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Cocktails/Brews Blackberry Wine (Mary Custis Lee's Recipe)

blackberry wine
berries_by_Hanney_Road_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1469378.jpg
(from Mary Custis Lee's Recipe)

Ingredients:

blackberries​
3 lbs. sugar​

Instructions:

Fill a stone jar with the berries, and just enough water to cover them. Cover the jar with a cloth, let stand four days to ferment, then mash, and strain through a cloth. To every gallon of juice, add three pounds sugar. Put back in the jar, and cover closely. Skim every morning until fermentation. When clear, pour off carefully into bottles, or demijohns, and cork tightly. Put in a cool place. It will be ready for use in two months.​

Photo by Steve Daniels, CC-2.0

This recipe, in Mrs. Lee's handwriting, was found in a copy of "Housekeeping in Old Virginia" from 1877. No measurements were given for the ingredients. They were a function of how much blackberry juice you could produce. It's believed the directions are Mrs. Lee's own.
 
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I feel completely ignorant on the subject of chiggers. I know they are bugs, but are they only located in warmer climates? I don't believe we have any up in NY.
I am not happy to say it's a southern thing but it is.you really never see them but when you run into them you wind up with little red spots all over that itch like hell.mostly found around Spanish moss,but they can be found e ery where.
 
I feel completely ignorant on the subject of chiggers. I know they are bugs, but are they only located in warmer climates? I don't believe we have any up in NY.

@nitrofd is so right! They itch like heck!!! I would get covered when I was little playing in the yard at my grandma's house. I can remember her getting them off me with a toothpick (and magnifying glass) from some pretty precarious places. Enough said. :cry:
 
Did they have a blackberry cordial? It heard it was not uncommon to sip a little like in Anne if Green Gables.

Good question - upon a quick search I did turn up modern day blackberry cordial recipes, but none period. Here's one from Emeril -

Ingredients -
  • 2 cups crushed blackberries (about 1 quart whole berries)
  • 3 cups brandy
  • One and one-half cups honey or sugar syrup (1 c. sugar boiled with 1/2 cup water - discard extra)
Directions - http://emerils.com/124595/blackberry-cordial
 
I am not happy to say it's a southern thing but it is.you really never see them but when you run into them you wind up with little red spots all over that itch like hell.mostly found around Spanish moss,but they can be found e ery where.

They are awful. I have been bitten several times. Put clear fingernail polish on them. It was remedy my Granny said to use.

That's an old time remedy that really does work.

They are the worst ! Normally if I get a chigger bite, it's more than a red spot. Usually has a small "bubble" in the center. My wife is allergic to em, & that tiny bubble can be the size of a pea on her. I've found the best thing for em is prevention. I usually douse the yard, & high traffic areas with "Bug-B-Gon". Been doing this for a few years now, & has changed the chigger game.

I've never used finger nail polish but, have used alcohol. A buddy uses gasoline on his :O o: He claims nothing works better :unsure:
 
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