GRAPE WINE NO. 1

5 gallons grapes
4.5 gallons water, soft
17.5 lb. sugar

Five gallons of ripe grapes crushed and soaked in four and a half gallons of soft water seven days; seventeen and a half pounds of nice sugar. Wash all the juice from the grapes into the water, and remove the seeds, skin and pulp; put it in a clean cask, leave open the barrel until fermentation ceased, then stop the bung tightly.

From The Housekeeper's Encyclopedia by Mrs. E. F. Haskell, 1861

Comment: The "soft water" called for here was most commonly gathered from barrels or cisterns which collected rainwater. Given that the air was much less polluted in the 1861 but water from streams or lakes was frequently awful, this was a common practice. (Wells were likely to be safe unless some creature fell into it and drowned, but the water was often very hard from percolating through underground mineral deposits.)

You will note that no added yeast is called for in this recipe; you will also note that the grapes are not suggested to be washed. The yeast which ferments the wine comes naturally collected on the skins of the grapes.

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