Skip to main content
Drink

Cowslip Wine

A fermented beverage made from spring water, Lisbon sugar, yeast, and cowslip.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Cowslip Wine

Cowslip Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Boil the spring water for 15 minutes.

  2. Add the Lisbon sugar to the boiling water, 2 pounds for each gallon.

  3. Skim off any scum that rises.

  4. Pour the mixture into a tub and let it cool.

Ferment

  1. Once cool, add the yeast and let it work for 24 hours.

  2. After 24 hours, add the cowslip.

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

Lisbon sugar
Provides the sugar that yeast converts into alcohol during fermentation.
Yeast
Converts the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide, driving the fermentation.
Cowslip
Supplies the flowers that give the wine its characteristic floral flavour and aroma.

The step that matters

Let the syrup cool before adding the yeast. Yeast is killed by high heat, so the boiled mixture must cool fully before the yeast goes in. Adding it too early can stop fermentation before it starts.

“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.

You might also like

Vegetable SoupVegetable Soup350 recipesRaspberry VinegarRaspberry Vinegar214 recipesBrown Coffee with EggBrown Coffee with Egg175 recipesBlackberry CordialBlackberry Cordial129 recipes