To Make Elder Wine

This recipe is drawn from an early 18th-century English manuscript, attributed to Mary Baumfylde, whose household records offer a vivid window into domestic life between 1626 and the mid-18th century. Wine making in England was then commonly a home practice, bringing autumnal fruits like elderberries into the cellar for both their medicinal and convivial qualities. Elder wine, counted both as a medicinal tonic and a festive beverage, was prized for its warming properties. Elderberry was valued for more than taste: it was believed to ward off winter ills and strengthen the blood, typical of the period’s blending of culinary and health traditions. The recipe reflects the English gentry’s resourcefulness and self-sufficiency—Mary’s kitchen was as much a pharmacy and winery as a place for daily meals.

In Baumfylde’s day, large wooden tubs or earthenware jars would be used for steeping the chopped raisins and water in a warm pantry or scullery. Fermentation vessels—rundlets or small casks—were essential for the secondary fermentation. Juice was extracted by pounding and straining berries in muslin cloths or sieves. Once fermentation waned, the wine was transferred to clean bottles, sealed with cork or wax to prevent spoilage. Wooden spoons, knives for chopping, and bottles of robust blown glass rounded out the cellar’s toolkit. Today, modern equivalents include sanitized plastic or glass fermenters, nylon straining bags for fruit, and airlock systems to manage fermentation safely and efficiently.