Blackberry Cordial – For Sickness in the Army
To alleviate the suffering and perhaps save the lives of many of our soldiers, whose sickness maybe traced to the use of unwholesome water in limestone regions, such asCorinth, I recommend the use of blackberry cordial, and advise all families to make each from bottle to half a dozen, and send them to the hospitals there. The following is a good recipe: Bruise the berries and strain the juice through a bag. To each quart of juice allow a half pound of loaf sugar, a heaped teaspoonful of powdered cinnamon, the same of powdered cloves, and a grated nutmeg. Boil these ingredients fifteen to twenty minutes, skimming them well. When cool, stir into each quart a pint of brandy, then bottle and cork well. In case brandy and loaf sugar cannot be had, substitute good whiskey and sugar –house molasses. Avoid plantation molasses, brown sugar, and bad whiskey. So much for the cure.
To prevent the disorder, boil the water of the country before drinking it. The process of boiling precipitates the impurities, and, when cool, the water may be poured from the sediment and used.
See another post with a similar recipe for blackberry wine: http://wp.me/p1qIB8-cH
Source: Edgefield Advertiser, July 8, 1862 as found in John Hammond Moore, ed., The Confederate Housewife (Columbia, SC: Summerhouse Press, 1997).
