Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1871 — Melon Vinegar. [ARTICLE]

Melon Vinegar.

In California large quantities of vinegar are made from water melons. The California Farmer gives the following recipe for making the same: A good heavy roak barrel or cask of forty gallons was sheeted, one head taken out, and the barrel filled with melons, which were pommeled to a mush, beaten by a blunt stick as they were cast into the barrel. When full, or nearly so, tbe head was again inserted, and hoops tightened and allowed to stand on end in the sunlight with a vent until a ?our change consumed most parts of the melons. Then ten gallons were racked off and remained in a keg till it was fair vinegar; about four pounds of sugar were added at this time, and the liquor was all strained off and put into bottles of less than a quart, with the addition of one tablespoonful of alcohol, or pure spirits, added to each bottle. Very soon it made vinegar so sharp that water was necessary to be added to its use, an abundance oi “mother” collected in the barrel, keg, and also in the bottles. This gives us a supply for one year.