Old Country Drinks

About this book

Around 1900 every house was also its own brewery. Beer was brewed at home, kvass was set from bread, mead from honey, wine from berries and fruit, and in the cellar there stood bottles of juice and cordial for the winter. This is the smallest book of the series, but it is a whole chapter word for word: what went in, how much, how long it fermented and how it was kept.

The text is word for word — nothing has been retold, shortened or “improved”. Only the letters have been changed: the gothic type and the old orthography have been put into modern letters, and the book translated into English. Old and foreign words are explained beside the text, and at the end there is a table of the old measures and a glossary.

What is inside

• Fruit and berry wines with exact measures: cider, pear, elder, bilberry, currant, cherry, gooseberry, strawberry and raspberry
• Birch-sap wine, ginger wine and cherry wine with honey
• Ginger beer, kvass and kefir
• Raspberry lemonade, apple tea, the May drink and cherry essence
• The food tables of the time: calories and the composition of foods
• 25 numbered hints and recipes
• 69 old and foreign words explained beside the text, plus a glossary and a table of measures at the end

About the series

The text is word for word — nothing has been retold, shortened or “improved”. Only the letters have been changed: the gothic type and the old orthography have been put into modern letters, and the book translated into English. Old and foreign words are explained beside the text, and at the end there is a table of the old measures and a glossary.