Marybonita Wrote:Does anyone know any ale or cider recipes? My Irish great-grandmother "Ma Driscoll" could make a fabulous, I guess, Gingerbeer. That recipe is lost but the legend continues.
Well, this is funny! I went off to find an old Gingerbeer recipe for you -- and found one called Mrs. Beeton's Gingerbeer. "Mrs. Beeton" just happens to be the name of the writer of that book I mentioned just today in the Dames thread! So, I took a look in there, and beheld it, the same recipe but with the measurements written out in an old-fashioned way. Perhaps a sign is being given for you to make the gingerbeer! (In looking about, it seems that this stuff has to be handled, uh, gingerly as it is very fizzy and can explode!)
Anyway, here's Mrs. Beeton's recipe for gingerbeer (that book came out in 1860-something or other) -- but as given at thefoody.com, with modern measurements:
GINGER BEER.
20.45lt (36 pints) Boiling Water
1.13kg (2½lb) Sugar
40g (1½oz) Bruised Ginger
25g (1oz) Cream of Tartar
2 Lemons, rind and juice
2 large tbsp Brewer’s Yeast [or modern equivalent]
Peel the lemons, squeeze the juice, strain it and put the peel and juice into a large earthen pan, with the bruised ginger, cream of tartar and sugar.
Pour over 13.6lt (3 gallons) of boiling water.
Let it stand until just warm.
Add the yeast, which should be thick and perfectly fresh.
Stir the contents of the pan well and keep in a warm place over night, covering the pan over with a cloth.
The next day skim off the yeast and pour the liquor carefully into another vessel, leaving the sediment.
Bottle immediately and secure the corks.
In 3 days the ginger beer will be fit for use.
For some tastes, the above proportion of sugar may be found rather too large, when it may be diminished, but the beer will not keep so long good.
Average cost for this quantity, 2s., or 1/2d. per bottle.
Sufficient to fill 4 dozen ginger beer bottles.
Seasonable: This should be made during the summer months.
Quote:Right now, my husband has alloted a corner of our kitchen to Chokecherry Wine which is fermenting as we speak. But we made it up. Chokecherries, sugar, water, yeast, stir and let sit.
I feel really stupid right now. I don't think I know what a chokecherry is! Something else to Google...
Quote:Once a group of us dorm sisters set up a bucket in the kitchen: blueberries, bread, sugar and water. We let it set for 6 weeks. Not bad.
Hey, I did that in prison once. Had a hard time keeping my bunkies away, but -- well, life's hard in there, you know what I'm sayin', know what I'm sayin'? LOL
Quote:We're hoping to have our "ale" ready for Christmas. What I want is somthing simple with found-around-the-kitchen ingredients. I would bet that the Irish made ale from potato skins. That would be a find.
I will look around for some cider and ale stuff for you, MissMaryBonita. But as to the taters, make vodka!