Ratafia
Renowned as a ladies cordial within the Regency era, though a much loved drink throughout the Georgian period, it is anything but as innocent as implied.
The ingredients suggest ladies enjoyed a little alcoholic tipple more than might be thought by those who had never partaken of the "supposed innocent" cordial!
Potent - or what?
Ingredients:
- ½ bottle champagne
- 1/2 cup of gin
- ¼ cup of sugar
- 2 oranges
- 2 cups of cherries, pitted and squashed
- 2 cups of blackberries
- Dash of cinnamon
- Dash of nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon powdered rosemary
- Three cloves (bruised)
- ¼ cup crushed almonds
Mix in a gallon glass jar. Cap jar and shake. Store in dark cupboard for three weeks, removing once a week to shake jar.
After three weeks, strain liquid through a cheesecloth, pressing down on solids to release their liquid. Distribute and store in several pint jars or tightly corked wine bottles.
