Name: To Keep Cider Sweet
Ingredients: 1 pint of alcohol; ¼ ounce of oil of sassafras; ¼ ounce of wintergreen

To Keep Cider Sweet

Ingredients

1 pint of alcohol
¼ ounce of oil of sassafras
¼ ounce of wintergreen

Directions

Prepare the cider

When fermentation begins, draw the cider off and rinse the barrel.
Strain the cider through a flannel cloth and return it to the barrel.

Add the flavouring

In a separate container, combine the alcohol, oil of sassafras, and wintergreen.
Shake well and add the mixture to the cider.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Alcohol: Carries the sassafras and wintergreen oils so they blend evenly into the cider.
Oil of sassafras: Provides the strong aromatic flavour that defines the sweetening.
Wintergreen: Adds a sharp, minty aroma to the cider.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.