Still

Distilling alcohol without a license is against the law in the United States. Today it is illegal for private individuals to even own a still. However, immigrants to this country at the turn of the 20th century were accustomed to preserving fruits, not only by canning and making preserves, but also by fermenting and then distilling them into liquor with the aroma and taste of the fruit. This was especially the case for people from central and eastern Europe for whom alcoholic liquors were an integral part of their social life and culture. These people continued the practice of distillation here. Even during Prohibition (which outlawed alcohol), distillation was active in some communities. People recall the aroma of fermenting fruit wafting from certain homes in their neighborhoods when stills were being used. Judging from the size of this still, it was probably used in a home on top of the kitchen stove. The apparatus consists of three pieces: the copper vessel is placed on heat to cook the fruit. The resulting steam from the fruit moves through the copper tube (which is surrounded by cold water). This change in temperature causes the steam to vaporize and the resulting liquor drips out of the spigot and is collected in bottles.

18xx/19xx

Kitchen utensils
Cooking
United States
History

No linguistic content

1 object

Michigan State University. Museum

1124.2--7

Mason jars, available at: https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5v97zr6s
Metal (tin) cans, available at: https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5rv0d10s

https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5cc0tt2s