VI.—­CAUDLES AND POSSETS.

To make a Posset with Ale:  King-William’s Posset:—­Take a quart of cream, and mix with it a pint of ale, then beat the yolks of ten eggs, and the whites of four; when they are well beaten, put them to the cream and ale, sweeten it to your taste, and slice some nutmeg in it; set it over the fire, and keep it stirring all the while, and when ’tis thick, and before it boils, take it off, and pour it into the bason you serve it in to the table.

To make the Pope’s Posset:—­Blanch and beat three-quarters of a pound of almonds so fine, that they will spread between your fingers like butter, put in water as you beat them to keep them from oiling; then take a pint of sack or sherry, and sweeten it very well with double-refin’d sugar, make it boiling hot, and at the same time put half a pint of water to your almonds, and make them boil; then take both off the fire, and mix them very well together with a spoon; serve it in a china dish.

To make Flummery Caudle:—­Take a pint of fine oatmeal, and put to it two quarts of fair water:  let it stand all night, in the morning stir it, and strain it into a skillet, with three or four blades of mace, and a nutmeg quartered; set it on the fire, and keep it stirring, and let it boil a quarter of an hour; if it is too thick, put in more water, and let it boil longer; then add a pint of Rhenish or white-wine; three spoonfuls of orange-flower-water, the juice of two lemons and one orange, a bit of butter, and as much fine sugar as will sweeten it; let all these have a warm, and thicken it with the yolks of two or three eggs.  Drink it hot for a breakfast.

To make Tea Caudle:—­Make a quart of strong green tea, and pour it out into a skillet, and set it over the fire; then beat the yolks of four eggs and mix with them a pint of white-wine, a grated nutmeg, sugar to your taste, and put all together; stir it over the fire till ’tis very hot, then drink it in china dishes as caudle.

VII.—­CONSERVES, DRIED AND CAN-DIED FRUITS, MARMALADES, ETC.

To dry Apricocks like Prunella’s:—­Take a pound of Apricocks; being cut in halves or quarters, let them boil till they be very tender in a thin syrup; let them stand a day or two in the stove, then take them out of the syrup, and lay them drying till they be as dry as prunello’s, then box them:  you may make your syrup red with the juice of red plums; if you please you may pare them.

To candy Angelica:—­Take angelica that is young, and cut it in fit lengths, and boil it till it is pretty tender, keeping it close covered; then take it up and peel off all the strings; then put it in again, and let it simmer and scald till ’tis very green; then take it up and dry it in a cloth, and weigh it, and to every pound of angelica take a pound of double-refin’d sugar beaten and sifted; put your angelica in an earthen pan, and strew the sugar over it, and let it stand two days; then boil it till it looks very clear, put it in a colander to drain the syrup from it, and take a little double-refin’d sugar and boil it to sugar again; then throw in your angelica, and take it out in a little time, and put it on glass plates.  It will dry in your stove, or in an oven after pyes are drawn.