royal strawberry acid
(from Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book by Catharine Beecher, 1846)
Ingredients:
Instructions:
Ingredients:
6 lbs. ripe strawberries
2 oz. citric acid
1 qt. spring water
about 8 lbs. of sugar
Instructions:
Take three pounds of ripe strawberries, two ounces of citric acid, and one quart of spring water. Dissolve the acid in the water and pour it on to the strawberries, and let them stand in a cool place twenty-four hours. Then drain the liquid off and pour it on to three pounds more of strawberries, and let it stand twenty-four hours. Then add to the liquid its own weight of sugar, boil it three or four minutes (in a porcelain lined preserve kettle, lest metal may affect the taste), and when cool, cork it in bottles lightly for three days, and then tight, and seal them. Keep it in a dry and cool place, where it will not freeze. It is very delicious for the sick, or the well.
Photo by Sharon Mollerus [CC BY 2.0]
With spring well on its way and summer coming, I was interested in finding some good recipes for cool drinks that are everyone-friendly. I liked this recipe and will probably give it a try as written before tweaking it, even though my wallet sobbed loudly at the mere thought of using six pounds of strawberries. It looks like citric acid is available from a few online shops, so it should be a fairly easy-to-make drink. Has anyone else tried this? Any suggestions would be great!
Enjoy!
Adam
https://archive.org/stream/missbeechersdome01beec#page/190/mode/2up
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