Recipe for Persimmon Brandy

Put the persimmons in common tubs, mash them well with your hands, or small pestles, then empty into the stand till you have it half full, then add enough of warm water to fill it, then stir or churn it well.--Fermentation will begin at once in temperate weather, and they should be distilled in five or six days. They will make about half a gallon to the bushel. I have made three runs--distilling in seven to ten days after putting up, and they did well. Many others waited two or three weeks, and made nothing but sour, disagreeable water. I am thus convinced that they should be distilled even sooner than I did. The distillation is the same as for other brandies or whiskey. But another important item is, to save the seeds of the persimmons after they have boiled, and you let out the slop, for they are excellent for coffee, rather stronger or rougher than the genuine Rio; hence I mix two parts of dried sweet potatoes to one of persimmon seed. Dr. Buck says this coffee is equal to Java coffee. By the boiling the seeds are rid of all mucilaginous substances, and are just right for coffee or button. If you use them for buttons the washer woman will hardly break them with her battling stick. For coffee they should be parched twice as long as any other substitute; so as to make them tender to the center. Alabama.