Hannah Woolley's homemade spirits

My blog has been rather neglected over the last couple of months. Sadly, the pressures of MA life have just meant that it has had to sit gathering dust for a little while. However, that is about to change! I have a couple of weeks off before my second semester starts, so I'm looking forward to getting lots of blogging done from the comfort of my sofa!

I thought I'd kick things off today with a topic that has probably been quite close to the hearts (or livers) of all Loughborough English and Drama students and staff in recent days: alcohol. The former, due to celebratory antics as coursework deadlines pass, and the latter, as an aid to all the marking we have inflicted on them!

Now, we're all quite used to popping down to the supermarket to pick up a bottle of wine for a Friday or Saturday night, and having a dazzling array of price ranges to choose from. But what options were available for our seventeenth-century ancestors? Hannah Woolley has some ingenious homemade suggestions in The Accomplish'd Lady's Delight.

To Make Artificial Claret:

Take six gallons of water, two gallons of the best Syder, put thereto eight pound of the best Malaga raisins bruised in a Morter, let them stand close covered in a warm place the space of a fortnight, every two days stirring them well together; then press out the Raisins and put the liquor into the sid Vessel again, to which add a quart of the juice of Ras-berries, and a pint of the juice of black Cherries; cover this liquor with bread spread thick with strong Mustard, the Mustardseed being downward, and so let it work by the fire side three or four days, then turn it up and let it stand a week, and then bottle it up, and it will tast as quick as bottle Beer and become a very pleasant drink, and indeed far better and wholsomer then our common Claret (pp. 38-39).

To Make Black-Cherry Wine:

Take a Gallon of the juice of Black-Cherries, keep it in a Vessel close stopped, till it begin to work, then filter it, and an Ounce of Sugar being added to every Pint, and a Gallon of White-Wine, and so keep it close stopped for Use (pp. 81-82).

'To Make Syder:

Take a Peck of Apples and slice them, and boyl them in a Barrel of Water, till the third part be wasted; then cool your water as you do for Wort, and when it is cold, you must pour the water upon three Measures of grown Apples. Then draw sorth the Water at a Tap three or four times a day, for three days together. Then press out the Liquor, and Tun it up; when it hath done working, stop it up close (p. 90). 

Unfortunately, Woolley offers no information on alcohol percentages, so it's perhaps best to air on the side of caution when attempting to make these concoctions at home!

Image courtesy of foodsofengland.co.uk

References:

Hannah Woolley, The Accomplish'd Lady's Delight (London: B. Harris, 1675), in EEBO.

Heroines and Housewives

Last year, my Head of Department - Professor Elaine Hobby - appeared alongside historian Lucy Worsley on the BBC4 documentary 'Heroines, Housewives and Harlots: A 17th Century History for Girls'. Once the programme had disappeared from BBC IPlayer, I searched high and low on YouTube for any snippets from it to watch again, but to no avail. Somehow (I suspect by way of a breadcrumb trail of different posts and people on Twitter), I have found it again - hurrah!

I'll be honest, when I first watched the programme, I had never heard of Hannah Woolley, and I suspect lots of other people hadn't either. What this brief clip from the programme does is give us a concise, but very thorough, insight into what it was that Hannah Woolley achieved. As Elaine says, in running a household of what was probably anywhere between 8 and 14 people (including her 6 children), Hannah was far from a quiet little housewife who only occupied her time with mundane and futile tasks. She was essentially running a small business, and evidently wanted to share her own methods and approaches with other women in a similar situation. Indeed, she was probably the first woman to earn a living from writing books on household management.

It was this example of the extraordinary success which stemmed from a woman's non-fiction writing which first grabbed me and made me want to pursue my interest in their writing, particularly on subjects such as household management and medicine. Below I have shared some of my favourite excerpts from several of Hannah Woolley's works for you to enjoy! In each transcription I have preserved the original spelling and capitalisation.

From The Accomplish’d ladies delight, in preserving, physick, beautifying, and cookery (1670):

'To make Mackroons:
Take almonds, blanch them, beat them in a Morter, with serced Sugar mingled therewith, with the white of Egg and Rosewater, then beat them altogether till they are as thick as Fritters, them drop it upon your waters, and bake it.' (A2r)

'To make Almond Milk:
Boyl French Barly, as you boyl it, cast away the water, till you see the water leave to change Colour; as you put in more fresh water, then put in a bundle of Strawberry leaves, and as much Cullumbine leaves, and boyl it a good while, then put in beaten Almonds and strain them, and then strain it with Sugar and Rosemary, them strew some Sugar about the dish, and send it to the Table.' (A4r)

'To make Pan-cakes:
Put eight Eggs to two quarts of Flower, casting by four whites, season it with Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger, Cloves, Mace and Salt, then make it up into a strong Batter with Milk, beat it well together, and put in half a pint of Sack, make it so thin that it may run in your Pan how you please, put your pan on the Fire with a little Butter, or Suet, when it is very hot, take a Cloth and wipe it out, so make your Pan very clean, them put in your Batter, and run it very thin, supply it with little bits of Butter, and so toss it often, and bake it Crisp and brown.' (p. 147 – for some reason the signatures have stopped by this point!)

From The Compleat servant-maid (1670):

'How to Prevent the Tooth-ach:
Wash your mouth once a week in White-wine, in which Spurge hath been boyled, and you shall never be troubled with the Tooth-ach.' (p. 49).

'How to keep the Hair Clean, and Preserve it:
Take two handfuls of Rosemary, and boyl it softly in a quart of Spring water, till it comes to a pint, and let it be covered all the while, then strain it out and keep it, every morning when you comb your head, dip a Spunge in the water and rub your hair, and it will keep it clean and preserve it, for it is very good for the brain, and will dry up Rheum.' (p. 71)

'To make a Salve for the Lips:
Take two ounces of white Bees wax and slice it thin, then melt it over the fire, with two ounces or more of Sallet-Oyl, and a little white sugar candy, and when you see it is well incorporated, take it off the fire and let it stand till it be cold, then set the skillet on the fire again, till the bottom is warm and so turn it out, anoint your lips, or sore nose or sore nipples with this, and it will heal them.’ (p. 72)

1. Hannah Woolley, The Accomplish’d ladies delight, in preserving, physick, beautifying, and cooker (1670)
2. _____, The Compleat servant-maid (1670)

© Jenna Townend 2013