[Sca-cooks] non-grape period wines

Johnna Holloway johnnae at mac.com
Fri Oct 16 08:00:58 PDT 2009


Here's the beginning of what
Maison rustique, or The countrey farme¨ Compyled in the French tongue  
by Charles Steuens, and Iohn Liebault, Doctors of Physicke. And  
translated into English by Richard Surflet, practitioner in physicke.  
Now newly reuiewed, corrected, and augmented, .... by Geruase Markham.  
1616

says:


CHAP. XLIX.
A briefe discourse of making of drinkes of the iuices of Fruits.
_IN such Countries as the vine cannot beare fruit in, because of the  
cold distemperature and churlish roughnesse of the aire, and whereas  
not|withstanding there grow singular good fruits, and in great  
aboundance in recompence of the same (as in Britaine, Normandie, the  
countrie of Mans, Chartraine, and Touraine) although there be the  
meanes to make Wine of a certaine kind of corne, called Bier: yet by  
reason of the lesse cost and charges, as also by reason of the greater  
profit, they vse to make diuers sorts of drinkes of fruits: and to  
giue them their seuerall and particular names from the seueral and  
particular fruits whereof they are made. As for example, that which is  
made of apples, cider or citer, and so the Normans and other countries  
bordering thereupon doe call it, as hauing a smell or other excellent  
qualitie resembling the citron. Perrie which is pressed out of the  
Peares, and ceruise Wine, quinceWine, pomegranat Wine, mulberrie Wine,  
gooseberrie Wine, and slo•Wine, vvhich are made of the juices of these  
fruits pres|sed out. And hereof vve are to obserue that all fruits are  
not fit to make Wine of; but onely those vvhich vvill not putrifie  
easily, and haue great quantitie of Wine juice vvithin them, of vvhich  
kind these are vvhereof I haue now spoken. For of cherries there is  
not any Wine to be pressed, because their juice doth easily corrupt  
and putrifie verie quickly: neither yet of Almonds, Common nuts,  
Filberds, Pine, nuts, or other such fruits, for they yeeld an oylie  
and not a Wine-like humour. But for as much as we are not determined  
to speake in this place of all these sorts of fruit drinkes, but onely  
of them vvhich are called cider, perrie, and carasie, vvhich next vnto  
the juice of the vine, are the most profitable and necessarie liquor  
for the life and health of man: vve vvill set downe before hand a  
certaine summarie, and as it vvere a transition and plaine declaration  
of and vnto as well the making, as also of and vnto the qualities and  
vertues of the said cider, perrie, and carasie, and will referre the  
Reader vnto the Latine Booke now long agoe looked for from Moun|sier  
Paulmie Doctor of Physicke at Paris, therein to read and learne the  
intire and perfect knowledge of this so pleasant and delightsome a  
drinke. And to begin with our purposed matter, I intend not here to  
stand about the finding out of the first in|uentour and deuisour of  
this drinke; onely I will say, that as Noe carried away with the  
pleasant taste of the juice, vvhich he pressed out of the grape of the  
wild vine planted by him, was the first inuentor of making and  
drinking of vvine: so a certaine Norman hauing his taste vvonderfully  
pleased vvith a delicate and daintie taste and rellish of the iuice of  
Apples and Peares, inuented the making of Cider and Perrie I say, a  
certaine Norman, for this is in base Normandie called the Countrey of  
Ne-z, where this drinke had first his beginning.

The way then to make these kinds of drinkes generally, is to gather  
the fruit not all out ripe, and after to let them ripen some certaine  
time in the open ayre or to drie them in the Sunne, for the spending  
and wasting of their waterie humour; then to breake and crush them  
with Mil-stones, or such other heauie instruments; and lastly, to  
presse them out: but withall you must obserue this speciall qualitie  
in certaine Apples, which the longer they are kept, and the riper they  
be, the better and greater store of iuice they yeeld, though then  
indeed it be not so durable.

On the contrarie, wild Peares doe yeeld more liquor, and of a better  
tast, and withall of longer continuance, than doe the tame and garden  
ones. When the iuice is pres|sed out from the fruit, it must be put  
into caske, for to boile therein a certaine time, and to be ordered  
after the manner of the ordering of the iuice of Grapes, as we intend  
to declare more particularly.



The 1658 English edition is up now on Google Books by the way as is  
the 1640 French edition. The work appeared as early as "published in  
1564 as L'Agriculture ou la maison rustique."


Johnnae



On Oct 14, 2009, at 7:11 PM, Stefan asked:  Does anyone know of other  
references to or recipes for non-grape wine?


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