Porenger-ful of the best Ale-yest, so beat it well together; Then cover it with a cloth, and it will be twelve hours before it work; and afterwards let it stand two days, and then draw it out into stone bottles, and it will be ready to drink in five or six days after. This proportion of yest (which is about six good spoonfuls) is enough for three or four Gallons of Liquor. The yest must be of good Ale, and very new. You may mingle the yest first with a little of the Luke-warm-Liquor; then beat it, till it be well incorporated, and begins to work; Then adde a little more Liquor to it, and beat that. Continue so adding the Liquor by little and little, till a good deal of it be Incorporated with the yest; then put that to all the rest of the quantity, and beat it altogether very well; then cover it close, and keep it warm for two or three days. Before you bottle it, scum away all the barm and Ginger (whereof a spoonful or two is enough for three or four Gallons) then bottle up the clear, leaving the dregs. If you will, you may Tun it into a barrel, (if you make a greater quantity) when the barm is well Incorporated with the Liquor, in the same manner as you do Beer or Ale, and so let it work in the Barrel as long as it will; then stop it up close for a few days more, that so it may clear it self well, and separate and precipitate the dregs. Then draw the clear into bottles. This will make it less windy, but also a little less quick, though more wholesome. You may also boil a little handful of tops of Rosemary in the Liquor, which giveth it a fine taste: but all other herbs, and particularly Sweet-marjoram and Thyme, give it a Physical taste. A little Limon-peel giveth it a very fine taste. If you Tun it in a barrel, to work there, you may hang the Ginger and Limon-peel in it in a bag, till you bottle it, or till it have done working. Then you may put two or three stoned and sliced Raisins, and a lump of fine Sugar into every bottle to make it quick.

TO MAKE METHEGLIN

Take five Gallons of water, and one Gallon of good White-honey; set it on the fire together, and boil it very well, and skim it very clean; Then take it off the fire, and set it by. Take six ounces of good Ginger, and two ounces of Cinamon, one Ounce of Nutmegs; bruise all these grosly, and put them into your hot Liquor, and cover it close, and so let it stand, till it be cold. Then put as much Ale-barm to it, as will make it work; then keep it in a warm place, as you do Ale; and when it hath wrought well, Tun it up, as you do Ale or Beer: and when it is a week old, drink of it at your pleasure.

AN EXCELLENT METHEGLIN

Take Spring-water, and boil it with Rose-mary, Sage, Sweet-Marjoram, Balm and Sassafras, until it hath boiled three or four hours: The quantity of the Herbs is a handful of them all, of each a like proportion, to a Gallon of water. And when it is boiled, set it to cool and to settle until the next day: Then strain your water, and mix it with honey, until it will bear an Egg the breadth of a Groat. Then set it over the fire to boil. Take the whites of twenty or thirty Eggs, and beat them mightily, and when it boileth, pour them in at twice; stir it well together, and then let it stand, until it boileth a pace before you scum it, and then scum it well. Then take it off the fire, and pour it in earthen things to cool: and when it is cold, put to it five or six spoonfuls of the best yest of Ale you can get: stir it together, and then every day scum it with a bundle of Feathers till it hath done working: Then Tun it up in a Sack-cask and to every six gallons of Metheglin put one pint of _Aquavitæ_, or a quart of Sack; and a quarter of a pound of Ginger sliced, with the Pills of two or three Limons and Orenges in a bag to hang in it.

The Whites of Eggs above named, is a fit proportion for 10 or 12 Gallons of the Liquor.

TO MAKE WHITE MEATHE

Take six Gallons of water, and put in six quarts of Honey, stirring it till the honey be throughly melted; then set it over the fire, and when it is ready to boil, skim it clean; then put in a quarter of an Ounce of Mace; so much Ginger; half an Ounce of Nutmegs; Sweet-marjoram, Broad-thyme and Sweet-Bryar, of all together a handful, and boil them well therein. Then set it by, till it be throughly cold, and barrel it up, and keep it till it be ripe.

ANOTHER TO MAKE MEATHE

To every Gallon of water, take a quart of Honey, to every five Gallons, a handful of Sweet-marjoram, half a handful of Sliced-ginger; boil all these moderately three quarters of an hour; then let it stand and cool: and being Lukewarm, put to every five Gallons, about three quarts of Yest, and let it work a night and a day. Then take off the Yest and strain it into a Runlet; and when it hath done working: then stop it up, and so let it remain a month: then drawing out into bottles, put into every bottle two or three stoned Raisins, and a lump of Loaf-sugar. It may be drunk in two months.

ANOTHER VERY GOOD WHITE MEATH

Take to every Gallon of water a quart of Honey: boil in it a little Rose-mary and Sweet-marjoram: but a large quantity of Sweet-bryar-leaves, and a reasonable proportion of Ginger: boil these in the Liquor, when it is skimed; and work it in due time with a little barm. Then tun it in a vessel; and draw it into bottles, after it is sufficiently settled. Whites of Eggs with the shells beaten together, do clarifie Meath best. If you will have your Meath cooling, use Violet and Straw-berry-leaves, Agrimony, Eglantine and the like: adding Borage and Bugloss, and a little Rosemary and Sweet-Marjoram to give it Vigor.

Tartar makes it work well.

TO MAKE WHITE METHEGLIN

Take to three Gallons of Spring-water, one of Honey; first let it gently melt, then boil for an hour, continually skiming it; then put it into an earthen or woodden vessel, and when it is little more then Blood-warm, set it with Ale-yest, and so let it stand twelve hours; then take off the Yest, and Bottle it. Put in it Limon-peel and Cloves, or what best pleaseth your taste of Herbs or Spices. Eringo-roots put into it, when it is a boiling, maketh it much better. So do Clove-gilly-flowers; a quantity of which make the Meath look like Claret-wine. I observe that Meath requireth some strong Herbs to make it quick and smart upon the Palate; as Rose-mary, Bay-leaves, Sage, Thyme, Marjoram, Winter-savory, and such like, which would be too strong and bitter in Ale or Beer.

TO MAKE WHITE MEATH

Take Rose-mary, Thyme, Sweet-bryar, Peny-royal, and Bays, Water-cresses, Agrimony, Marsh-mallows, leaves and flowers: Liver-wort, Wood-betony, Eye-bright, Scabious, of each alike quantity; of the bark of Ash-tree, of Eringo-roots-green, of each a proportion to the herbs; of wild Angelica, Ribwort, Sanicle, Roman-worm-wood, of each a proportion, which is, to every handful of the Herbs above named, a sixteenth part of a handful of these latter; steep them a night and a day, in a woodden boul of water covered; the next day boil them very well in another water, till the colour be very high; Then take another quantity of water, and boil the herbs in it, till it look green, and so let it boil three or four times, or as long as the liquor looketh any thing green; then let it stand with these herbs in it a day and a night.

To every Gallon of this water, put a quart of pure clear honey, the Liquor being first strained from the herbs. Your Liquor if it be strong enough will bear an Egg, the breadth of a three pence above water. When you have put the honey into the Liquor, you must work and Labour it together a whole day, until the honey be consumed. Then let it stand a whole night again a clearing. Then put it into a kettle, and let it boil a quarter of an hour, with the whites and shells of six Eggs; Then strain it clean, and so let it stand a cooling. Then put it into a barrel, and take Cloves, Mace, Cinamon, Nutmegs, and beat them together: put them into a linnen bag, hang it with a thread into the barrel. If you would have it work, that you may drink of it presently, take the whites of two or three Eggs, a spoonful of barm, a spoonful of wheat-flower; beat all these together: Let it work, before you stop it up. Then afterwards stop it well with clay and salt tempered together, to keep it moist.

TO MAKE METHEGLIN

If your honey be tryed, take six Gallons of Milk-warm-water, to one of honey, and stir it well together ever and anon, and so let it stand for a day and night, or half a day may serve; then boil it with a gentle fire, for the space of half an hour or thereabouts, and skim it, still as the skum ariseth. After it is scummed once or twice, you may put in your herbs, and spice grosly beaten, one half loose; the other in a bag, which afterwards may be fastned with a string to the tap-hole, as Pepper, Cloves, Mace, Ginger and the like; when it is thus boiled, let it stand in the vessel until it be cooled; then Tun it up into your barrel, and let it work two or three days, or more before you stop the bung-hole; but in putting up the boiled liquor into the barrel, reserve the thick grounds back, which will be settled in the pan or kettle.

If you would have it to drink within two or three months, let it be no stronger then to bear an Egg to the top of the water. If you would have it keep six months, or longer, before you drink it, let it bear up the Egg the breadth of two pence above the water. This is the surer way to proportion your honey then by measure. And the time of the tryal of the strength is, when you incorporate the honey and water together, before the boiling of it.

ANOTHER SORT OF MEATH

Take thirty six Gallons of fountain water (first boiled, &c.) and dissolve twelve Gallons of Honey in it. Keep them boiling an hour and a half after they begin to boil, skimming well all the while. It will be an hour upon the fire before it boil. When it is clear and enough boiled, pour it out into woodden vessels to cool. When you are ready to Tun it, have four Gallons of Black-currants, bruise them in a stone mortar, that they may the more easily part with their juyce to the Liquor. Put them and their juyce into the barrel, and pour the cool Liquor upon them, so as the vessel be quite full. Cover the bung with a plate of lead lying loose on, that the working of the Liquor may lift it up, as it needeth to cast out the filth. And still as it worketh over, fill it up with fresh Liquor, made in the same proportion of honey and water. A moneth after it works no longer, stop up the bung very close.

TO MAKE VERY GOOD METHEGLIN

Take of all sorts of herbs, that you think are good and wholesome, as Balm, Minth, Fennel, Rosemary, Angelica, Wild-thyme, Hyssop, Agrimony, Burnet, and such other as you may like; as also some field herbs; But you must not put in too many, especially Rose-mary or any strong herb. Less then half a handfull will serve of every sort. Boil your herbs, and strain them out, and let the Liquor stand till the morrow, and settle; Then take of the clearest of the Liquor two Gallons and a half to one Gallon of Honey; and in that proportion take as much of them as you will make, and let it boil an hour, and in the boiling scum it very clean. Then set it a cooling as you do Beer; and when it is cold, take some very good Ale-barm, and put it into the bottom of the Tub you mean the Metheglin shall work in, which pour into the Tub by little and little, as they do Beer, keeping back the thick settling, which lieth in the bottome of the vessels, wherein it is cooled. And when all is put together, cover it with a cloth, and let it work very near three days. And when you mean to put it up, scum off all the barm clean, and put it up into your Barrel or Firkin, which you must not stop very close in four or five days, but let it have a little vent, for it will work; and when it is close stopped, you must look to it very often, and have a peg in the top, to give it vent, when you hear it make a noise (as it will do) or else it will break the barrel. You may also, if you please, make a bag, and put in good store of sliced Ginger, and some Cloves and Cinnamon, and boil it in, or put it into the barrel and never boil it. Both ways are good.

If you will make small Metheglin, you may put five or six Gallons of water to one of honey. Put in a little Cinnamon and Cloves and boil it well. And when it is cold, put it up in bottles very close stopped, and the stopples well tyed on. This will not keep above five or six weeks, but it is very fine drink.

Make your Metheglin as soon as ever you take your Bees; for if you wash your combs in the water you boil your herbs in, when it is cold, it will sweeten much. But you must afterwards strain it through a cloth, or else there will be much wax.

TO MAKE MEATH

If you will have it to keep a year or two, take six parts of water, and one of honey; But if you will have it to keep longer, take but four parts of water to one of honey. Dissolve the honey very well in the water, then boil it gently, skimming it all the while as the scum riseth, till no more scum riseth. Then pour it out of the Copper into a fit vessel or vessels to cool. Then Tun it up in a strong and sweet cask, and let it stand in some place, where there is some little warmth; (It will do as well without warmth, but be longer growing ripe) This will make it work. At first a course foul matter will work over; to which purpose it must be kept always full with fresh Liquor of the same, as it worketh over. When it begins to work more gently, and that which riseth at the top, is no more foul, but is a white froth; then fill and stop it up close, and set it in a cool cellar, where it is to stand continually.

After half a year or a year, you may draw it off from the Lees into a clean vessel, or let it remain untouched. It is not fit to be drunk for it's perfection till the sweetness be quite worn off, yet not to be sower, but vinous. You may drink it at meals instead of wine, and is wholesomer and better then wine.

To small Meath, that is to be drunk presently, you may put a little Ginger to give it life, and work it with a little barm. If the Meath work not at all, it will nevertheless be good, and peradventure better than that which worketh; but it will be longer first, and the dregs will fall down to the bottom, though it work not.

Small Meath of eight or nine parts of water to one of honey, will be very good, though it never work, but be barrell'd up as soon as it is cold, and stopped close: and after two or three months drunk from the barrel without botteling. This is good for Meals.

TO MAKE WHITE MEATH

Take to every three Gallons of water, one Gallon of honey and set the water over the fire, and let the honey melt, before the water be too hot; then put in a New-laid-egg, and feel with your hand; if it comes half way the water, it is strong enough; Then put into it these Herbs, Thyme, Sweet-marjoram, Winter-savoury, Sweet-bryar, and Bay-leaves, in all a good great handful; which a proportion for ten Gallons; Then with a quick-fire boil it very fast half an hour, and no longer; and then take it from the fire, and let it cool in two or three woodden vessels; and let it stand without stirring twenty four hours. Then softly drain it out, leaving all the dregs behind. Put the clear into your vessel; and if you like any spice, take Ginger, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Mace and Cloves, and bruise them a little, and put them in a bag, and let them hang in your vessel. Before you put your Meath into the vessel, try if it will bear an Egg as broad as a peny; if it do, then it is very well; and if it be made with the best White-honey, it usually is just so. But if it should prove too strong, that it bears the Egge broader; then boil a little more honey and water very small, and put to it, when it is cold: and then put it into the vessel. It is best to be made at Michaelmas, and not drunk of till Lent.

TO MAKE SMALL WHITE MEATH

Take of the best white honey six quarts; of Springwater sixteen Gallons; set it on a gentle fire at first, tell it is melted, and clean skimmed; then make it boil apace, until the third part be consumed. Then take it from the fire, and put it in a cooler, and when it is cold, Tun it up, and let it stand eight months, before you drink it. When you take it from the fire, slice in three Orris-roots, and let it remain in the Liquor, when you Tun it up.

A RECEIPT TO MAKE METHEGLIN

Take four Gallons of water, two quarts of Honey, two ounces of Ginger, one ounce of Nutmegs, a good handful of Rose-mary tops, and as much of Bay-leaves, two ounces of dried Orange-peel. Boil all these till it be so strong as will bear an Egg, and not sink; when it is milk warm, work it up with barm, during twenty four hours, and then barrel it up. And after three months you may bottle it up at your pleasure.

As you desire a greater quantity of the drink, you must augment the ingredients, according to the proportions above recited.

TO MAKE METHEGLIN