The refreshing effects of lemonade are greatly increased by aeration. Aerated lemonade may be made, in small quantities, without the aid of machinery, in the following ways :— 1. Place in the bottles 1 to oz. of lemon syrup ; essence of lemon, 3 drops ; bicarbonate of soda, drachm. Then nearly fill the bottles with water, having the corks ready prepared, and add to each buttle 1 drachm of crystallized tartaric acid, instantly corking and wiring it. The bottles should be kept inverted in a cool place, or preferably in a vessel of ice-cold water. In this recipe, instead of lemon syrup, oz. of lump-sugar may be used.
2. Lump-sugsr, 1 oz. ; essence of lemon, 3 drops ; bicarbonate of potash, 25 grains. Fill the bottles with water and-proceed as before, adding of crystallized citric acid, 45 grains. This recipe gives a more wholesome beverage, especially for the scorbutic, dyspeptic, rheumatic, and gouty.
The following are recipes for lemonade powders :— 1. For one glass.—Powdered citric or tartaric acid, 12 grains ; powdered white sugar, oz. essence of lemon, 1 drop, or a little of the peel rubbed off on to a lump of sugar. Mix the whole well together.
2. White sugar, 4 lb. ; tartaric or citric acid, 11 oz.; eseence of lemon, oz. Mix well and keep in a bottle for use when required. One to two dessert-spoonfuls make one glass of lemonade.
3. Efferveseing.—For the blue papers, powdered white sugar, 1 lb. ; bicarbonate of soda, I lb.; essence of lemon, drachm. Mix well and put up iu six dozen papers. Then put up 5 oz. of citric or tartazic acid in six dozen white papers. Or the two powders may be kept in separate bottles.
On the Continent, mineral lemonade is the mine given to various beverages, consisting of water to which a little mineral acid has been added, and sweetened with sugar. Thus they have limonade sulphurigue, chlorhydrigue, nitrigue, phosphorique, &e.; thew arc used as cooling drinks iu cases of fever, inflammation, skin diseases, &c.
(Fn., Sapinette ; GER., Sprossen5ier.) Spruce-beer is a cooling and refreshing beverage, made from essence of spruce and molasses or sugar. There are two kinds made, the brown and the white, the latter being generally used and preferable to tbe other. It may be prepared by dissolving 7 lb. of loaf sugar in 41- gallons of hot water. When the heat has fallen to about 32° (90° F.), 4 oz. of essence of spruce is mixed in
and dissolved perfectly by agitation. Half a pint of good brewer's yeast is then added and mixed thoroughly. In summer, fermentation speedily sets in ; but ill winter, it should be excited by keeping the cask in a warm place. When the fermentation slackens, the liquor is drawn off, the cask well washed, and the liquor returned to it. A new fermentation soon commences, and, when complete, the liquor may be bottled. The bottles should be wired; and in order that the liquor may mature quickly, it is advisable to place them on their sides until it has become brisk ; then they should be set on end to prevent them from burstiug.
Browu spruce is made in the same way, brown sugar or molasses being substituted for loaf sugar.
Another good recipe for spruce-beer is the following :—Essence of spruce, I piut ; pimento and ginger (bruised), of each, 5 oz. ; hops, lb.; water, 3 gallons ; boil the whole for ten minutes, then add of moist sugar, 12 lb. ; warm water, 11 gallona ; mix well, and when lukewarm, add of yeast, 1 pint. After the liquor has fermented for aliout twenty-four hours, it may be bottled.
Spruce-beer is diuretic and anti-scorbutic ; it is an agreeable drink in summer, and is considered particularly useful during long sea-voyages.
Tea. (FR., The ; GER., Thee.) Tea is an infusion of the dried leaves of the Chinese tea-plants rhea Bohea, Thea virichs, and others.
Of all the beverages of this class, tea is by far the most extensively drunk in this country ; upwards of 110 millions of pounds are annually consumed in the United Kingdom ; the total import of tea in 1876 nearly reached the enormous quantity of 186 millions of pounds. On the Continent, however, the consumption is very small as compared with that of coffee.
The principal constituent in tea is tannin. Besides this, it ia found to contain a volatile oil, to which its aroma is due, resin, gum, extractive matters, nitrogenous substances analogous to albumen, various salts, and an alkaloid called theine, which is identical with the caffeine of coffee ; the proportion of nitrogen in the dried leaves ia from 5 to 6 per cent. Of the total constituents, the amount soluble in boiling water varies from 38 to 47 per cent., and depends chiefly upon the age of the leaf.