Recipe Manuscript

To Make Currans Wine

Name: To Make Currans Wine
Prep time: PTPT40M
Cook time: PTPT0M
Yield: 25
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Fresh currants (red, white, or black) – as much as desired (recommend about 4 kg for home batch); Cold, clean water – approx. 3 liters for every 2 liters of currant juice; Brown sugar – 430 grams per 4.5 liters of juice/water mixture; Crushed raspberries – 600 ml per 450 grams brown sugar (for secondary fermentation); Additional brown sugar – 450 grams for use with raspberries (see above)

1720

From the treasured pages of Cookbook of 1720

Unknown Author

Culinary Enlightenment (1700 - 1800)European Intermediate Drink

Original Recipe • 1720

Original Manuscript(circa Culinary Enlightenment, 1700 - 1800)

As inscribed by the original author's hand, transcribed with care by Lost Kitchen Scrolls

To Make Currans Wine

"Take currans & crush ym & squeese ye juice through a seive & when you have made them dry put stalks & all into water unboil'd to every 2 quarts of juice put three quarts of ye water that your stalks was in, to every gallon of mixture 3 pound & 1/2 of brown sugar, put all into a barrel & stir it every day for a week, then put in rasberys brused a pint to one pound of sugar stir it a few days it will be ready bottle about Christmass"

Note on the Original Text

This recipe is written in the instructional, conversational style typical of 18th-century cookery manuscripts, making use of local dialect ('ym' for 'them', 'ye' for 'the') and nonstandardized spelling. Quantities were often described proportionally, as cooks would scale recipes up or down depending on their harvest. The method integrates multiple stages of fermentation, subtly referencing knowledge of yeast activity without discussing it explicitly, as was common for the time. It’s also worth noting the creative spelling and abbreviations (e.g., 'quarts', 'galon', 'brused' for 'bruised'), and the relaxed punctuation, which gives these recipes their lively, flowing rhythm.

Modern Kitchen Interpretation

Recipe's Origin

Cookbook of 1720 - Click to view recipe in book

Title

Cookbook of 1720 (1720)

You can also click the book image above to peruse the original tome

Writer

Unknown

Era

1720

Publisher

Unknown

Background

Step back to the early 18th century and discover a delightful treasury of recipes and culinary secrets, where traditional flavors meet timeless technique—a feast for curious cooks and history lovers alike.

Kindly made available by

Folger Shakespeare Library

Historical Background of the Recipe

Learn about old traditions

This recipe dates from around 1720, a time when home brewing was a common and resourceful way to preserve fruits and enjoy them throughout the year. Currants, abundant in British gardens, provided a tart and flavorful base for country wines. The process also demonstrates an effective, thrifty use of every part of the fruit—juice, pulp, and even stalks! Written in a period before standardized measurements, this recipe embodies the rustic, practical knowledge of early 18th-century households, where precise measuring tools were rare and the rhythm of the agricultural year shaped food preparation. The mention of bottling 'about Christmass' pinpoints the English country wine tradition of letting fermented drinks mature for celebrations.

Culinary Tools when the Recipe was Crafted

Tools and techniques from kitchens of old

In the early 18th century, this wine would have been prepared using large wooden or earthenware tubs or barrels, sturdy wooden spoons or paddles for crushing and stirring, and coarse cloth or fine sieves for straining the juice. Bottling would be into glass bottles sealed with cork or wax, while fermentation happened in casks or barrels stored in cool, dark cellars. Today, you can replicate the same process using modern food-grade fermentation buckets, nylon straining bags, and demijohns, but the spirit of the original hand-crafting remains unmistakable.

Modern Kitchen Adaptation

Ingredients and techniques for today's cooks

ounces, cups, Fahrenheit

Prep Time

40 mins

Cook Time

0 mins

Servings

We've done our best to adapt this historical recipe for modern kitchens, but some details may still need refinement. We warmly welcome feedback from fellow cooks and culinary historians — your insights support the entire community!

Ingredients

Fresh currants (red, white, or black) – as much as desired (recommend about 9 pounds for home batch)
Cold, clean water – approx. 3 quarts for every 2 quarts of currant juice
Brown sugar – 15 ounces per 1 gallon juice/water mixture
Crushed raspberries – 2.5 cups per 1 pound brown sugar (for secondary fermentation)
Additional brown sugar – 1 pound for use with raspberries (see above)

Instructions

Begin by taking fresh currants (red, white, or black), crushing them gently, and squeezing the juice through a fine sieve until all liquid is extracted.
Reserve the leftover skins, pulp, and stalks; add these to enough cold, unboiled water to cover them, and let them infuse for several hours (or up to overnight for a more intense flavor).
Strain this flavored water.
For every 2 quarts of currant juice, mix in 3 quarts of the currant-infused water.
Dissolve 15 ounces of brown sugar into every 1 gallon of this fruit-water mixture (this amount will scale depending on the total volume you're making).
Combine all these ingredients in a clean fermentation vessel (such as a fermentation bucket or barrel) and stir thoroughly every day for about a week.
After the first week, add crushed raspberries—about 2.5 cups of raspberries for every 1 pound of additional sugar—and stir for a few more days.
Once fermentation activity has slowed and any bubbling has subsided (this should be by Christmas, if started in the summer), carefully bottle the wine.
Allow further aging if desired, and enjoy your traditional currant wine!

Estimated Calories

130 per serving

Cooking Estimates

Preparing this currant wine will take you about 40 minutes to crush and strain your fruit and dissolve sugar. There is no cooking involved. The fermentation itself takes several weeks, but active prep is only needed at the start and just after the first week. Each glass of your homemade wine will have around 130 calories, and you'll get about 25 servings per batch using 4 kg currants.

As noted above, we have made our best effort to translate and adapt this historical recipe for modern kitchens, taking into account ingredients nowadays, cooking techniques, measurements, and so on. However, historical recipes often contain assumptions that require interpretation.

We'd love for anyone to help improve these adaptations. Community contributions are highly welcome. If you have suggestions, corrections, or cooking tips based on your experience with this recipe, please share them below.