CRÊME DE NOYAU DE MARTINIQUE
Take twenty pounds of loaf sugar, three gallons of spirit of wine, three pints of orange-flower water, one and one-quarter pounds of bitter almonds, two drams of essence of lemon, four and one-half gallons of water. The produce will exceed eight gallons. Put two pounds of the loaf sugar into a jug or can, pour upon it the essence of lemon, and one quart of the spirit of wine. Stir till the sugar is dissolved, and the essence completely incorporated. Bruise the almonds and put them into a four-gallon stone bottle or cask, add the remainder of the spirit of wine, and the mixture from the jug or can. Let it stand a week or ten days, shaking it frequently. Then add the remainder of the sugar, and boil it in the four and one-half gallons of water for three-quarters of an hour, taking off the scum as it rises. When cold, put it in a cask; add the spirit, almonds, etc., from the stone bottle, and lastly the orange-water. Bung it down close and let it stand three weeks or a month; then strain it off in a jelly-bag, and when fine, bottle it off. When the pink is wanted, add cochineal, in powder, at the rate of one-half dram or two scruples to one quart.
