Elder Spirit

This late 17th-century recipe comes from Jane Dawson, an Englishwoman whose household manuscript captures recipes both medicinal and convivial from post-Restoration England. The making of a distilled elderberry spirit would have been typical for well-resourced English homes, where experimentation with fruit and herbal infusions was common, both for medicinal cordials and strong drink. Elderberries were highly valued for their medicinal properties and vivid flavor—often associated with rural domesticity and female knowledge in the kitchen. Distillation was a sophisticated method reserved for those with access to specialized equipment and the leisure to tend months-long fermentations.

Historically, this recipe required a 'hair bag' for straining fruit pulp—a fine sieve made from animal hair—followed by fermentation crocks or barrels, kept near the hearth or in a warm pantry. For distillation, a 'limbeck' was used—a traditional copper alembic still, heated gently over a coal or wood fire. The spirit was collected in glass or stoneware vessels, and repeated distillation ('rectifying') required patience, close attention to separations, and careful storage.