By Mrs. Merrifield: "In the year 1431, Jehan le Begue, a licentiate in the law and Notary of the Masters of the Mint at Paris, being then in the sixty-third year of his age, composed, or rather compiled, the following manuscript, from a collection of works on painting made by one Jehan Alcherius, or Alcerius. The motive that induced Jehan le Begue to undertake the work does not appear. He himself tells us that he was unaccustomed to such writing; and the numerous mistakes throughout the manuscript prove that he told the truth. But, whatever might have been his inducements, the zeal with which he undertook the work, and the manner in which he executed his task, show his attachment to the arts, and his desire to obtain information on all subjects connected with it.
His authorities seem to have been the works collected by Alcherius, and the Catholicon, which was then in manuscript, and which was not printed until twenty-nine years after Jehan le Begue completed his work. Of the early life and profession of Jehan Alcherius, or Archerius, the manuscript gives no indications. It does not actually appear that he was a painter, but his attachment to the art is unquestionable, or he would not have taken the pains he did to become acquainted with the technical processes, and to write clown so many recipes from the dictation of others. In all that related to the art he was superior to Jehan le Begue ; he also possessed the additional advantage of understanding
Italian, which he acquired in Italy during his occasional visits to that country.
The earliest biographical notice of Alcherius is dated March, 1382, at which time he left Milan for Paris, taking with him a recipe for making writing-ink, which had been given to him by Alberto Porzello, "who was most perfect in all kinds of writing and forms of letters, and who, while he lived, kept a school at Milan, and taught boys and young men to write." In 1398 Alcherius was at Paris. On the 28th of July, in that year, he wrote his treatise ' De Coloribus diversis modis tractatur,' from the dictation of Jacob Cona, a Flemish painter, then living at Paris. This treatise relates chiefly to miniature painting, and its usual accompaniment gilding. On the 8th of August follow ing he wrote another short treatise, which also relates to the same subject, entitled ' De diversis Coloribus,' from the dictation of Antonio di Compendio, "an illuminator of books, and an old man," who had tried all
the recipes himself. Nothing more is known of him from that time until the month of March, 1409, when it appears he was again at Milan, where he copied the recipes at the commencement of the work as far as No. 88, from a book lent to him by Fra Dionisio, a Servite, or, as it is expressed in the manuscript, " of the order of the Servants of St. Mary, which order in Milan is called 'Del Sacho.'"
Ink recipes from (the first 50 or so entries have to do with illumination):
Experimenta de coloribus by Jehan le Begue, based on earlier work by Jehan Alcherius, 1431.
Part of Volume 1 of Mrs. Merrifield's Original Treatises, Dating from the XIIth to the XVIIIth Centuries, [o]n the Arts of Painting (p. 320).
1. Know that gold letters are thus written with the following water. Take of sulphur vivum, of the inner bark of the pomegranate, of alum, salt, and gold dust (?), as much as you like, and liquid gum water and a little saffron. Mix, and write.
2. To erase black letters upon paper. —Make a water from the following things. Take nitre, and Roman vitriol, of each one pound, and distil them in an alembic, and a clear water will
be produced ; with this water slightly moisten a sponge, and rub the letters with it.
21. To erase letters on parchment without injury to the paper. —Take a hare's skin and dress it, and salt it down, afterwards dry it over the smoke of a fire, and reduce it to powder ; put some of this powder upon the letters which you wish to erase, and rub them with pumice-stone, and the letters will be erased without injury to the paper.
27. To erase letters from parchment.—Take the juice of an orange and dip cotton or sponge in it, and rub it lightly upon the letters, and it will erase them perfectly. But as the parchment will be wetted and made soft, it must be rendered dry and white in the following manner :—Take white lime in
powder and mix it with clear water, and afterwards strain through a piece of white linen, dip cotton in the water which has been strained and dab it upon the parchment where it is soft, and it will become white and firm. I think it would be better to dip the cotton in dry lime, and not to wet it.
28. To make a green ink for writing.—Take of good vinegar oz. ij., sal ammoniac oz. ij., common salt oz. ij., brass filings oz. ij., put them all together in a glass flask for six days, and it will make a green ink, which you must strain and keep for use.
29. To make excellent azure.—Take of sal ammoniac oz. iij., and of verdigris oz. vi., mix them together and make them into a paste with solution of tartar, and put them into a glass jar,
which you must stop up, and lute, and place in warm dung, and let it stand there for some days, and when you take it up you will find the green changed to excellent azure.
30. For the same.—Take of alum scagliola one part, of vinegar two parts ; grind them together upon a slab, and make them boil a little in a glass or other vase, and put them into a glass flask and bury them in dung for five days or more, until you see it is become of a blue colour.
31. Good ink is thus made. —Take 1 1/2 lb of pounded galls, soak them in warm rain water, or warm wine or vinegar, of the quantity of 10 phials, and so let it stand for a day or more; then boil it until the said water, wine, or vinegar is reduced to one-third, and let it be taken off the fire and a phial or two
of wine or vinegar be immediately added, and let so much water be added as was boiled away from the said mixture, and let them all be put on the fire again. When the mixture be gins to boil let it be removed from the fire ; when it is only just warm strain it, and add to it 1 1/2 lb. of gum-arabic in
powder and 1 lb. of Roman vitriol, and mix the whole together.
33. Cement for joining parchment is thus made.—Take gum arabic and whipped white of egg, dissolve the gum in this white of egg and let it dry in the sun, and when you wish to use it wet the edge of the piece with your tongue and lips and apply it to the parchment where the pieces are to be joined, and let it dry in the shade, and the pieces will adhere firmly together. But if you wish to join paper only and not parchment, wheat-flour or powdered bread-crumbs mixed with pure water and slightly boiled is very good for paper. But if you mix a little gum-arabic or whipped white of egg with it, it will do for parchment.
34. If you wish to erase letters from paper, take roche alum, and grind it, and make it into a paste with the juice of an orange, and expose it to the wind, and let it dry ; afterwards rub it upon the letters, and it will erase them from the paper.
38. If you wish to remove oil from parchment or letters, take bones of chicken or capons, and burn them until they are white, and reduce them to powder. Lay some of this powder on the place where the oil is, and let it stand, in summer in the shade, and in the sun in winter. If necessary, repeat this two or three times. Lime also is good for this purpose.
47. To make good ink for writing, particularly for books. —Take 4 bottles of good wine, white or red, and 1 lb. of galls, slightly bruised, which must be put into the wine, and allowed to stand in it for 12 days, and be stirred every day with a stick. The twelfth day it must be strained through a strainer of fine linen, and must be poured into a clean jar, and put on the fire to get hot, until it almost boils. Then remove it from the fire, and when it has cooled so as only to be tepid, put into it 4 oz. of gum-arabic, which must be very bright and clear, and stir it with a stick, then add £ lb. of Roman vitriol, and stir it continually with the stick, until all things are well incorporated together, and let it cool and keep it for use. And note, that ink made with wine is good for writing books upon the sciences, because, when books are written with it, the letters do not fade, and can hardly be scraped out or discharged from parchment or paper. But if they are written with ink made with water, it is not so, for they can easily be scraped out, and it may happen that the letters written with it will fade.
4 bottles of wine, or water, or half of each.
1 pound of galls of xij. oz. to the pound
4 oz. of gum arabic.
6 oz. of Roman vitriol.
And if you took equal parts of each, galls, gum, and vitriol, as much of one as of the other, by weight, it would still be good ; as, for instance, 6 oz. of each, which would be sufficient for the said 4 lbs. of wine or water, or of wine and water mixed as before.
50. To write with black on gold or silver.—Take burnt lead and sulphur, distemper them together, and write on the gold or silver ; then heat it with fire, and the desired effect will be produced.
Mary Merrifield's "Original Treatises on
the Arts of Painting", published in 1849
Free download of Volume 1:
https://books.google.com/books?id=2xgGAAAAQAAJ&dq=mrs+merrifield&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Free download of Volume 2:
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Egg float test used in 15th century?
Looking into fabric cleaning recipes I quickly found myself digging through old dyeing manuals, including the Segreti per Colori, or "Secrets of Color", an early to mid 15th century
manuscript in latinized Italian. The Latin text of the manuscript and its English translation forms a
major part of Mary Merrifield's Original Treatises on the Arts of
Painting, published in 1849. The section on dyeing fabric, coloring leather and making
chamois is in Volume 2, Chapter VIII, and includes one recipe on making musk soap.
From Mrs Merrifield: "THIS MS. is of the fifteenth century. It is a small volume in duodecimo, on cotton paper, and is preserved in the Library of the R. R. Canonici Regolari in the convent of S. Salvatore in Bologna. It is numbered 165. On the outside of the fly-leaf is written "D'acquisto di D. Gio. Giuseppe Trombelli," and on the other side of the same "Libro di P. Gio. Batta Nozzi, di carte 240." The precise date of the MS. is not mentioned, but there are allusions to circumstances which seem to fix the date to the first quarter, or at latest, to the middle of the fifteenth century."
The intriguing part of this manuscript is that the soap recipe clearly uses the egg float test as part of testing the strength of lye. If Mrs. Merrifield correctly dated the MS to the early to mid part of the 15th century, then this mention precedes the oldest dated recipe known, from the 1558 The secretes of the reuerende Maister Alexis of Piemount by Girolamo Ruscelli, by more than onehundred years...
It is my feeling that if the technique was known at that time, dyeing manuals like the Allerley Mackel and the T bouck va wondre (1513) should also have mentioned it, which they did not. This makes me think this soap recipe is a later addition to an older manuscript, even though it was not marked as such (newer handwriting was marked with a "B"). The technique itself does get mentioned matter of fact in 16th century latinized Italian manuscripts like the Isabella Cortese and the Notandissimi, and of course the original Italian printing of the Alexis, in a similar way as in this MS.
221. To make musk soap.—Take a vase of whatever size you like, made of good earth, and let it be rather thick in order that the weight of the lime may not break it, and near the bottom of it there must be a hole, closed with a peg, and on the inside, in front of the hole, you must put a wooden platter, and upon the platter you must put a lump of tow, enough to cover the bottom of the jar, and upon the tow, in front of the hole, put a small piece of thin linen. Then mix two parts of ashes from the baths with one part of quicklime, and place the mass upon the piece of linen that is upon the tow in the vase, and spread it well all over it. Then take rain-water, according to the quantity of the ashes, and pour it into the vase at two or three times, because it boils up and absorbs the water, and there must be enough water to cover the ashes to the depth of two fingers'-breadth or less, and when it ceases to boil, let it stand for a whole night, and in the morning take out the peg and let out the ley; and when you have drawn off a bocale full of it, pour it back into the vase, and it will become rather thick; do this two or three times, and the last time let it rest a little, and then strain it; and if it comes away too fast, press the ashes down a little in the vase, because it must issue from the whole like a thread in order that the ley may run off clear. And when the ley has entirely run off so that the ashes remain dry, take half a jug of water, and pour it over the ashes in the vase, and when it is strained pour it back 3 or 4 times into the vase, and the last time draw off the ley clear. And if you wish to know whether the ley is properly made, put a fresh egg in it; if the egg goes to the bottom it is not good, and if the egg floats it is good. Then take 9 bocali of this ley, and one roll of deer's or cow's tallow, which makes lb. 2 oz. 9, and melt it well over the fire; and when it is well boiled pour it into this ley, and keep stirring it for the space of half an hour; then let it rest for a night or more, and if you wish to add musk or any other scent to it, reduce it to a fine powder, and add it to the tallow which is in the ley, mix it up well and let it settle. Then put the soap in the sun in order that it may refine itself better, and it will harden so that you may make it up into balls, and it is done.
221. A fare sapone moschato.—Habbi uno vaso de la capacita
che tu voj facto di bona terra et sia ben grosso a cio la possanza de la
calcina non lo rompa et apresso del fondo vole esser uno bugio el quale se
convene serrare cum uno spinello e dal canto dentro nante el bugio se vole
metarce uno tagliere et sopra al tagliere se vole metarce una faldella de
capecio che copra el fondo del vaso et sopra el capecio nante al bugio mectice
uno poco de peza rada poi tolli doi parte de cenera de bagno et una parte de
calcina viva poi la incorpora cum la cenere poi la pone sopra a la peza che e sopra
al capeccio in lo vaso et distendila bene per tutto poi tolli aqua pioviana
secondo secondo che e la cenera et mectila in el vaso in doi o 3 fiate per che
ella bolle et resciugase et vole esser tanta aqua che stia sopra ala cenera doi
deta o manco et quando non bolle piu lassa stare cusi tucta una nocte et la
matina cavala spinella et lassa colare el capitello et quando naj cavato uno
bocale remitilo disopra al vaso et vira uno poco brutto et questo fa doi o tre
volte et lultima volta lassa uno poco reposare poi lassa colare et se venisse
troppo forte calca uno poco la cenera del vaso perche la spinella vole gietare
a filo acio che lo capitello vengna netto e bello poi che lo capitello e tutto
vinuto che la cenera sia senza aqua tollj meza brocha daqua et metila sopra ala
cencra che c in lo vaso et colata che sera rcmectila 3 o 4 volte suso in lo
vaso et lultima volta recoglie el capitello chiaro. Et se voj sapere quando lo
capitello e facto fino se conoscc in questo modo tiene uno ovo frescho desopra
sc lovo va al fondo non e fino et sc sta a galla e fino. De poi tolli 9 bocali
de questo capitello et uno rotulo de sego de cervo o de vacha che sonno librc
2, 2 [oz. ?] novc e fallo bene strugiare al foco et bene bolito metarlo in
questo capitello et sempre remenalo per spatio de meza hora poi lo lassa
possare una nottc o piu et se tn ce volj metere musco o altre cose odirifare
pulverizale bene subtili et metili sopra al sego che e in lo capitello et
mistiealo bene de vantaggio poi lo pone a reposare poi lo pone al sole acio che
se afina meglio et restringerasse per modo che lo porai a palotare e de facto.
Bocale, bocal; a liquid measure used at Rome, answering to what is called a bottle with us, it holds rather above an English quart. One boccale is 4 quartucci. Terracotta or glass vase, for liquids employed throughout Corsica and northern and central Italy. With many, many variations, averaging about 1 liter for wine, and 2 liter for oil.
Measurement translation from Italian Weights and Measures from the Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century, Volume 145 Ronald Edward Zupko, American Philosophical Society, 1981. Courtesy of Google.books preview.
Chapter VIII transcribed at:
http://www.elizabethancostume.net/dyes/segreti.htm
From Mrs Merrifield: "THIS MS. is of the fifteenth century. It is a small volume in duodecimo, on cotton paper, and is preserved in the Library of the R. R. Canonici Regolari in the convent of S. Salvatore in Bologna. It is numbered 165. On the outside of the fly-leaf is written "D'acquisto di D. Gio. Giuseppe Trombelli," and on the other side of the same "Libro di P. Gio. Batta Nozzi, di carte 240." The precise date of the MS. is not mentioned, but there are allusions to circumstances which seem to fix the date to the first quarter, or at latest, to the middle of the fifteenth century."
The intriguing part of this manuscript is that the soap recipe clearly uses the egg float test as part of testing the strength of lye. If Mrs. Merrifield correctly dated the MS to the early to mid part of the 15th century, then this mention precedes the oldest dated recipe known, from the 1558 The secretes of the reuerende Maister Alexis of Piemount by Girolamo Ruscelli, by more than onehundred years...
It is my feeling that if the technique was known at that time, dyeing manuals like the Allerley Mackel and the T bouck va wondre (1513) should also have mentioned it, which they did not. This makes me think this soap recipe is a later addition to an older manuscript, even though it was not marked as such (newer handwriting was marked with a "B"). The technique itself does get mentioned matter of fact in 16th century latinized Italian manuscripts like the Isabella Cortese and the Notandissimi, and of course the original Italian printing of the Alexis, in a similar way as in this MS.
221. To make musk soap.—Take a vase of whatever size you like, made of good earth, and let it be rather thick in order that the weight of the lime may not break it, and near the bottom of it there must be a hole, closed with a peg, and on the inside, in front of the hole, you must put a wooden platter, and upon the platter you must put a lump of tow, enough to cover the bottom of the jar, and upon the tow, in front of the hole, put a small piece of thin linen. Then mix two parts of ashes from the baths with one part of quicklime, and place the mass upon the piece of linen that is upon the tow in the vase, and spread it well all over it. Then take rain-water, according to the quantity of the ashes, and pour it into the vase at two or three times, because it boils up and absorbs the water, and there must be enough water to cover the ashes to the depth of two fingers'-breadth or less, and when it ceases to boil, let it stand for a whole night, and in the morning take out the peg and let out the ley; and when you have drawn off a bocale full of it, pour it back into the vase, and it will become rather thick; do this two or three times, and the last time let it rest a little, and then strain it; and if it comes away too fast, press the ashes down a little in the vase, because it must issue from the whole like a thread in order that the ley may run off clear. And when the ley has entirely run off so that the ashes remain dry, take half a jug of water, and pour it over the ashes in the vase, and when it is strained pour it back 3 or 4 times into the vase, and the last time draw off the ley clear. And if you wish to know whether the ley is properly made, put a fresh egg in it; if the egg goes to the bottom it is not good, and if the egg floats it is good. Then take 9 bocali of this ley, and one roll of deer's or cow's tallow, which makes lb. 2 oz. 9, and melt it well over the fire; and when it is well boiled pour it into this ley, and keep stirring it for the space of half an hour; then let it rest for a night or more, and if you wish to add musk or any other scent to it, reduce it to a fine powder, and add it to the tallow which is in the ley, mix it up well and let it settle. Then put the soap in the sun in order that it may refine itself better, and it will harden so that you may make it up into balls, and it is done.
Bocale, bocal; a liquid measure used at Rome, answering to what is called a bottle with us, it holds rather above an English quart. One boccale is 4 quartucci. Terracotta or glass vase, for liquids employed throughout Corsica and northern and central Italy. With many, many variations, averaging about 1 liter for wine, and 2 liter for oil.
Measurement translation from Italian Weights and Measures from the Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century, Volume 145 Ronald Edward Zupko, American Philosophical Society, 1981. Courtesy of Google.books preview.
Chapter VIII transcribed at:
http://www.elizabethancostume.net/dyes/segreti.htm
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Description of a Liquefaction Furnace for Copal and Succin
This is a re-post of a very intriguing coal furnace meant for varnish making but which could easily be used for melting pitch for medieval glue recipes. The simple design of this furnace makes it a fairly easy project for a potter to make one, and has been made and used by modern woodworking purists interested in historic wood varnishes. Note the tapered design of the funnel (it will wedge itself in the hole of the furnace pot) and the metal sieve, which looks a lot like a modern tea sieve. I think some experimentation is in order...
A sample of a similar design (Tingry, 1803):
And a ceramic recreation by a modern potter:
Description of a Liquefaction Furnace for Copal and Succin.
Those who have seen in detail the laboratories devoted to chemistry courses, will form a fairly clear idea of the construction of this furnace, remembering that which serves for the separation of the antimony sulphide from its gangue. But in order to make it serve the object of which we are speaking, we need some correctives, by means of which the liquefaction of the solid resins, and even their mixture with the drying oils, is followed without difficulty.
This furnace is shown in fig. 1e. Board 4th. Can be built entirely of terracotta by practicing three large openings in the lower chamber A which replaces the ashtray in the ordinary furnaces. These openings end in a hanger at the base of the upper chamber B or hearth. The arrangement of this base must be such that, in proportion to the curved openings, the pillars which start from the bottom and end in arcades are as small as possible, in order to leave to the Artist all the facilities suitable for the extraction of The liquefied matter, or even for its mixture with the siccative oil, if one always takes this kind of varnish.
The upper chamber B or the hearth of the furnace is separated from the lower part A by a floor or floor which replaces the grating of the ordinary furnaces. This floor has in its middle a circular opening, the diameter of which corresponds to that of a crucible C which it is to receive, and which extends very far into the lower part. This floor can be part of the furnace, or it is removable. In the latter case, it is supported by means of 3 spurs, or by a circular thread projecting into the interior at the level of the hangers. In my furnace this separation is composed of a sheet of sheet covered with a coating of earth with pottery, one inch thick. This last precaution is indispensable in order to remove the heat from the lower part A.
The side walls of this fireplace B are pierced with holes one inch in diameter (2.7 centimeters) and separated from one another by intervals of about 3 inches (8.1 centimeters). These openings are sufficient to fix The development of caloric (heat) to the point suitable for this kind of operation. I write here the proportions of the three parts of this furnace which served in my experiments, and in which I liquefied six ounces of copal in the space of ten minutes, without altering its cost too much.
(M)
(M) Overall stove height - - - - - 17 1/4 inches (4,7,3 decim.)
Height of the lower chamber A including the base that is 1 inch thick - - - - - 11 inches (2.9 decim.)
Height of the upper chamber B of the laboratory - - - - - 5 1/2 inches (1.4,3 decim.)
Diameter taken from upper edge and inside of hearth B - - - - - 9 1/2 inches. (2.5.8 decim.)
Diameter of the same piece taken from the floor - - - - - 7 inches. (1.8 decim)
This part has two and a half inches of retreat and it expresses the diameter of the whole lower part of the furnace A.
The shape of the crucible C is very well represented by that of a horn to be played with the dice, the bottom of which would have been suppressed. This crucible has to extend 9 1/2 inches. (2.5.8 decim.)
Its diameter
Superior 4 1/2 inches. (1,2,1,5 decim.)
Lower 2 1/2 inches. (6.3.5 centim.)
The screen D of conical figure has the same diameter as the upper part of the crucible and extends until the birth of the separation floor.
The crucible C is placed in the opening in the middle of the separation floor, so that it rises 3 to 4 inches in the hearth. A point of union with the floor is provided for the fall of ashes or small coals.
Once this arrangement is complete, a kind of screen D (see Figure 2) is placed in the crucible, made of a brass lattice, of a rare (fine?) fabric. This lattice is given the shape of a funnel whose edge is secured around a circle of iron wire or leon bearing the same diameter as the upper part of the crucible C. The retreat experienced by the crucible C in Its form contributes to the stability of this kind of sieve, just as the well-pronounced conical shape of this latter part shelters it from contact with the lateral part of the crucible, an important object for preserving the copal from too great a alteration.
The copal is then placed on this metallic filter in pieces of the size of a small hazelnut, and in various fragments below this size, and the whole is covered with an iron cover E of an inch in thickness, having Care to fill the joint with a soggy earth-leaf to remove any communication with the outside air.
On the other hand, the lower part of the crucible C is filled in water in a shallow saucer F (see FIG. 3) so that it plunges into water from two to three lines ( 6.7 millimeters).
The firebox B is filled with lighted coals up over the iron lid. The first impression of caloric (heat) on the copal is announced by a kind of sparkle resulting from the dilation which reduces it in small splinters. This noise is a precursor very near to liquefaction; it takes place soon after. Then a small palette of iron terminated by a bent tail is insinuated under the cylinder, and it is given the proper motion to precipitate the liquefied portion of the copal under water, and to bring it back into the solid state towards the edges of the saucer . When the operation is finished, the copal is exposed on dry cloths, or on papers with a glue, in order to sprinkle it; It is then piled up and exposed to a gentle heat, to make it lose all its moisture.
During the pouring of the copal, a very delicate portion of oil is separated which remains fluid after the operation. She swims on the water as well as the copal, and gives the latter a bold look. But when the cylinder is sufficiently prolonged, it may be dispensed with making it dive under water, and even to receive matter in water; But a smoke escapes, which may displease the artist. The essential point is to spare the fire so as not to alter the color of the copal. It is recognized that the fire is too lively, when a very thick smoke emits from the lower opening of the crucible; That it is very red, and that the drops falling into the water rise in bladders and make small explosions.
I succeeded in composing the Varnish with oily oil in the same operation, by replacing the water with boiling drying oil, and by maintaining it in this state by means of a mass of hot iron Which served as its support. Mixing of the liquefied material is facilitated by means of a bent spatula; And afterwards the boiling essence is added. One feels the inconvenience of placing under the apparatus itself a volatile and highly inflammable oil.
I will insist more and more sure on the isolated liquefaction of the copal than on the possibility of supplementing its mixture with a drying oil, to make it into a Varnish of the 5th. kind. This new method enables the artist to compose a tréssolide varnish, very little colored, and to dispense with that of copal to drying oil whose composition requires processes which alter the essential qualities of the substance which makes it the base. I can see the time when the artist, freed from all routine prejudices, will confine himself to the use of varnish, of which I here give the formula as cleaner than that of the fifth. To respond to the celerity of the work of printing, and to the views which are proposed, as to the sharpness and solidity of the varnish.
For larger work, the dimensions of this stove may change; But it would be proper to establish the focus properly so called, on a kind of tripod of iron, as shown in Fig. In order to leave the manipulator more comfortable; But I will always insist on the advantage of working only on doses of 4 and 6 ounces (about 183.43 grams) the ease of putting back the material, when the lid joins very well, pronounces on the preference that Small doses should be given over large ones; The copal is less altered. In this case, it is possible to use a metallic cylinder which is joined to cover with the cover. Then the same fire might serve two or three streams.
The precious advantages which are attached to this new method will be felt when the resulting varnishes with gasoline have been tested. The copal thus prepared has different and more extensive properties than those which are given to it by the ordinary method; And it does not have the dark and brown color which it takes at a temperature too high and too prolonged. Plunged here in an atmosphere of caloric (heat), it receives the impression only on the surface which, soon yielding to the power of this agent, escapes, under the liquid state, to the continuation of its action ; New surfaces successively undergo the same effect, and the final result is a copal which is the least altered, and which can not have undergone but a slight modification in the principles of its composition; Between its parts, and which placed so great an obstacle to the solutions sought to be made. Finally, it is possible to compose fatty varnishes with copal, almost without color, using a little colored oil, such as that of carnations, prepared in lead vases, according to the method of Watin.
Similarly, this copal, simply modified, may increase the solidity of the varnishes in alcohol in a more direct manner than when employed in the preliminary preparation. A second liquefaction would give it the property of being more soluble in alcohol; But it would be to be feared that the alteration in its principles, pushed farther, would give it no superiority over the resins most soluble in this liquid. I will finish all that relates to this 4th. Kind of varnish by the exposition of the experiments which I have made by applying our copal, thus prepared, to the most popular vehicles.
Theoretical and practical treatise on the art of making and applying varnishes, Pierre-François Tingry, 1803, 195-202. Translation by Simon St. Laurent.
For the original French text visit:
http://toolbytool.com/resources/fourneau.html
For the original blog post by my friend and translator Simon St. Laurent:
http://toolbytool.com/resources/furnace_English.html
Photo of modern furnace from:
http://www.fullchisel.com/blog/?p=956
Monday, January 23, 2017
Of Honey wine and melomels.
Honey, a blend of simple sugars, amino acids, fibers and trace minerals, combined with water and yeast transforms into wonderful honey wine. This honey wine, often called mead, was seen as a Nectar fit for the gods “And I have heard some of that nation [Welsh] defend, that it is the very Nectar which Iupiter and Iuno drank.” (Thomas Cogan, 1584). Aged mead is highly regarded and awarded many advantages, as eloquently put down by Charles Butler (1609): “a wine most agreeable to the stomake: it recoverth 1 the appetite being lost, it 2 oppeneth the passage of the spirit or breath, is 3 softeneth the bellie, it 4 is good for them that have the cough. 5 If a man take meth, now and then: he shal receive much benefit by it, against quartan agues, against cacexies, and against the diseases of the braine, as analepsie, & epilepsie, or the falling evill: for which wine is pernicious: it 6 cureth the yellow jaundise: it 7 is also good against henbane with milke, and against the winter-cherie, it 8 nourisheth the body, 9. So that many have attained to long old age, only by the nourishment of meth. 10 For being asked of Augustus the Emperor, by what meanes especially hee Pollio Romulus had so long preserved that vigour both of mind and body, his answere was, Intus mulso, foris oleo [honey within, oil without].”
A
medieval beekeeper banging a gong to calm a swarm
hanging of a branch near his liriope
facemasked head.
References
to mead in combination with medicinal herbs are found throughout history, from
the early period Anglo-Saxon Leechdoms or medical texts to the 16th
century Books of Secrets. Mead infused with herbs and spices, whether for
medicinal use or to be enjoyed (or a bit of both) is so common it is referred
to by its own term: metheglin. As explained
by Charles Butler (1609) the name is obvious, as “Metheglen is meth compoūded with herbs: so called quasi Meth e glen,
meth of the vallie, because it is made in the vallies, where is abundance and
variety of holsome herbes.” The earliest recipe for metheglin known today is
found in the 13th century Tractatus
letters “And gif þu wilt make mede eglyn.”
Where
there is Metheglin, thus there is Melomel?
There
was no shortage of fermenting with fruit sugars in the past either: while honey
wine is thought to have been the first fermented beverage, made by primitive
people thousands of years before wine and beer, (Rasmussen) grape wine runs a
close second and is well known from ancient history. Grapes have the highest
sugar content of any fruit and are therefore the most suitable for making wine.
(Hagen, 213) Fruit
wines were known to be made by settlers of the foothills of the Alps as early as 2000 BCE from wild grapes, raspberries,
blackberries, elderberries, bittersweet nightshade and cornelian cherries. (Hagen, 224) Cider and
perry, fermented apple and pear juice, are also well known and mentioned in
numerous historic texts, including the Bible - and Peacock (1449) “without sider and wyn and meeth men and
wommen myght lyve full long.” The Anglo-Saxon word beor, previously translating to beer (by way of bere for barley), is recently reconsidered
to mean cider instead, which is made from apples. (Hagen, 200)
Unfortunately,
the combination of fruit juice and honey is uncommon in our time of study…
But
is it unknown? Fermenting with honey and fruit is not common in our period of
study, and until recently, the only recipes generally available were from the
out of period but copious 1669 brewing manual “the Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digby Knight Opened”.
Unfortunately, many mead recipes mentioned in Digby use ingredients and
techniques not yet found, or commonly used, in our period of study. For
instance, the addition of citrus, like lemons, and the use of raisins, which is
common in Digby, is not found in any of the pre 1600 recipes. And the technique
of aging in the bottle, often for a sparkling beverage, is something that does
not match with the medieval method of serving mead young or aging in wooden
casks and barrels either. (Krupp) Fortunately, a couple of period recipes using
different kinds of fruit juice in combination with honey and fermentation
recently surfaced, for which, as a fruit growing homesteader and avid melomel
brewer, I am very grateful!
The
1st century manuscript Historia
Naturalis mentions a grape must and honey ferment “Another wine of the sweet class is called honey-wine; it differs from
mead because it is made from must” (Pliny), which is fermented together
instead of using the honey to sweeten wine, which otherwise would make
hippocras. The 10th century manuscript Geoponika also lists Oenomeli
from must, fermenting (grape) must with honey. In A Profitable Instruction by Thomas Hyll (1579) oenomel is explained
“as the drinke made with wine vnlayde, or
without water, and hony, they aptly name Oenomel”, or undiluted fresh wine
mixed with honey. The same looks to be the case for Geoponika’s Concerning
Oenomeli, and offers two versions of which one is “set it in the sun at the rising of the dog-star during forty days. Some
call this nectar” indicating fermentation. It is not obvious oenomel is a
fermented drink, but context would indicate it is, from using must or unfermented
grape juice, fresh wine which can easily referment, and letting it sit in a
warm place for a prolonged amount of time (40 days can mean literal 40 days, or
can mean biblical 40 days, as in many, many days).
My
personal favorite is also from the Geoponika:
the Preparation of hydromel, which
lists two versions of fermenting with apples and honey, one with crushed apples
and one with pressed apple juice. The 1597 manuscript Van de Byen by Theodorus Clutius has two similar recipes, one To make wine-like honey-water with juice
of quince and another To make red
wine-like honey-water which back ferments mead with added fruit juice “mix this together and set it to rise as
above”, similar to our modern practice of adding fruit juice in secondary
fermentation. The recipe is for a medicinal mead, using the juice of amarellen
(sour, dark red cherries with long stems) and gives alternatives like the juice
of currants, red and black cherries, grapes, apples and pears. While the
practice of fermenting honey with fruit juice is not common enough to have
coined our modern term melomel quite
yet, let alone the sub-terms of cyser for apple mead and pyment for grape mead,
thankfully for us modern melomel enthusiasts a handful of interesting early examples
does exist.
The
recipes which involve fruit and honey:
Historia Naturalis, Pliny the Elder, 77 CE.
XI … Another wine of the sweet class is called
honey-wine;
Geoponika, translated from Ancient texts by various authors, 10th
CE
XXV. — Concerning Oenomeli.
XXVI. — Oenomeli from Must.
XXVII — Preparation of Hydromel.
Van de Byen by Theodorus Clutius, 1597.
To make wine-like honey-water.
To make red wine-like honey-water.
For
the complete recipes, and much more on medieval meads, check out my Research
Paper Of Hony, a Collection of Mediaeval Brewing Recipes (which lists 39
period honey brews) on:
https://www.academia.edu/31052051/Of_Hony_-_A_collection_of_Mediaeval_brewing_recipes
Two large cauldrons which originally contained
the mixed fermented beverage
of wine, beer and mead, mounted on iron tripod
stands.
As
a side note, archaeological evidence of the analysis of several bronze drinking
vessels from the tomb of King Midas (ca. 700 BCE) in central Turkey
indicates an interesting combination of fruit, grain and honey. Biomarkers for
wine (tartaric acid), beer (beerstone) and mead/honey (beeswax) were found,
postulating the theory that the vessels contained a mixture of grape wine, beer
and mead, making a sort of braggot or malt mead with grape wine. Unfortunately,
as there is no direct evidence for honey fermentation, the honey could easily
have been for sweetening only. It is feasible that since these were grave
finds, the contents of the vessels might not have been intended for human
drinking at all, and could have been a mix of separate brews, the best they
had, specially made to please the gods. Except the earliest known recipe for
beer made in honor of Ninkasi (found on a Sumerian clay tablet dated to 1800
BCE) also mentions to add honey in combination with wine to a beer malt,
indicating the beer/wine/honey was fermented together and meant as a combined
drink. Interestingly, while both sources indicate the addition of fermented
grape wine, and the archaeologists assumed the honey was added in the form of
mead, the grave find information itself is ambivalent, and the Ninkasi recipe
speaks of straight honey, indicating the use of honey to back sweeten, instead
of adding fermented honey or mead… but then again, as long as honey is added
prior to fermentation, mead is bound to happen!
References:
Butler,
Charles. The Feminine Monarchie.
1609. Transcription by Susan Verberg.
Clutium,
Theodorum. Van de Byen. Leyden: Jan Claesz van Dorp, Inde Vergulde Son, 1597.
Transcription
& translation by Susan Verberg.
Cogan,
Thomas. The Haven of Health, 1584. London: Anne Griffin,
1636. Transcription by Susan Verberg.
Hagen,
Ann. A Second Handbook of Anglo-Saxon
Food and Drink: Production and Distribution. Norfolk, UK:
Anglo-Saxon Books, 1995.
Krupp,
Christina M. & Gillen, Bill. Making
Medieval Mead, or Mead Before Digby The Compleat Anachronist #120. Milpitas: SCA Inc, 2003.
de Maricourt,
Petrus Peregrinus.
Tractatus de Magnetate et Operationibus
eiu, Folio 20r. Reynolds Historical
Library, University
of Alabama.
Owen,
Reverend T. (trans.) Geoponika; Agricultural
Pursuits, Volume I. Of the Queen’s College at the University of Oxford.
London: W.
Spilsbury, 1805.
Rackham
H., Jones W.H.S., Eichholtz D.E. (trans.). Pliny’s
Natural History, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press & London: William Heinemann, 1949-54.
Rasmussen, S.C. The Quest for
Aqua Vitae. SpringerBriefs in History of Chemistry, 2014.
Images:
Lyon
BM ms 27 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/315322411384728239/
https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-funerary-banquet-of-king-midas/
Published in the Aethelmearc Gazette, January 27th, 2017:
https://aethelmearcgazette.com/2017/01/27/of-honey-wine-and-melomels/
Published in the Aethelmearc Gazette, January 27th, 2017:
https://aethelmearcgazette.com/2017/01/27/of-honey-wine-and-melomels/
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Film yeast in apple cider brewing
Today at practice a fellow Dominionite and brewer had a question about her hard apple cider, and one that unfortunately, due to a similar experience, I could answer... Her 4 gallons of cider had developed a thin film of white on top, and she wondered if it had gone bad. Unfortunately, that means the yeast has a competitor, but fortunately, it does not perse mean it needs to be thrown, as it will be fine to cook with. Add a Campden tablet when you think it's sour enough when vinegrating, or immediately with a film yeast, decant without the film into sterilized containers, keep cool, and enjoy your cooking!
At first, when it happened to me, I was puzzled as to what it was. Not until I got lucky at our local book sale and found small publication on hard cider making, did I learn what exactly had happened. As this little booklet is not in standard publication, I will transcribe the appropriate section below.
"Chapter 6 Possible Faults in Cider Making
There are a few faults or problems the amateur cider maker may encounter when making cider for the first time, one of the commonest being acetification. The reason for this is that too much air has been allowed to reach the cider, causing the acetic bacteria to turn the alcohol into vinegar. Bad storage is one of the causes, therefore it is essential that containers are kept topped up at all times. Once the first rapid ferment has settled down, keep fermentation jars full and insert airlocks containing a little metabisulphite. In the initial states the yeasty scum covering the surface will prevent the air coming into contact with the juice.
Darkening of the juice can occur, due in most cases to oxidation, and one way to avoid this is to add one Campden tablet to each gallon of juice as it is pressed. Over-ripe or rotten fruit could have the same effect, therefore discard any fruit that is severely blackened and mouldy as both there could cause the cider to have unpleasant flavours in addition to the enzymic darkening.
Film yeasts can develop on a weak, low-acid, still cider if it is exposed to the air, and the first indication of this is a grey powdery film that develops on the surface. If left unchecked it will eventually turn the cider to carbon dioxide and water. There is a remedy if it is caught in its early stage. Remove as much of the film as possible then filter it into another jar using a very fine piece of linen or filter papers. Add a Campden tablet (crushed) to the gallon of cider and make sure the jar is filled to the top to exclude air."
From Making Cider by Jo Deal, Amateur Winemaker Publications, Ltd. 1985
A sample of film yeast (Photo: Alison Steele, 2019)
At first, when it happened to me, I was puzzled as to what it was. Not until I got lucky at our local book sale and found small publication on hard cider making, did I learn what exactly had happened. As this little booklet is not in standard publication, I will transcribe the appropriate section below.
"Chapter 6 Possible Faults in Cider Making
There are a few faults or problems the amateur cider maker may encounter when making cider for the first time, one of the commonest being acetification. The reason for this is that too much air has been allowed to reach the cider, causing the acetic bacteria to turn the alcohol into vinegar. Bad storage is one of the causes, therefore it is essential that containers are kept topped up at all times. Once the first rapid ferment has settled down, keep fermentation jars full and insert airlocks containing a little metabisulphite. In the initial states the yeasty scum covering the surface will prevent the air coming into contact with the juice.
Darkening of the juice can occur, due in most cases to oxidation, and one way to avoid this is to add one Campden tablet to each gallon of juice as it is pressed. Over-ripe or rotten fruit could have the same effect, therefore discard any fruit that is severely blackened and mouldy as both there could cause the cider to have unpleasant flavours in addition to the enzymic darkening.
Film yeasts can develop on a weak, low-acid, still cider if it is exposed to the air, and the first indication of this is a grey powdery film that develops on the surface. If left unchecked it will eventually turn the cider to carbon dioxide and water. There is a remedy if it is caught in its early stage. Remove as much of the film as possible then filter it into another jar using a very fine piece of linen or filter papers. Add a Campden tablet (crushed) to the gallon of cider and make sure the jar is filled to the top to exclude air."
From Making Cider by Jo Deal, Amateur Winemaker Publications, Ltd. 1985
Friday, January 20, 2017
Making braggot from spent grains
Inspired by historic braggot recipes I've been wondering about making a braggot, which in modern times is a mead made with malt, and in medieval times seems to be an ale back sweetened with honey. Instead of making a second run malt, I decided to add the honey must straight to the wort and see what happens... For period sake, I used ale lees saved from a previous batch and had the fermenter hang out in front of the woodstove for a few days. It's 48 hours later now, the yeasts have awoken and are doing their thing, and the must/wort smells absolutely wonderful!
The spent grains, which would indeed make for a wonderful animal snack... too bad!
I used 7.5 pounds of honey in 2 1/2 gallons of water, to stay in line with the 2 1/2 gallon ale recipe. I did not boil the honey, or scum much as it was quite clean, but I did heat it to 120 degrees F to help break down the honey sugars for the yeast to get a quick start.
After mixing the wort (grains) and must (diluted honey) real well, I added my yeast:
A ziplock baggie from the freezer full of lees from a previous apple cider. Apple is a fairly mellow taste, which should not much interfere with the grain taste, if at all. I did not add any raisins (yeast supplement) or black tea (tannin) as I normally would with mead, as I feel like the grains most likely has plenty to spare. We'll find out...
Happily warming up in front of our woodstove. It does not have an airlock as of yet as it needs daily stirring anyway, and I ran out of lids with stopper holes... this weekend it will be upgraded, but as an interesting side benefit it was useful to be able to clearly see the lid buckle up from pressure built up of the second-hand yeast doing it's thing. Yay!
Period Braggots - sweetened ale, or malted mead?
But... archaeological evidence of the analysis of several bronze drinking vessels from the tomb of King Midas (ca. 700 MCE) in central Turkey indicated a peculiar combination of fruit, grain and honey. Biomarkers for wine (tartaric acid), beer (beerstone) and mead/honey (beeswax) were found, postulating the theory that the vessels contained a mixture of grape wine, beer and mead, making a sort of Braggot. Unfortunately, as there is no direct evidence for honey fermentation, the honey could easily have been for sweetening only. It is feasible that since these were grave finds, the contents of the vessels might not have been intended for human drinking at all, and could have been a mix of separate brews, the best they had, specially made to please the gods. Except the earliest known recipe for beer made in honor of Ninkasi also mentions to add honey in combination with wine to a beer malt, indicating the beer/wine/honey was fermented together and meant as a combined drink. Interestingly, while both sources indicate the use of fermented grape wine, the grave find information is ambivalent, and the Ninkasi recipe speaks of honey, indicating the use of straight honey instead of fermented honey or mead in this type of brew.
A Hymn to Ninkasi, Sumerian clay tablet, 1800 BCE
http://www.openculture.com/2015/03/the-oldest-beer-recipe-in-history.html (with elaborate poem)
[Ninkasi Beer, likely a braggot]
Given birth by the flowing water ......, tenderly cared for by Ninhursaja.
Ninkasi, having founded your town upon wax, she completed its great walls for you.
Your father is Enki, the lord Nudimmud, and your mother is Ninti, the queen of the abzu.
Ninkasi, it is you who handle the ...... and dough with a big shovel, mixing, in a pit, the beerbread with sweet aromatics.
It is you who bake the beerbread in the big oven, and put in order the piles of hulled grain.
Ninkasi, it is you who water the earth-covered malt; the noble dogs guard it even from the potentates (?).
It is you who soak the malt in a jar; the waves rise, the waves fall.
Ninkasi, it is you who spread the cooked mash on large reed mats; coolness overcomes .......
It is you who hold with both hands the great sweetwort, brewing it with honey and wine.
Ninkasi, ....... You ...... the sweetwort to the vessel.
You place the fermenting vat, which makes a pleasant sound, appropriately on top of a large collector vat.
Ninkasi, it is you who pour out the filtered beer of the collector vat; it is like the onrush of the Tigris and the Euphrates.
Curye on Inglysch, 14th century. Part V Goud Kokery, MS Royal 17. A. iii
Hieatt, Constance B. & Butler, Sharon (ed). Curye on Inglysch, English culinary manuscripts of the 14th century (including Forme of Cury). Early English Text Society. London: Oxford University Press, 1985.
8 Ad faciendum brakott.
Take xiiii galouns of good fyn ale that the grout therof be twies meischid, & put it into a stonen vessel. & lete it sonde iii daies or iiii, til it be stale. Afterward take a quart of fyne wort, half a quart of lyf hony; & sette it ouer the fier, & lete it sethe, & skyme it wel til it be cleer. & put therto a penyworth of poudir of peper & i penyworth of poudir of clowis, & sethe hem wel togidere til it boile. Take it doun & lete it kele, & poure out the clere thereof into the forseid vessel, & the groundis thereof put it into a bagge, into the porseid pot, & stoppe it wel with a lynnen clooth that noon eir come out; & put thereto newe berm, & stoppe it iii dayes or iiii eer thou drinke thereof. Put aqua ardente it among.
8 To make braggot.
Take 14 gallons of good fine ale that the wort thereof be twice used, & put it into a stone vessel. & let it stand 3 days or 4, until it is stale. Afterwards take a quart of fine wort, half a quart of live honey; & set it over the fire, & let it simmer, & skim well until it is clear. & put thereto a pennyworth of powder of pepper, & 1 pennyworth of powder of cloves, & simmer it well together until it boils. Take it down, & let it cool, & pour out the clear [liquid] thereof [decant] into the previously mentioned vessel [stone vessel], & the settlement thereof into a bag, into the mentioned pot [stone vessel], & close it well with a linen cloth that no air comes out; & put thereto new berm, & close it 3 days or 4 before you drink of it. Add aqua ardente to it. (Translation by Susan Verberg)
The Customs of London, otherwise called Arnold’s Chronicle, 1503
https://books.google.com/books?id=BfxBAAAAYAAJ&dq=customs+of+london+otherwise+called+arnold%27s+chronicle&source=gbs_navlinks_s
For Braket.
Take a pott of good ale and put therto a porcion of hony and peper in this maner, when thou hast good ale let it stone in a pot ij. Daies and thā drawe out a quarte or a potell of that ale and put to the hony and set it ouer the fire and lete it seethe well and take it of the fire and scinne it clene and than put thertoo the peper and thē set hē on the fire and lete hem boyle wel togedur with esy fir; but peper take iiij. gallons of good ale a pynte of fyn tried hony and the mountenaunce off saucer full of poud’ of pepper, &ct.
The Haven of Health. Chiefely gathered for the comfort of Students, and consequently of all those that have a care of their health. By Thomas Coghan, 1584.
https://ia800500.us.archive.org/22/items/havenofhealthchi00coga/havenofhealthchi00coga.pdf
Chap.238 To make Bragget.
Take three of foure galons of good Ale or more, as you please, two dayes or three after it is clensed, and put it into a pot by itselfe, then draw forth a pottle thereof, and put to it a quart of good English Hony, and set them over the fire in a vessell, and let them boyle faire and softly, and alwayes as any froth ariseth, skumme it away and so clarifie it, and when it is well clarified, take it off the fire, and let it coole, and put thereto of Pepper a pennyworth, Cloves, Mace, Ginger, Nutmegs, Cniamon, of each two pennyworth beaten to powder, stir them well together, and set them over the fire to boyle againe a while, then being milke warme, put it to the rest, and stirre all together, and let it stande two or three daies, and put barme upon it, and drink it at your pleasure.
Jewell House of Art and Nature by Hugh Platt, 1594.
http://eebo.chadwyck.com/ (only in individual TIFF files)
74 The making of a Bragget, which is manie times mistaken for a Muskadell by the simple sort of people. Put one part of smal Alewoort that is blood warm with sone part of clarified Honie according to the maner set downe num.75 but put no Cloves therein in the clarifying. For the making of one Hogesheade of this Bragget which is aboute 63. gallons, you must take nine Gallons of this clarified Honie, and 54. gallons of strong new ale: when your clarified hony hath stood one day, then mingle the same with your newe Ale in a Hogshead, first filling your Hogshead halfe full before put in your honie, and then hang this aromaticall cōposition following in a long slender bag in the midst of the vessell vz. of Cinamon three ounces, ginger three ounces, greins 3. ounces, colianders one ounce, cloves one ounce, nutmegs oce ounce, long pepper halfe an ounce, Cardamomum one ounce and a halfe, liquerice one ounce, then fil up the vessell almost full with the rest of the new ale (yet some comment rather the putting in of the spices sonsistedly [?] then in a bag) bee sure to have foure of five gallons or more of the same newe ale, to fill up the hogshead as it purgeth over continuallie. There is a lesser hole neere the bung hole in beere hogsheads, which must stande open whilest it purgeth, you must also be carefull in the beginning to give some little vent to the hogshead whilst it worketh: in three or foure moneths, it will be readie to drinke. You must have a hazell sticke of the bignesse of a good cudgell, so great as may well enter in at the round bung-hole, and when you hogshead is about three quarters full, put in this stick, being sawed croswise at the end about one cubite in length, (the Vintners call it their parrelling staffe) as the aptest toole for this purpose. Beat with the said staffe the new ale and the honie togither a good prettie while, & when you have finished this agitation, fill up the vessel with the rest, and let it purge as before. If you finde your muscadell too thicke, after it hath stood 3. or 4. monethes, you may take a cane or pipe, made of Tinne plates, that will reach into the midst of the hogshead or somewhat more, stop the ende thereof and make some holes in the sides, and with a funnell you may poure more new ale into the Cane, and so make it thinner. This Cane is an apt instrument to conveie any liquor or compostition into a vessell of wine without troubling of the same, or turning uppe the lees, wherby you may draw the same fine presently.
http://brewwiki.com/index.php/Braggot
Thursday, January 19, 2017
Medieval Arabic alcoholic honey beverages
Although alcohol is considered forbidden (haraam) in Islamic culture, only the most conservative countries actively ban the consumption of alcohol. Drinking in private and by select parties is far from uncommon among modern Muslims, and was even more common in history, before the introduction of tobacco and coffee as substitutes. Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry is famous for its odes to wine, and even Caliph's, such as the Abbasid ruler Haroun al-Rashid of One Thousand and One Night fame, were reputed to indulge, despite their title of "commanders of the faithful".
This may be due to doubt as to whether the Qur'an actually prohibits the consumption of alcohol, or merely recommends moderation and/or abstinence. Or might be simple human nature, knowing something is better for you does not guarantee better behavior, at all times. What I do know is that several medieval Arabic cookbooks list alcoholic beverages, some inferred, some plainly listed, which indicates alcoholic beverages would have been requested and available. And the copious wine loving poetry, going into great details, does suggest the effects of the consumption of alcohol were well known, even if only from a distance.
108. Syrups, electuaries, and others.
The best resat jellies are taken in the winter for a stiff neck. It is useful, with God's help. Ten dawariq of the best juice from pulp of the grape is taken. A dawariq is 4 1/2 ratls. It is cooked over a low fire until its foam disappears. Then the best genuine honey is put in. The proportion is one ratl of honey for every five ratls. It is boiled over a low fire until its foam also disappears. 1/2 of it evaporates. Then 1 dirham each is taken of Lesser cardamom, Cardamom, Ceylonese cinnamon, Clove, Long pepper. It is well pulverized and put into a fine linen cloth. Then it is thrown into the decoction after the froth has been removed. When the cooking is over, it is possible to introduce the hand into it. The powder is macerated into it strongly. It is taken out and 3 dirhams of Saffron put into (the liquid). It is put into flasks and the tops are stoppered. After a little sun is allowed on it, one may use it. The older it gets, the better, God willing.
This recipe could go either way, it might make a delicious non-alcoholic syrup, or a delicious alcoholic mead. What tips me off for fermentation is to place it in the sun for a little while: covered, the heat would help fermentation, and uncovered would give the opportunity for catching wild yeast for a wild ferment. The fact that it is cooked does not necessarily mean it is boiled, several medieval English recipes use the words boiling and simmering while from context it is clear the must never got hot enough to melt wax. As yeast can survive temperatures slightly higher than the melting point of wax, it is feasible, as the must is heated over a slow fire, that ambient honey yeast survived to kickstart fermentation without the need for a wild-ferment. Of course the biggest clue is that the older it gets, the better it becomes, God willing, which would not be the case with sterile fruit syrup (think of store bought pasteurized apple cider which goes bad, as compared to farm bought fresh apple cider, which goes fizzy!).
Aqrabadhin of al-Kindi by Abu Yusuf Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, c. 800-870 CE
The Medical Formulary, or Aqrabadhin, of Al-Kindi by Martin Levey, Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1966. http://web.raex.com/~obsidian/arabmead.html
A recipe for raisin wine (nabīdh zabībī):
Take 50 raţls (50 pounds) zabīb (raisins) [and put them aside]. Take 30 raţls (30 pounds) bees’ honey, which has been [boiled] and skimmed of its froth. Add half its amount of water [30 cups]. Bring them to a vigorous boil. Add the raisins [to the boiling liquid] as well as 20 raţls (40 cups) water. Boil the mix then strain it to get rid of the raisin seeds. Flavor it with 5 dirhams (15 grams) saffron, 5 dirhams (15 grams) spikenard, 3 dirhams (9 grams) mastic, and 1 dānaq (½ gram) musk. Empty the liquid into glass jars (qawārīr) and stow them away in a shaded place. You can use it after 40 days. It is a wonderful wine.
A recipe for mead (nabīdh ‘asalī) without raisins:
Put 50 raţls (50 pounds) honey in a pot and add 50 raţls (100 cups) water. Let it boil until one third of the liquid evaporates, which amounts to 33 raţls. At this point, add to the pot 2 mithqāls (9 grams) saffron and 2 dirhams (6 grams) mastic. Pour into the pot 5 raţls (10 cups) cold water. Empty the liquid into glass jars (qawārīr). Set them aside in a shaded place for 50 days after which you seal them with mud. Use the wine in winter by mixing one part of it with two parts of musk flavored water (nāfābā). It will be a splendid drink.
Ibn Sayyār al-Warrāq’s Tenth-Century Baghdadi Cookbook, 10th CE
Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens, English Translation with Introduction and Glossary by Nawal Nasrallah, The Finnish Oriental Society, 60 Helsinki, 1987. The Netherlands, Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2007.
A Drinker's Guide to Islam by Khaleb Diab.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/oct/08/drinkers-islam-palestinian-beerfest-alcohol
This may be due to doubt as to whether the Qur'an actually prohibits the consumption of alcohol, or merely recommends moderation and/or abstinence. Or might be simple human nature, knowing something is better for you does not guarantee better behavior, at all times. What I do know is that several medieval Arabic cookbooks list alcoholic beverages, some inferred, some plainly listed, which indicates alcoholic beverages would have been requested and available. And the copious wine loving poetry, going into great details, does suggest the effects of the consumption of alcohol were well known, even if only from a distance.
108. Syrups, electuaries, and others.
The best resat jellies are taken in the winter for a stiff neck. It is useful, with God's help. Ten dawariq of the best juice from pulp of the grape is taken. A dawariq is 4 1/2 ratls. It is cooked over a low fire until its foam disappears. Then the best genuine honey is put in. The proportion is one ratl of honey for every five ratls. It is boiled over a low fire until its foam also disappears. 1/2 of it evaporates. Then 1 dirham each is taken of Lesser cardamom, Cardamom, Ceylonese cinnamon, Clove, Long pepper. It is well pulverized and put into a fine linen cloth. Then it is thrown into the decoction after the froth has been removed. When the cooking is over, it is possible to introduce the hand into it. The powder is macerated into it strongly. It is taken out and 3 dirhams of Saffron put into (the liquid). It is put into flasks and the tops are stoppered. After a little sun is allowed on it, one may use it. The older it gets, the better, God willing.
This recipe could go either way, it might make a delicious non-alcoholic syrup, or a delicious alcoholic mead. What tips me off for fermentation is to place it in the sun for a little while: covered, the heat would help fermentation, and uncovered would give the opportunity for catching wild yeast for a wild ferment. The fact that it is cooked does not necessarily mean it is boiled, several medieval English recipes use the words boiling and simmering while from context it is clear the must never got hot enough to melt wax. As yeast can survive temperatures slightly higher than the melting point of wax, it is feasible, as the must is heated over a slow fire, that ambient honey yeast survived to kickstart fermentation without the need for a wild-ferment. Of course the biggest clue is that the older it gets, the better it becomes, God willing, which would not be the case with sterile fruit syrup (think of store bought pasteurized apple cider which goes bad, as compared to farm bought fresh apple cider, which goes fizzy!).
Aqrabadhin of al-Kindi by Abu Yusuf Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, c. 800-870 CE
The Medical Formulary, or Aqrabadhin, of Al-Kindi by Martin Levey, Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1966. http://web.raex.com/~obsidian/arabmead.html
A recipe for raisin wine (nabīdh zabībī):
Take 50 raţls (50 pounds) zabīb (raisins) [and put them aside]. Take 30 raţls (30 pounds) bees’ honey, which has been [boiled] and skimmed of its froth. Add half its amount of water [30 cups]. Bring them to a vigorous boil. Add the raisins [to the boiling liquid] as well as 20 raţls (40 cups) water. Boil the mix then strain it to get rid of the raisin seeds. Flavor it with 5 dirhams (15 grams) saffron, 5 dirhams (15 grams) spikenard, 3 dirhams (9 grams) mastic, and 1 dānaq (½ gram) musk. Empty the liquid into glass jars (qawārīr) and stow them away in a shaded place. You can use it after 40 days. It is a wonderful wine.
A recipe for mead (nabīdh ‘asalī) without raisins:
Put 50 raţls (50 pounds) honey in a pot and add 50 raţls (100 cups) water. Let it boil until one third of the liquid evaporates, which amounts to 33 raţls. At this point, add to the pot 2 mithqāls (9 grams) saffron and 2 dirhams (6 grams) mastic. Pour into the pot 5 raţls (10 cups) cold water. Empty the liquid into glass jars (qawārīr). Set them aside in a shaded place for 50 days after which you seal them with mud. Use the wine in winter by mixing one part of it with two parts of musk flavored water (nāfābā). It will be a splendid drink.
Ibn Sayyār al-Warrāq’s Tenth-Century Baghdadi Cookbook, 10th CE
Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens, English Translation with Introduction and Glossary by Nawal Nasrallah, The Finnish Oriental Society, 60 Helsinki, 1987. The Netherlands, Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2007.
A Drinker's Guide to Islam by Khaleb Diab.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/oct/08/drinkers-islam-palestinian-beerfest-alcohol
Monday, January 16, 2017
Arabian non-alcoholic drinks and syrups made with honey.
While looking for fermented honey drinks, I came across a handful of delicious sounding syrups used to make soft drinks. Keep in mind that while early period syrups were mostly sweetened with honey and fruit sugar extracts, by the time refined sugar made its entrance it quickly took over its place in generic sweetening. I find when looking for recipes using honey, both for syrups and for sweetened wines like hippocras and claret, that the older texts tend to have more entries.
Enjoy!
109. Sweet, pleasant, good, delicious honey syrup.
Pure water of the tamarisk seed is cooked until it is diminished by a fourth. Then the best honey and crystalline sugar, of each one a part equal to half of the water which had been cooked, is thrown on it. Its froth is removed. In it is put a linen bag which contains one ratl each of Cardamom, Chinese cinnamon, Walnut, and Ginger, and one daniq each of honey and sugar. (This mixture) is boiled until a syrup remains. The bag is squeezed, kneaded in it, and then taken out. The mixture is put into flasks and the tops stoppered. It is drunk like oxymel [a vinegar honey drink].
Aqrabadhin (formulary) of al-Kindi by Abu Yusuf Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, c. 800-870 CE
The Medical Formulary, or Aqrabadhin, of Al-Kindi by Martin Levey, Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1966. http://web.raex.com/~obsidian/elixirs.html
Making Raison Drink
Take sweet raisins cleaned of twigs and dirt and wash them with water until they are clean. If you like it infused, throw in for each measure of raisons, two parts of hot water and put in a clay vessel until it infuses; then strain and mix in it honey. And if you like it cooked, place one measure of raisins with three of water and take the measure with a stick [to see the height in the pot]. Then add to the pot as much water as you wish. Cook it until it returns to the measuring mark [the water boils away]. Then strain it and mix in honey and leave it until it cools, and then drink it, God willing. And in the same manner honey is cooked for drinking.
Recipe for Honey-Water
Take a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of honey and add five ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of water, cook until the water boils away and the honey remains, and clean off the foam little by little. Pound half an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of pellitory and place it in a cloth [sack tied shut], put it in the kettle and bruise it [crush it] once and again until its substance comes out. Remove it [the sack] to an earthenware vessel, and take it from it [the honey] at the necessary time, for it makes up for all that which detracts from the notable quality [it cleans the honey].
A Syrup of [spiced] Honey
Take a quarter ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] each of cinnamon, flower of cloves and ginger, mastic, nutmeg, Chinese cinnamon [cassia], Sindi laurel, Indian lavender, Roman spikenard, elder twigs, elder seeds, oil of nutmeg, bitter and sweet nuts, large and small cardamom, wild spikenard, galingale, aloe stems, saffron, and sedge. Pound all this coarsely, tie it in a cloth, and put it in the kettle with fifteen ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of water and five of honey, cleaned of its foam. Cook all this until it is at the point of drinking [a syrup]. Drink an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] and a half, or up to two, with hot water. Its benefit is for weak livers; it fortifies the stomach and benefits dropsy [swelling from water, edema] among other ailments; it dissolves phlegm from all parts of the body and heats it a great deal, gives gaiety, lightens the body, and it was used by the ancients like wine for weariness.
Formula for Making a Syrup of Mastic [and Mint]
Take three ûqiyas [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of mastic, powder it and put it in a bag, then take a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of mint and cook it, covered with water, until its substance comes out. Take the clean part of it [filter it] and mix it with three ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of sugar and honey, and cook all this until it takes the form of a drink [syrup]. Drink two ûqiyas [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of this with three of hot water. Its benefits: for the stomach and for digesting food; it cuts vomiting and binds the bowels, and fortifies the liver: it is the utmost in this.
Syrup of Mulberries: Way of Making It
Take the fruit of mulberries and extract from them the small seeds, after removing their cores, four ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb]. Then divide fruit and clean the dirt from them, wash them very well in cold water until softened, and drain the water. Then take water out of a river oriented Eastward; heat [a] polished steel [pot] and cook in this the water until the water is reduced by half and changes color. Cook the harir [the cleaned fruit] in this water until its substance comes out; press it [filter it], and add to the water three ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of honey, cleaned of its foam.
The [spice] bag: half an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] each of cinnamon and cloves, an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of ginger, an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] each of cubebs, long pepper and galingale. Then pound roots and put them in a bag, which is then tied with a strong thread and added to the honey and the filtered essence. Put it on the fire and cook it until a syrup is made. Drink two ûqiyas [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of this with three of hot water. It profits in the lack of urine, and increases desire well; it dissolves the fat from all parts of the body and heats it well, God willing, by its generosity and virtue.
Manner of Making a Syrup of Maryût
Take Maryût, lavender, and mashîsha, two handfuls of each, and two ûqiyas [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] each of fennel, anise, and peeled licorice roots. Cook all this in water to cover until its substance comes out. Then take the clean part of it [filter it] and add to two ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of honey, and cook all this until it takes the form of a syrup. Drink an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of this with three of hot water. Its benefit is in moist coughs; it cleans the throat, dissolves the phlegm from the stomach, and lightens the body gently.
Syrup of Flowers of Isfitân [possibly isfinar --white mustard]
Take half a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of flowers of isfitân, and cook them with five ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of water until its substance comes out. Then take the clear part of it [filter it] and mix it with two ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of honey. The [spice] bag: half an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of cinnamon. Then cook all this [essence, honey, spice bag] until it takes the form of a syrup. Drink an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] with three of hot water. Its advantages are for melancholic fevers, and it is not used in other illnesses except at the beginning; and with this it provokes urine and menstruation [an anti-conception and abortive agent], and cleans the stomach of filth.
Syrup of Lavender [Halhâl]
Take a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of lavender and cook it in [enough] water to cover it until its substance comes out. Then take the clear part of it [filter it] and add it to a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of honey. Cook all this until it takes the form of a syrup. Drink an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] and a half of this with three of hot water. Its advantages are in cleaning the brain and the stomach; it lightens the body and dries up black bile gently, but it contracts the breath, and it is fitting to regulate the drink with a cheering drink or cheering water.
Syrup of Thistle
Take a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of thistle, ground coarsely, half a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of mashashtir, and an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of bay leaves [this word can also mean myrtle or aloes], a handful of leaves from the interior of an orange tree, half an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] each of anise, seeds of wild carrot, and seeds of dodder, an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] each of bitter and sweet almonds. Pulverize all the roots and greens and cover them with three ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of water in which black garbanzos have been steeped for a night and a day. Then put it in a new pot and cook until the water is reduced by half. Then cool it and clarify it [filter it] and take the clear part to add to a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of sugar and another of honey.
The [spice] bag: half an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] each of Indian spikenard, asârûn [wild spikenard], and flower of cloves, and cook all this until it takes the form of a syrup. Drink an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] and a half of it with three ûqiyas [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of hot water, and above all, if it is drunk in the bath, it has a greater effect, if it please God the Most High, praise be to Him.
Syrup of Carrots
Take four ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of carrots, after removing the fibers [lit. "nerves"] that are in the centers, and cook them in water to cover until their substance comes out. Then take the clear part of it [filter it] and add it to three ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of honey, cleaned of its foam. The [spice] bag: then put an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of cubebs, two ûqiyas [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] each of ginger and long pepper, and half an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of cinnamon and flower of cloves. Cook until it takes the form of a syrup. Drink an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of this with three of hot water: it is beneficial in the lack of urine, increases desire [aphrodisiac], and dissolves phlegm, heats the kidneys admirably, and likewise the other parts of the body, God willing.
Kitab al tabikh fi-l-Maghrib wa-l-Andalus fi `asr al-Muwahhidin, limu'allif majhul. 13th CE.
The Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook, or The Book of Cooking in Maghreb and Andalus in the era of Almohads, by an unknown author. Candida Martinelli, 2012
http://italophiles.com/andalusian_cookbook.pdf
Enjoy!
109. Sweet, pleasant, good, delicious honey syrup.
Pure water of the tamarisk seed is cooked until it is diminished by a fourth. Then the best honey and crystalline sugar, of each one a part equal to half of the water which had been cooked, is thrown on it. Its froth is removed. In it is put a linen bag which contains one ratl each of Cardamom, Chinese cinnamon, Walnut, and Ginger, and one daniq each of honey and sugar. (This mixture) is boiled until a syrup remains. The bag is squeezed, kneaded in it, and then taken out. The mixture is put into flasks and the tops stoppered. It is drunk like oxymel [a vinegar honey drink].
Aqrabadhin (formulary) of al-Kindi by Abu Yusuf Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, c. 800-870 CE
The Medical Formulary, or Aqrabadhin, of Al-Kindi by Martin Levey, Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1966. http://web.raex.com/~obsidian/elixirs.html
Making Raison Drink
Take sweet raisins cleaned of twigs and dirt and wash them with water until they are clean. If you like it infused, throw in for each measure of raisons, two parts of hot water and put in a clay vessel until it infuses; then strain and mix in it honey. And if you like it cooked, place one measure of raisins with three of water and take the measure with a stick [to see the height in the pot]. Then add to the pot as much water as you wish. Cook it until it returns to the measuring mark [the water boils away]. Then strain it and mix in honey and leave it until it cools, and then drink it, God willing. And in the same manner honey is cooked for drinking.
Recipe for Honey-Water
Take a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of honey and add five ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of water, cook until the water boils away and the honey remains, and clean off the foam little by little. Pound half an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of pellitory and place it in a cloth [sack tied shut], put it in the kettle and bruise it [crush it] once and again until its substance comes out. Remove it [the sack] to an earthenware vessel, and take it from it [the honey] at the necessary time, for it makes up for all that which detracts from the notable quality [it cleans the honey].
A Syrup of [spiced] Honey
Take a quarter ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] each of cinnamon, flower of cloves and ginger, mastic, nutmeg, Chinese cinnamon [cassia], Sindi laurel, Indian lavender, Roman spikenard, elder twigs, elder seeds, oil of nutmeg, bitter and sweet nuts, large and small cardamom, wild spikenard, galingale, aloe stems, saffron, and sedge. Pound all this coarsely, tie it in a cloth, and put it in the kettle with fifteen ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of water and five of honey, cleaned of its foam. Cook all this until it is at the point of drinking [a syrup]. Drink an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] and a half, or up to two, with hot water. Its benefit is for weak livers; it fortifies the stomach and benefits dropsy [swelling from water, edema] among other ailments; it dissolves phlegm from all parts of the body and heats it a great deal, gives gaiety, lightens the body, and it was used by the ancients like wine for weariness.
Formula for Making a Syrup of Mastic [and Mint]
Take three ûqiyas [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of mastic, powder it and put it in a bag, then take a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of mint and cook it, covered with water, until its substance comes out. Take the clean part of it [filter it] and mix it with three ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of sugar and honey, and cook all this until it takes the form of a drink [syrup]. Drink two ûqiyas [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of this with three of hot water. Its benefits: for the stomach and for digesting food; it cuts vomiting and binds the bowels, and fortifies the liver: it is the utmost in this.
Syrup of Mulberries: Way of Making It
Take the fruit of mulberries and extract from them the small seeds, after removing their cores, four ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb]. Then divide fruit and clean the dirt from them, wash them very well in cold water until softened, and drain the water. Then take water out of a river oriented Eastward; heat [a] polished steel [pot] and cook in this the water until the water is reduced by half and changes color. Cook the harir [the cleaned fruit] in this water until its substance comes out; press it [filter it], and add to the water three ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of honey, cleaned of its foam.
The [spice] bag: half an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] each of cinnamon and cloves, an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of ginger, an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] each of cubebs, long pepper and galingale. Then pound roots and put them in a bag, which is then tied with a strong thread and added to the honey and the filtered essence. Put it on the fire and cook it until a syrup is made. Drink two ûqiyas [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of this with three of hot water. It profits in the lack of urine, and increases desire well; it dissolves the fat from all parts of the body and heats it well, God willing, by its generosity and virtue.
Manner of Making a Syrup of Maryût
Take Maryût, lavender, and mashîsha, two handfuls of each, and two ûqiyas [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] each of fennel, anise, and peeled licorice roots. Cook all this in water to cover until its substance comes out. Then take the clean part of it [filter it] and add to two ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of honey, and cook all this until it takes the form of a syrup. Drink an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of this with three of hot water. Its benefit is in moist coughs; it cleans the throat, dissolves the phlegm from the stomach, and lightens the body gently.
Syrup of Flowers of Isfitân [possibly isfinar --white mustard]
Take half a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of flowers of isfitân, and cook them with five ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of water until its substance comes out. Then take the clear part of it [filter it] and mix it with two ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of honey. The [spice] bag: half an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of cinnamon. Then cook all this [essence, honey, spice bag] until it takes the form of a syrup. Drink an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] with three of hot water. Its advantages are for melancholic fevers, and it is not used in other illnesses except at the beginning; and with this it provokes urine and menstruation [an anti-conception and abortive agent], and cleans the stomach of filth.
Syrup of Lavender [Halhâl]
Take a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of lavender and cook it in [enough] water to cover it until its substance comes out. Then take the clear part of it [filter it] and add it to a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of honey. Cook all this until it takes the form of a syrup. Drink an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] and a half of this with three of hot water. Its advantages are in cleaning the brain and the stomach; it lightens the body and dries up black bile gently, but it contracts the breath, and it is fitting to regulate the drink with a cheering drink or cheering water.
Syrup of Thistle
Take a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of thistle, ground coarsely, half a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of mashashtir, and an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of bay leaves [this word can also mean myrtle or aloes], a handful of leaves from the interior of an orange tree, half an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] each of anise, seeds of wild carrot, and seeds of dodder, an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] each of bitter and sweet almonds. Pulverize all the roots and greens and cover them with three ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of water in which black garbanzos have been steeped for a night and a day. Then put it in a new pot and cook until the water is reduced by half. Then cool it and clarify it [filter it] and take the clear part to add to a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of sugar and another of honey.
The [spice] bag: half an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] each of Indian spikenard, asârûn [wild spikenard], and flower of cloves, and cook all this until it takes the form of a syrup. Drink an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] and a half of it with three ûqiyas [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of hot water, and above all, if it is drunk in the bath, it has a greater effect, if it please God the Most High, praise be to Him.
Syrup of Carrots
Take four ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of carrots, after removing the fibers [lit. "nerves"] that are in the centers, and cook them in water to cover until their substance comes out. Then take the clear part of it [filter it] and add it to three ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of honey, cleaned of its foam. The [spice] bag: then put an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of cubebs, two ûqiyas [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] each of ginger and long pepper, and half an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of cinnamon and flower of cloves. Cook until it takes the form of a syrup. Drink an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of this with three of hot water: it is beneficial in the lack of urine, increases desire [aphrodisiac], and dissolves phlegm, heats the kidneys admirably, and likewise the other parts of the body, God willing.
Kitab al tabikh fi-l-Maghrib wa-l-Andalus fi `asr al-Muwahhidin, limu'allif majhul. 13th CE.
The Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook, or The Book of Cooking in Maghreb and Andalus in the era of Almohads, by an unknown author. Candida Martinelli, 2012
http://italophiles.com/andalusian_cookbook.pdf
Salt Wines
Why add salt to wine? I am not quite sure why it was done in period, but I did find that a little pinch of salt in young red wines tends to smooth out the taste. So maybe it's as simple as that. Or does it have something to do with longevity, as salt has a preserving effect, aptly observed by Columella...
XI [...] Another wine of the sweet class is called honey-wine; it differs from mead because it is made from must, in the proportion of thirty pints of must of a dry quality to six pints of honey and a cup of salt, this mixture being brought just to the boil; this produces a dry-flavoured liquor. [...]
Pliny’s Natural History. Rackham H., Jones W.H.S., Eichholtz D.E. (trans.), Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, London: William Heinemann, 1949-54 (public domain)
https://ryanfb.github.io/loebolus-data/L370.pdf (Latin & English, the book)
http://www.masseiana.org/pliny.htm (English only, as website)
XXIII.—PREPARATION OF THASIAN WINE.
We insolate the grapes when ripe, laying the bunches in pairs during five days, and on the sixth day at noon we take them up warm, and immerse them in must and sea-water boiled to half its quantity; and we take them up and lay them in the press ; then having trodden them the following night and day, we pour the liquor into vessels ; and when it has fermented and is fined, we pour a twenty-fifth part of sapa into it ; and after the vernal equinox we rack it into proportionate vessels.
XXIV. PREPARATION OF COAN WINE.
Some indeed boil three parts of must and one of sea-water into a third of the quantity; but others mix with two measures of white wine one cotyla of salt, three cotyke of sapa, one cotyla of must, one cotyla of flour of orobus, one hundred drams of melilot, sixteen drams of Celtic nard.
Geoponika, translated from Ancient texts, by various authors, 10th CE
Compiled during the 10th CE in Constantinople for the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. Agricultural Pursuits, by Reverend T. Owen (trans.), of the Queen’s College at the University of Oxford, 1805.
https://books.google.com/books?id=0KZbAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_similarbooks
CHAP. XXV. Of salt Water andJirong Brine for preserving Wines
FOrasmuch as some people, yea, even almost all the Greeks also, preserve their must with salt-water or strong wine, I thought that that part also of our care was not to be omitted. In the inland country, whither it is not easy to carry salt-water, strong brine must be made for preserves after this manner.
Rain-water is by much the fittest for this purpose ; if not this, then that which flows from the clearest spring. Therefore you must take care to place in the Sun, five years before, a great quantity of either the one or the other of these, and put it up in the very best vessels you have ; then, when it is putrefied, you must let it stand so long, till it shall return to its former condition ; when this is done, provide other vessels, and strain the water by little and little into them, till you come to the dregs ; for there is always found some thick settlement in the bottom of water, which you let stand without stirring it.
When the water has been thus managed, it must be boiled into one third of the first quantity, after the manner of rob of grapes ; and, into fifty sextarii of sweet water they put one sextarius of salt, and
a sextarius of the best honey : these must be boiled all together, and all filthiness purged out of them ; and, when the water is cooled, a certain quantity of it must be put into an amphora of must.
But, if your land lie near the sea, the water must be taken out of the deep when the winds are silent, and the sea exceeding calm ; and it must be boiled into a third part, after you have put, if you think
proper, some of those spices into it, which I mentioned above, that so the wine may have a better flavour after it is cured. But, before you take up the must out of the vat which is under the wine-press,
suffumigate the vessels with rosemary, or laurel, or myrtle, and fill them up to the brim, that, when the wine ferments, it may purge itself well ; afterwards rub the vessels with pine-apples. The wine which you have a mind mould be sweeter than ordinary, you must preserve it the day after you have taken it out of the vat ; and that which you would have rougher, you must preserve it the fifth day, and so fill up and daub the vessels. Some also, having suffumigated the hogs heads, put the preserve in first, and so pour in the must. (p.533)
De re rustica, L. Iunius Moderatus Columella, about 60 CE.
L. Junius Moderatus Columella of Husbandry in Twelve books and his Book concerning Trees. London, UK: A. Millar (transl.), Book XII, p 517, 1745.
https://books.google.com/books/about/L_Junius_Moderatus_Columella_Of_Husbandr.html?id=qcNbAAAAMAAJ
Salt found to improve red wine flavour by Lucy Shaw.
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2014/03/salt-found-to-improve-red-wine-flavour/
Wine Education Topic: Saltiness in Wine.
http://www.aromadictionary.com/articles/salt_article.html
XI [...] Another wine of the sweet class is called honey-wine; it differs from mead because it is made from must, in the proportion of thirty pints of must of a dry quality to six pints of honey and a cup of salt, this mixture being brought just to the boil; this produces a dry-flavoured liquor. [...]
Pliny’s Natural History. Rackham H., Jones W.H.S., Eichholtz D.E. (trans.), Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, London: William Heinemann, 1949-54 (public domain)
https://ryanfb.github.io/loebolus-data/L370.pdf (Latin & English, the book)
http://www.masseiana.org/pliny.htm (English only, as website)
XXIII.—PREPARATION OF THASIAN WINE.
We insolate the grapes when ripe, laying the bunches in pairs during five days, and on the sixth day at noon we take them up warm, and immerse them in must and sea-water boiled to half its quantity; and we take them up and lay them in the press ; then having trodden them the following night and day, we pour the liquor into vessels ; and when it has fermented and is fined, we pour a twenty-fifth part of sapa into it ; and after the vernal equinox we rack it into proportionate vessels.
XXIV. PREPARATION OF COAN WINE.
Some indeed boil three parts of must and one of sea-water into a third of the quantity; but others mix with two measures of white wine one cotyla of salt, three cotyke of sapa, one cotyla of must, one cotyla of flour of orobus, one hundred drams of melilot, sixteen drams of Celtic nard.
Geoponika, translated from Ancient texts, by various authors, 10th CE
Compiled during the 10th CE in Constantinople for the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. Agricultural Pursuits, by Reverend T. Owen (trans.), of the Queen’s College at the University of Oxford, 1805.
https://books.google.com/books?id=0KZbAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_similarbooks
CHAP. XXV. Of salt Water andJirong Brine for preserving Wines
FOrasmuch as some people, yea, even almost all the Greeks also, preserve their must with salt-water or strong wine, I thought that that part also of our care was not to be omitted. In the inland country, whither it is not easy to carry salt-water, strong brine must be made for preserves after this manner.
Rain-water is by much the fittest for this purpose ; if not this, then that which flows from the clearest spring. Therefore you must take care to place in the Sun, five years before, a great quantity of either the one or the other of these, and put it up in the very best vessels you have ; then, when it is putrefied, you must let it stand so long, till it shall return to its former condition ; when this is done, provide other vessels, and strain the water by little and little into them, till you come to the dregs ; for there is always found some thick settlement in the bottom of water, which you let stand without stirring it.
When the water has been thus managed, it must be boiled into one third of the first quantity, after the manner of rob of grapes ; and, into fifty sextarii of sweet water they put one sextarius of salt, and
a sextarius of the best honey : these must be boiled all together, and all filthiness purged out of them ; and, when the water is cooled, a certain quantity of it must be put into an amphora of must.
But, if your land lie near the sea, the water must be taken out of the deep when the winds are silent, and the sea exceeding calm ; and it must be boiled into a third part, after you have put, if you think
proper, some of those spices into it, which I mentioned above, that so the wine may have a better flavour after it is cured. But, before you take up the must out of the vat which is under the wine-press,
suffumigate the vessels with rosemary, or laurel, or myrtle, and fill them up to the brim, that, when the wine ferments, it may purge itself well ; afterwards rub the vessels with pine-apples. The wine which you have a mind mould be sweeter than ordinary, you must preserve it the day after you have taken it out of the vat ; and that which you would have rougher, you must preserve it the fifth day, and so fill up and daub the vessels. Some also, having suffumigated the hogs heads, put the preserve in first, and so pour in the must. (p.533)
De re rustica, L. Iunius Moderatus Columella, about 60 CE.
L. Junius Moderatus Columella of Husbandry in Twelve books and his Book concerning Trees. London, UK: A. Millar (transl.), Book XII, p 517, 1745.
https://books.google.com/books/about/L_Junius_Moderatus_Columella_Of_Husbandr.html?id=qcNbAAAAMAAJ
Salt found to improve red wine flavour by Lucy Shaw.
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2014/03/salt-found-to-improve-red-wine-flavour/
Wine Education Topic: Saltiness in Wine.
http://www.aromadictionary.com/articles/salt_article.html
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