Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes

How to silver a mirror, brew ginger beer, kill moths, make fireworks, tan a hide, bronze iron, cure a ham and clean a straw hat: William B. Dick's numbered encyclopedia answered the questions a nineteenth-century household actually had.

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Plain Syrup

Put into a very clean copper, 100 pounds loaf sugar and 3 gallons water; take the white of 12 good eggs, whisk them up to a froth in a pan, and put them into a copper before the fire is lighted; stir them well in the sugar, make a good fire, and let the mixture be still. As it comes toward boiling, the scum will rise; be particular not to let it bubble or boil, but simmer; as soon as the scum is seen to break through the edge of the copper, damp the fire, and take off the first scum; then stir it up and with the same intention. Fermenting syrups let it simmer; keep skimming it until it bemay be immediately restored by exposing the vessel containing them to the temperature of boiling water. The addition of a little spirit is also good.

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