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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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What is interesting about this recipe is that Mrs. Lee died in 1873. Yet person states this was in her handwriting in book which was stated as published in 1877. However, "Housekeeping In Old Virginia" was published in 1879 by John P. Morton and Company. It was complied by Marion Cabell Tyree of Lynchburg, Virginia. Marion was the former Marion Fontaine Henry, granddaughter of Patrick Henry. She was a frequent visitor in many Virginia homes, which could have included the home of Mrs. Robert E. Lee.

I believe this is a recipe of Mrs. Lee's. It was somehow added to this cookbook probably on a separate piece of paper and inserted in the book at this later date. I have found this recipe for Blackberry Wine attributed to Mrs. Lee in other sites on recipes of Mrs. Lee.
 
This recipe in Mrs. Lee's handwriting was found in "Housekeeping in Old Virginia" published in 1877. No measurements were given for the ingredients. They were a function of how much blackberry juice you could produce. The directions are Mrs. Lee's.

Ingredients:

1 gallon blackberry
brown sugar

Directions:

"Fill a large stone jar with the ripe fruit and cover it with water. Tie a cloth over the jar and let them stand three or four days to ferment. Then mash and press them through a cloth. For every gallon of juice add 3 pounds of brown sugar. Return the mixture to the jar and cover closely. Skim it every morning until it clears from the second fermentation. When clear pour it carefully from the sediment into a demijohn. Cork tightly, set in cool place. When two months old will be fit for use."
Mrs. Lee failed to give us the most important secret to making the wine -- holding onto enough blackberries to make wine! My patch was very productive for years, but we never had berries left from one day to the next, much less enough to make wine.
 
Mrs Tyree and Mrs Lee were cousins - Dorothy Dandridge married Patrick Henry, she was Martha Washington's sister.

No, the Lees weren't teetotallers until the master of the house decided it wasn't in keeping with his new-found Christianity. Even then he wouldn't give up Agnes' Christmas punch!

Blackberry wine...that's just delicious done right. The next runner-up for me is elderberry wine. I may see about making a jug, come berry picking time!
 
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This recipe in Mrs. Lee's handwriting was found in "Housekeeping in Old Virginia" published in 1877. No measurements were given for the ingredients. They were a function of how much blackberry juice you could produce. The directions are Mrs. Lee's.

Ingredients:

1 gallon blackberry
brown sugar

Directions:

"Fill a large stone jar with the ripe fruit and cover it with water. Tie a cloth over the jar and let them stand three or four days to ferment. Then mash and press them through a cloth. For every gallon of juice add 3 pounds of brown sugar. Return the mixture to the jar and cover closely. Skim it every morning until it clears from the second fermentation. When clear pour it carefully from the sediment into a demijohn. Cork tightly, set in cool place. When two months old will be fit for use."
At the age of 12, in Doraville, GA, after many cuts and scratches on my hands and arms and purple stains on my clothes, I became a pro blackberry picker. I've never had blackberry wine, though.
 
This recipe in Mrs. Lee's handwriting was found in "Housekeeping in Old Virginia" published in 1877. No measurements were given for the ingredients. They were a function of how much blackberry juice you could produce. The directions are Mrs. Lee's.

I have had many a glass of Homemade Blackberry Wine and here in the SOUTH we don't really need measurements. A little of this and a little of that. Thanks for sharing.
 
Mrs. Lee failed to give us the most important secret to making the wine -- holding onto enough blackberries to make wine! My patch was very productive for years, but we never had berries left from one day to the next, much less enough to make wine.
They are too good just the way they are to let sit for days to make wine....
 
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