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NECTAR (another way)
Take two pounds of chopped raisins, four pounds of loaf sugar, and two gallons of boiling water. Mix these ingredients, and stir frequently till the water is cold, then add two lemons, sliced, and three pints of proof spirit--either brandy or rum. Macerate in a closed vessel for six or seven days, giving the vessel a shake now and again, then strain with pressure. Set the strained liqueur in a cool place for a week; when clear, decant and bottle off.
A raisin-and-citrus cordial built on sugar syrup rather than fermentation, so it comes together in a fortnight of waiting and about half an hour of work. Scale it down before you commit: as written it makes well over two gallons.
- Proof spiritBritish proof spirit of the period was roughly 57% alcohol by volume, noticeably stronger than the 40% brandy or rum on a modern shelf. Using 40% spirit gives a finished drink of only about 6-7% alcohol, which is low enough that it will not keep indefinitely; an overproof rum at 57-60% brings it back into the intended range.
- Loaf sugarSold as a cone or hard block to be nipped and crushed, loaf sugar was simply refined white sugar. Ordinary granulated sugar is the direct replacement, weight for weight.
- YieldTwo gallons of water, four pounds of sugar and three pints of spirit produce roughly two and a half gallons, or about fifteen 750 ml bottles. Quartering the recipe gives a manageable four bottles or so.
- The sugar must be fully dissolved coldStirring frequently until the water is cold is not busywork -- it is what keeps four pounds of sugar in solution rather than settled as a syrupy layer at the bottom. Undissolved sugar means an unevenly sweet, unevenly alcoholic result.
- Add the spirit only when coldWaiting for the water to cool before the brandy or rum goes in prevents alcohol loss to evaporation, and stops the lemon peel from cooking and turning muddy.
- LemonsSlice them thin and leave them in no longer than the six or seven days given. Held longer, the white pith turns the drink bitter. Scrub unwaxed fruit, since the peel oils are doing most of the flavouring.
- Strain with pressureThe raisins swell and hold a good deal of liquid. Line a colander with muslin, gather it up and squeeze firmly, then let the cloudy liquid settle for the week specified before decanting off the clear cordial.
- Keeping and servingBottle tightly, store cool and dark, and treat it as a sweet aperitif or long drink over ice rather than a wine. At the lower alcohol strength that modern spirits give, refrigerate after opening and drink within a few months.
In nineteenth-century British household books "nectar" was a loose name for a sweet, spirituous cordial made at home from dried fruit, sugar and citrus -- a class of drink that also went by ratafia, shrub or noyau depending on the flavouring. Raisins were the workhorse of this genre because they were cheap, stored for years, and carried enough residual sugar and grape character to give a spirit-and-sugar base something like the depth of wine; "raisin wine" recipes appear in English manuscript cookery from the seventeenth century onward. The recipe needs no vineyard, no fermentation and no skill in judging a ferment: the alcohol arrives ready-made in a bottle of brandy or rum, and the cook's only job is maceration and patience. The label "proof spirit" in the instruction is a reminder that spirits were then bought and taxed by a legally defined strength, so a recipe writer could specify pints of it and expect a predictable result.