Page:The Virginia Housewife or, Methodical Cook, Mary Randolph, 1836.djvu/183

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THE VIRGINIA HOUSEWIFE.
177

SYRUP OF VINEGAR.

Boil two pounds of sugar with four quarts of vinegar, down to a syrup, and bottle it. This makes an excellent beverage when mixed with water, either with or without the addition of brandy. It is nearly equal in flavour to the syrup of lime juice, when made with superior vinegar.


AROMATIC VINEGAR.

Put a portion of acetate of potash, (sal diureticus,) into a smelling bottle; mix gradually with it half its weight of sulphuric acid, and add a few drops of oil of lavender.


VINEGAR OF THE FOUR THIEVES.

Take lavender, rosemary, sage, wormwood, rue, and mint, of each a large handful; put them in a pot of earthen ware, pour on them four quarts of very strong vinegar, cover the pot closely, and put a board on the top; keep it in the hottest sun two weeks, then strain and bottle it, putting in each bottle a clove of garlic. When it has settled in the bottle and become clear, pour it off gently; do this until you get it all free from sediment. The proper time to make it is when the herbs are in full vigour, in June. This vinegar is very refreshing in crowded rooms, in the apartments of the sick; and is peculiarly grateful when sprinkled about the house in damp weather.


LAVENDER WATER.

Put a pint of highly rectified spirits of wine, to one ounce of essential oil of lavender, and two