Mint Cordial
Pick the mint early in the morning while the dew is on it. Do not bruise it. Pour some water over it, and then drain it off. Put two handfuls in a pitcher with a quart of French brandy. Cover and let it stand till next day. Take out the mint carefully, and put it as much more, which take out next day. Add fresh mint a third time, taking it out after twenty-four hours. Then add three quarts water and one pound loaf sugar to the brandy. Mix well, and, when clear, bottle.--Mrs. Dr. J.
A three-stage cold infusion, closer to a household liqueur than a syrup. Nothing here is difficult, but the proportions and the keeping qualities both need a modern eye.
- The hinge: do not bruise the mintCrushed leaves release chlorophyll and the grassy, bitter compounds behind it, which turn a cold infusion muddy and vegetal. Lift the sprigs in and out whole, and lift them out on time rather than leaving them to steep longer for extra flavour.
- Two handfuls, three timesA handful of loose mint sprigs is perhaps 1 oz / 30 g, so on that rough reckoning about 2 oz per change and 6 oz of mint in total for the quart of brandy; handfuls vary and the original gives no weight. Repeated short infusions with fresh leaves are generally reckoned to give a brighter result than one long steep.
- French brandyIn the 1870s this meant brandy imported from France, most often cognac, and a decent VS cognac or armagnac is a fair substitute. Nothing so fine that oak and age fight the mint.
- Loaf sugarLoaf or lump sugar was refined cane sugar broken from a cone; plain granulated white sugar is the direct equivalent. One pound is about 2 1/4 cups.
- Which mintSpearmint, the julep mint, was the common garden mint of the region and is the likeliest intention here, though the recipe does not say. Peppermint gives a sharper, more medicinal cordial closer to a creme de menthe.
- "When clear"Sugar dissolving and fine sediment settling can take several days. Let it stand undisturbed and rack or strain off the clear liquid rather than shaking it up to hurry the process.
- Strength and keepingA quart of brandy stretched with three quarts of water lands the finished cordial somewhere around 10 percent alcohol, near wine strength. That is not enough alcohol to preserve it indefinitely at room temperature; keep the bottles refrigerated and drink within a few months.
- YieldAbout a gallon, or roughly 32 four-ounce servings. Halving or quartering the recipe is sensible unless you are stocking a sideboard.
- Morning dewThe instruction is usually read as practical rather than mystical: mint picked before the sun is on it is generally held to hold more volatile oil and has not yet wilted. The rinse-and-drain that follows most likely serves to wash off dust and insects.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia, compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree and published in 1878, gathered contributions from some 250 Virginia housekeepers, which is why so many of its recipes end with a name or a set of initials rather than a measurement. Mint cordials belong to a large family of American household liqueurs — cherry bounce, blackberry cordial, ratafia — in which spirits, fruit or herbs, and sugar were combined at home to make something between a medicine and an after-dinner drink; the cordial bottle and the medicine cabinet were not clearly separated, and mint in particular was long kept for indigestion. That this one specifies French brandy rather than domestic whiskey or apple brandy says something about the household it came from: imported cognac was expensive. Mint itself needs no explanation in a Virginia cookbook — the same plant grown by the back step for juleps supplied the cordial jar.