William Carew Hazlitt

“ To make a New-market Cheese to cut at two Years old:—Any morning in September, take twenty quarts of new milk warm from the cow, and colour it with marigolds: when this is done, and the milk not cold, get ready a quart of cream, and a quart of fair water, which must be kept stirring over the fire till 'tis scalding hot, then stir it well into the milk and runnet, as you do other cheese; when 'tis come, lay cheese-cloths over it, and settle it with your hands; the more hands the better ”

“ To make Pistachia Cream:—Peel your pistachias, and beat them very fine, and boil them in cream; if 'tis not green enough, add a little juice of spinage; thicken it with eggs, and sweeten to your taste; pour it in basons, and set it by till 'tis cold.
To make white Jelly of Quinces:—Pare your quinces, and cut them in halves; then core them and parboil your quinces; when they are soft, take them up, and crush them through a strainer, but not too hard, only the clear juice. Take the weight of the juice in fine sugar ”

“ To make Birch Wine:—In March bore a hole in a tree, and put in a faucet, and it will run two or three days together without hurting the tree; then put in a pin to stop it, and the next year you may draw as much from the same hole; put to every gallon of the liquor a quart of good honey, and stir it well together, boil it an hour, scum it well, and put in a few cloves, and a piece of lemon-peel ”

“ To make Conserve of Hips:—Gather the hips before they grow soft, cut off the heads and stalks, slit them in halves, and take out all the seed and white that is in them very clean; then put them in an earthen pan, and stir them every day, else they will grow mouldy; let them stand till they are soft enough to rub through a coarse hair-sieve; as the pulp comes, take it off the sieve; they are a dry berry, and will require pains to rub it through; then add its weight in sugar, and mix it well together without boiling ”

“ I have therefore given in the few following pages, in a classified shape, some of the highly curious contents of E. Smith's "Compleat Housewife," 1736, which maybe securely taken to exhibit the state of knowledge in England upon this subject in the last quarter of the seventeenth century and first quarter of the succeeding one. In the work itself no attempt at arrangement is offered. ”