Curan Wine White Or Red
From the treasured pages of Receipt book
Unknown Author
Curan Wine White Or Red
"take 4 pound of Currans 8 pound of Rasps let them be full ripe beat them small and put 8 quarts of spring water first boyled and almost cold again stir them well together & squees out the juice through a flaneng bagg and to every gallon of these put 2 pound of fine powder sugr put it into a barrell stopt it close & shake it often for 24 hours let it stand in the barrell 6 weeks then botle it and if it be sharp put 2 or 3 lumps of double refined suger into every botle the barrell must be but 3 parts full you make white curan the same way but leave out the Rasps and put one quart of water more if it be two it will not be amiss Mrs Hitch"
Note on the Original Text
The recipe is written in a dense, continuous prose without precise punctuation, typical of early modern manuscript cookery. Quantities are given in pounds and gallons, requiring conversion to modern metric measures. Terms like 'boyled' (boiled) and 'stopt' (stopped/sealed) reflect archaic spelling; 'rasps' refers to raspberries. The instructions rely heavily on assumed kitchen knowledge and experience, such as how to strain 'through a flaneng bagg' and the necessity of only filling the barrel three-quarters full to allow for fermentation expansion.
Title
Receipt book (1700)
You can also click the book image above to peruse the original tome
Writer
Unknown
Era
1700
Publisher
Unknown
Background
A delightful glimpse into the kitchens of the early 18th century, this historic culinary manuscript promises a feast of recipes, remedies, and perhaps a pinch of mystery. Expect both practical fare and elegant inspiration for the curious cook.
Kindly made available by
Folger Shakespeare Library
This recipe comes from early 18th-century England, a time when homemade wines from garden fruits were a hallmark of domestic life. Vineyards were rare, so households routinely brewed their own wines from locally available fruits like currants and raspberries. Such recipes offered a means of preserving summer's bounty and were often found in the manuscript books of gentlewomen—here, attributed to 'Mrs Hitch.' This particular recipe is drawn from a collection dated approximately 1700 ('V.b.272'), reflecting both the resourcefulness of period cooks and the growing English taste for rich, sweet fruit wines.
In the early 1700s, this recipe would have been executed with a wooden tub for mashing, hands or a pestle for crushing fruit, a coarse linen or flannel bag for straining, large cauldrons for heating water, and stoneware or wooden barrels for fermenting the wine. Bottling would have used early glass wine bottles and corks, hand-fitted and then sealed, often with wax.
Prep Time
30 mins
Cook Time
0 mins
Servings
40
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
- 4 lbs currants (red or white, depending on style)
- 8 lbs raspberries (for red wine only; omit for white currant wine)
- 1.98 gallons (7.9 quarts) spring water (use 2.25 gallons for white currant wine, or up to 2.38 gallons)
- 8 lbs caster sugar (preferably fine, white sugar)
- Additional sugar cubes (refined, for adjusting sweetness in bottle as needed)
Instructions
- Begin by taking 4 lbs of fresh, fully ripe currants (for white wine use only currants, for red wine use a blend of currants and raspberries).
- For red, add 8 lbs of ripe raspberries.
- Mash the fruits together thoroughly using a potato masher or your hands to break them down.
- Boil 1.98 gallons (7.9 US quarts) of spring water, then allow to cool until just warm.
- Pour the almost-cool water over the mashed fruits, stir well, and let the mixture sit for a few hours.
- Strain the liquid through a fine muslin cloth or jelly bag, squeezing out as much juice as possible.
- For each gallon (4 US quarts) of strained juice, dissolve 2 lbs of fine white sugar (preferably caster sugar).
- Pour the sweetened juice into a sterilized fermentation vessel or food-grade barrel, filling no more than three-quarters full.
- Seal the barrel tightly, but allow for gas to escape; shake or stir the mixture frequently over 24 hours.
- Leave to ferment in the vessel for 6 weeks undisturbed.
- Afterwards, carefully bottle the wine.
- If the wine is too tart, add 2-3 sugar cubes (double-refined if possible, or regular sugar cubes) to each bottle before sealing.
Estimated Calories
140 per serving
Cooking Estimates
It takes about 30 minutes to clean, mash, and mix the fruit, plus time for boiling and cooling water. Cooking is minimal since you're just boiling and cooling water. The bulk of time is for fermentation but that's not hands-on. You end up with about 10 bottles of wine, each with around 140 calories per glass-sized serving.
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.
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