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Drink

Balm Wine

A fermented beverage made from sugar, water, balm tops, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Balm Wine

Balm Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the liquor

  1. Boil sugar in water for 2 hours.

  2. Skim the mixture well and cool it in a tub.

Ferment

  1. Bruise the balm tops and place them in a barrel with a little new yeast.

  2. Pour the cooled liquor over the balm and mix well.

  3. Let it stand for 24 hours, stirring frequently.

  4. Close it up and let it stand for 6 weeks.

Bottle and age

  1. Rack it off and add a lump of sugar to each bottle.

  2. Cork the bottles well.

  3. It will improve in the second year.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides the fermentable material that yeast converts into alcohol, and sweetness in the finished wine.
Balm tops
Supply the lemon-balm aroma and flavour that the wine carries.
New yeast
Starts fermentation by converting the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

The step that matters

Cool the liquor before adding the balm. Adding hot liquid to the balm and yeast can kill the yeast, stopping fermentation before it begins. Cooling the sugar water first lets the yeast survive and work.

“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.

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