Primary resources for VINEGAR & VINEGAR DRINKS

Transcribed and translated, as needed, by Susan Verberg.

PERIOD (<1600)

Rackham H., Jones W.H.S., Eichholtz D.E. (trans.). Pliny’s Natural History, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press & London: William Heinemann, 1949-54. Historia Naturalis, Pliny the Elder; Book 14, section 20
http://www.masseiana.org/pliny.htm (English only, as website)
http://www.masseiana.org/pliny.htm#BOOK%20XIV
https://ryanfb.github.io/loebolus-data/L370.pdf (Latin & English, the book)

XXI. Also honey used even to be mixed with vinegar, so exhaustive have been men's experiments in living. This mixture was called in Greek 'sour honey'; it was made with ten pounds of honey, 2½ pints of old vinegar, one pound of sea salt and 5 pints of rainwater, heated to boiling ten times, after which the liquor was drawn off and so kept till it was old. All these wines are condemned by Themison, who is a very high authority; and, I vow, the employment of them does appear to be a tour de force, unless anybody believes that aromatic wine and wines pounded of perfumes are products of nature, or that nature gave birth to shrubs in order for them to be used for drink! Contrivances of this sort are amusing to learn of, owing to the ingenuity of the human mind that investigates everything. There can be no doubt that none of these wines will keep a year, except those which we have stated to be actually the products of age, and that the larger number of them will not keep even a month.

BOOK XIV. XIX. 104 io8
There are also wines, made from fruit, which we will specify, adding only the indispensable explanations : First the wine made from date-palms, which is used by the  Parthians and Indians and by the whole of the East, a peck of the rather soft dates called in Greek 'common dates' being soaked in two and a quarter gallons of water and then pressed. Also fig syrup is made from figs by a similar process, other names for it being pharnuprium and trochis ; or if it is not wanted to be sweet, instead of water is added the same quantity of grape-skin juice. Also excellent vinegar is made from the Cyprus fig, and an even better quality as well from that of Alexandria. Wine is also made from the Syrian carob, and from pears and all kinds of apples (one from pomegranates is called rhoites*) as also from cornels, medlars, service berries, dried mulberries and fir-cones ; the last are soaked in must before being pressed, but the juice of the preceding fruits is sweet of itself. We will indicate a little later instructions given by Cato as to how to make myrtle-syrup. The Greeks also employ another method : they boil tender sprigs of myrtle with the leaves on in salted must, and after pounding them boil down one pound of the mixture in 2 1/4 gallons of must until only I 1/2 gallons are left. The beverage made by the same process from the berries of the wild myrtle is called myrtle wine ; this stains the hands.
    Among the plants grown in gardens, wine is made from the root of asparagus, and from cunila, wild-marjoram, parsley-seed, southernwood, wild mint, rue, catmint, wild thyme and horehound ; they put two handfuls of herb into a jar of must, together with a pint of boiled-down grape-juice and half a pint of sea-water. A wine is made from the navew turnip by adding two drams' weight of navew to a quart of must, and in the same way from the root of the squill ; and, among flowers, from pounded rose-leaves wrapped in a linen napkin and thrown into must with a small weight attached to make it sink, in the proportion of 50 drams of rose-leaves to 2 1/2 gallons of must — they say the jar must not be opened for three months — and also wine is made from Gallic nard and another from wild nard [spikenard]. [page 256-257]


Nasrallah, Nawal. Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens, The Finnish Oriental Society, 60 Helsinki, 1987. The Netherlands, Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2007

"The drinks have the medicinal benefit of thinning down dense foods in the stomach to facilitate their digestion such as sakanajabÊn [sekanjabin, modern] (drink made with honey and vinegar syrup)." [BEWARE the special Arabic characters do not copy/paste, includes the footnotes]

CHAPTER 21
MAKING VINEGAR AND SEASONING SALT FOR TABLE USE

[A recipe for making Õ9all al-bunßul (vinegar of squill):]1
Prepare baßal al-faar (squills), a knife and a large needle (miÕ9yaã) both made of cane (qaßab), and a woolen thread. Using the [cane] knife, peel off and discard the outer skins of the onions and take the middle parts. Discard any onions that are dry all the way to the core.2 When you have enough of these onions, thread them into the woolen string [using the cane needle] and hang them in a shaded place for three days
until they shrink. Put 10 raãls (20 cups) of good quality sharp and sour grape vinegar
in an earthen jar, big enough to be half-filled with it. Suspend the threaded onion on the vinegar. For each 5 qists (15 cups) [of vinegar] use 1 raãl (1 pound) onion. Do not let the hanging onions touch the vinegar, but rather let them be suspended above it by three fingers’ width (about 2 inches). Seal the jar with mud and leave it out for 40 days under the sun of July when it is at its hottest. Then take out the onions and strain
the vinegar. You may use this vinegar for making squill drink (ê9ar§b al-bunßul).
To store the vinegar, pour it into a jar, big enough to hold it. If you prefer it seasoned, add spikenard, cloves, and ginger.

1 The edited text does not give the name of the recipe. bUnßul, also known as
baßal al-faar, is a variety of wild onion. It is extremely strong and thereby is mostly used for medicinal purposes. In English, it is known as squill. See Glossary, Section
9, s.v. bunßul.
2 I amend here the sentence slightly with the help of Istanbul MS (fol. 40r)
where the sentence reads as ????? ?? ????? ?? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ?????

A recipe for making vinegar, much more acid than vinegar
of bunßul [recipe above] by Abå bAbdull§h al-AÈwal:3
Take a jar coated with pitch (in§a muzaffat) and wash it thoroughly.4 Pick over grapes, discarding any rotten or over-ripe ones. Fill the container with the grapes (32v) and shake it so that the grapes fit in so tightly that not a single grape will have room to stir. Seal the container with gypsum (jaß) and put it away for a year. When you open the container at the end of the year, you will find what the grapes have made a net-like formation in the jar. Press the grapes in the jar with a utensil and pour out the vinegar. It will not be much. Stir the remaining pressed grapes with your hand and pour water on them. The amount should equal a quarter of the container’s capacity. Seal it with mud and set it aside for 6 months after which you open it up and press out the liquid. Then pour water into [the remaining grape solids], the amount of which should equal half the capacity of the container. Then seal it with mud and set it aside for 3 months. Open up the container and take out the resulting liquid [again]. Add water to the remaining grape solids,5 the amount of which should equal three quarters of the container’s capacity. Set it aside for one month after which you strain the resulting liquid.6 [To the remaining grape solids] add water enough to fill the whole jar and set
it aside for one month after which you strain the liquid [for the last time].
Nothing excels such varieties of vinegar, which are so excellent and so strong that nobody can even bear smell them. When you want to use this vinegar, dilute it with water. For each dirham (½ teaspoon) of vinegar, use 1 åqiyya (2 tablespoons) water. Indeed, it renders using other kinds such as those made from raisins, dates, or figs, unnecessary,
God willing.

3 I have not been able to identify the person. However, he might well have been
a professional vinegar-maker. The recipe might have been taken from a manual
he wrote.
4 Pitch zift was applied to the inside of jars to help preserve wine, and as in this case, aged vinegar. See Glossary, Section 12.2, s.v. qaãir§n and zift.
5 In the edited text, grape juice (m§a al-binab) is added in this step. In Istanbul MS, it is water (m§a), which is more consistent with the pattern of the preparations in this recipe.
6 Or two months, according to Istanbul MS (fol. 40v).

A recipe for vinegar of iê9turÿ9§z:7
Take red vinegar made from grapes or wine and strain it. For each 10 parts of vinegar add one part ishturÿ9§z. Keep mixture in a container and seal it with mud until needed.

Vinegar made white without distilling it (taß#Êd):8
Add wheat bran (nuÕ9§la) to vinegar and mash and press them in a sieve set on a bowl. Do this in small batches until you gather the amount you need [of the dripping liquid]. Add lime borax (båraq al-jÊr) and wait until it becomes clear [like water] without using an alembic or fire, God willing. (33r)
You can also get clear vinegar by adding to it a mixture of crumbled hot bread and ammonia (naê9§dir).9 Stir the mixture and wait [until vinegar becomes clear] then strain it, God willing.
Moreover, vinegar can be whitened by putting it in a glass bottle (qinnÊna) and vigorously whipping an egg in it. Keep the bottle warm by wrapping it in many layers of clothes overnight. It will become clear, God willing.

Here is what a poet said describing vinegar:
Distilled vinegar from white wine made, lustrously clear, for water it might be taken.
Were one to have but a sip of it to taste, with his own saliva he would choke on it.
Too pungent to enjoy if in the pot ‘tis put undiluted. I masterly made it in earthen jars with squills suspended on it. A full month I kept it under the blasting sun and now it looks as red as ruby. Crystal clear when you look at it from above. You might think ‘tis oil of Õ9ÊrÊ,10 Shimmering with luster when at the table served in a bowl. Put to the ‘taste’: some as high as gold rank it but others may barely stand it.

7 It is similar to asafetida root but has no resin. Dieticians recommend it for its appetizing and digestive qualities, particularly its vinegar.
8 White (abya'), ‘clear and colorless like water.’
9 For information on borax and ammonia, see Glossary, Section 12.3, s.v. båraq, naê9§dir.
10 Gillyflowers. See Glossary, Section 13.


From Cariadoc's Miscellany: Drinks
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/drinks.html

Vinegar drinks recipes:

Sekanjabin
Dissolve 4 cups sugar in 2 1/2 cups of water; when it comes to a boil add 1 cup wine vinegar. Simmer 1/2 hour. Add a handful of mint, remove from fire, let cool. Dilute the resulting syrup to taste with ice water (5 to 10 parts water to 1 part syrup). The syrup stores without refrigeration.

Note: This is the only recipe in the Miscelleny that is based on a modern source: A Book of Middle Eastern Food, by Claudia Roden. Sekanjabin is a period drink; it is mentioned in the Fihrist of al-Nadim, which was written in the tenth century. The only period recipe I have found for it (in the Andalusian cookbook) is called "Sekanjabin Simple" and omits the mint. It is one of a large variety of similar drinks described in that cookbook-flavored syrups intended to be diluted in either hot or cold water before drinking.

Syrup of Simple Sikanjabîn
Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook, p. A-74.

Take a ratl of strong vinegar and mix it with two ratls of sugar, and cook all this until it takes the form of a syrup. Drink an ûqiya of this with three of hot water when fasting: it is beneficial for fevers of jaundice, and calms jaundice and cuts the thirst, since sikanjabîn syrup is beneficial in phlegmatic fevers: make it with six ûqiyas of sour vinegar for a ratl of honey and it is admirable.

This seems to be at least two different recipes, for two different medical uses. The first, at least, is intended to be drunk hot. In modern Iranian restaurants, sekanjabin is normally served cold, often with grated cucumber.


The Good Wife's Guide "Le Menagier de Paris", translated by Gina L. Greco & Christine M. Rose. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2009

359. To make vinegar to store, empty out the old cask of vinegar, then rinse it thoroughly with very good vinegar and not with water, hot or cold. Next, put that vinegar used for the rinsing and any lees into a wooden or clay vessel, not brass or iron. Let this vinegar and lees settle. Then pour off the clear liquid and strain, and put the solids back [the mother] in the barrel, and fill with more good vinegar. Let it sit in the sun and the heat, the top pierced in 6 places. At night and in fog, plug up all the holes, and when the sun returns, unplug as before.


T bouck va wondre, 1513, anonymous; thesis by H.G.Th. Frencken.
Drukkerij H. Timmermans, Roermond 1934
http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/fren007tbou01_01/colofon.htm

Om van bier azÿn te maken. Capit. LXXI/.
Bierazÿn die sterc is maectme aldus. Neemt vand' eerster en¯voerster worsse / en¯ maectse se werm dat men nauwe een hant daer in houde mach. Daer nae doet daer in moere die wat vocht is va oude biere / dye moere sal die voorseyde worsse doen siede en¯doen verwadelen in azÿn. En¯yst dat hi noch niet sterc ghenoech en is / soe doet daer in wit willigen hout / daer salt noch afsueren.
To make vinegar from beer. Capit. LXXI.
Beer vinegar which is strong is made thus. Take of the first and foremost must / and make it warm so that one can barely keep a hand in it. After that put in moere [mother] which is some liquid of old beer / the mother should make the foresaid must go seethe [ferment] and turn into vinegar. And if it is not strong enough / add therein white willow wood / that will surely sour it.

Om alle azÿn te houden in zÿn suerheyt / en in sine sueren smake - Dat LXXX capittel.
Neemt eenen tap van groen willighen hout ghemaect stoppende dat gat vaden vate bove in die ronde bomme reyckende bina den bodem / maer niet al tot beneden toe. Dit sal den azÿn noch suerder doen worden.
To keep all vinegar in its purity / and in its pure taste. That LXXX capittel.
Take a plug made of green willow wood and close the hole of the top of the barrel so that the round tree [plug] almost reaches the bottom / but not all the way to the bottom. This shall make the vinegar only more sour.

Omcrancken azijn goet te make. Oft vanlandtwÿn goeden azÿn te maken - Dat LXXXI capit.
Backt een gherste coecxken / en¯alsment alheet uiten oven haelt / salmet terstot al in cleyn stucxkes breken / en¯also werm werpe int vat vaden wyn of quade azy¯/ en¯ hi wort seer goet.
To make unhealthy vingar good again. Or to make good vinegar from land wine. That LXXXI capit.
Bake a barley cake / and when it is taken hot out of the oven / break it immediately in small pieces / and thus throw into the barrel of wine or bad vinegar / and it becomes good again.

Noch een ander maniere.
Snÿt haselroedekes so lanc als een lidt va eene vinger en¯worptse int vaden azy¯ oft wÿn / het wort seer goet.
Yet another way.
Cut hazel twigs as long as a digit of a finger and throw into the barrel of vinegar or wine / it becomes good again.

Om alle manieren va azÿn te maken - capit. LXXXII.
Men maect ooc azÿn va druyve die zeer suer zy¯/ dye selve uit geperst / en¯dan door gedae. Men sal een luttel oude azÿn daer toe doen / en¯als hi wel gesoncke is salmen he uiter moer doe / en¯men sal he dicwils v'trecken.
To make all kinds of vinegar – capit. LXXXII.
One also makes vinegar of grapes which are very sour / which are pressed / and then added. One shall add a little old vinegar to it / and when it is lowered well shall one take the mother from this / and one shall regularly pull this off.

Om goede azyn te make in eene daghe - Capit. LXXXIII.
Neemt eene pot wÿns / en¯doet daer in rogghen heefdeech seer suer / so groot als een eye of vuyste gebonden in eenen linen doec / en¯settet so bide viere / het sal seér goeden azÿn worde.
To make good vinegar in one day – Capit. LXXXIII.
Take one pot wine / and add very sour rye sourdough / as big as the eye of a fist tied in a linen cloth / and place it by the fire / and it will become very good vinegar.

Om azÿn te maken in drie daghen - capit. LXXXIV.
Neemt wat alluyns dat men heet alumen scissum / dit doet in wÿn / en¯het wort goede azÿn.
To make vinegar in three days – capit. LXXXIV.
Take some alum that is called alumen scissum / put this in the wine / and it becomes good vinegar.


W.L. de Vreese (ed.), Middelnederlandsche geneeskundige recepten en tractaten, zegeningen en tooverformules. A. Siffer, Gent 1894 Bron, © 2004 dbnl / erven W.L. de Vreese
http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_mid002midd01_01/colofon.php

387.
Doet in win(1) pulver van moras: het wert goeden aysin
[not transcribed or translated as of yet]


The Cookbook of Sabina Welserin, 1553
Das Kochbuch der Sabina Welserin. Hg. von Hugo Stopp. Mit einer Übersetzung von Ulrike Gießmann. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter Heidelberg, 1980 (Germanische Bibliothek: N.F.: Reihe 4, Texte).
http://www.staff.uni-giessen.de/gloning/tx/sawe.htm
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Sabrina_Welserin.html

175 To make currant vinegar
Take a quarter pound of currants and a pint of wine and a pint of vinegar and let it boil up two fingers high. And when it has boiled, then put it into a glass and put two ginger roots into it and set it behind the oven. It will become a better, sounder vinegar.


The commonplace book of Countess Katherine Seymour Hertford (1567) "A briefe discourse of the m[...] and order of the d[epar]ting of the Ladye Katherine by one hole night wherin she dyet in the morning." University of Pennsylvania Ms. Codex 823
Transcription by Daniel Myers - February 3, 2007 (c) 2007 MedievalCookery.com
https://archive.org/details/TheCommonplaceBookOfCountessKatherineSeymourHertford
https://ia600206.us.archive.org/25/items/TheCommonplaceBookOfCountessKatherineSeymourHertford/mscodex823.txt

To make Vyneger
Take olde wyne drawen from the Lyes put yt into [crossed out: the] a vessell & set yt in the sonne then take otemeale and water & temper them together & make yt in cakes & bake them in an oven tyll they be drye then breke them hott in small peces & put them into the wyne wth a bagg of Elder flowers dryed then lett yt stand in the sonne xiiij dayes & yt wyll make pure vyneger, yf your vessell be great you must put [*]in the greater quantitye of these things. [* a mark in superscript resembling the top part of an f]


From the Medicyn-Boeck, Daer inne alle Gebreken des menschelijken lichaems, mitsgaders de Remedyn deselven, claerlijck aenghewesen wordt. In 't Hooch-duytsch beschreven door Christophorum Wirtsung, Ende in de Nederlantsche tale overgheset door D. Carolum Battum ordinaris Medicijn der Stadt Dordrecht. Tot Amsterdam, By Michiel Colijn Boeck-vercooper opt water, int Eiuysboeck aende Cooren marckt, 1628.

[This book was first printed in 1589, but did not seem to include any mead or oxymel recipes. It was reprinted at least 7 times between then and this edition, but as I do not have access to the in between editions, I can not say for sure when the mead & oxymel chapter first was included.]
Link to the 1589 edition:
https://books.google.com/books?id=x0eC7luXkykC&dq=secreet%20boek&source=gbs_similarbooks
Link to the 1628 edition:
https://books.google.be/books?id=lu9jAAAAcAAJ&dq=medicyn-boeck&hl=nl&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Capitel 12; folio 647, p.668
Oxycraton. 76.S.
Dese na-volghende dinghen Behouden by de Medicyns ende oock by d'Aptekers haren grieckschen name / want Oxos, dat is Azijn / daer nae letten sy wat daer by / d'welck met den voorte. Azijn vermenghelt wordt / ghelijck als met dit Oxycraton, daer Wijn / Water / ende Azijn t’samen vermengt worden / dwelck by de Latijnisten Posca wordt ghenaemt. Waer toe t'selfde nu ghebruyckt wordt / dat meuchdy hier ende daer uyt desen Boeck verstaen.
The following things keep within medicine and the apothecary their Greek name, because Oxos, that is vinegar, and after that names what is added to the vinegar, similar to oxycraton, which is mixed wine, water and vinegar, and which by the Latinists is called Posca. Where to this same is used, that you may understand from this book.

Oxymel Simplex. 77.S.
Dit Oxymel wordt int eertse Deel / int 2.Capit.6. beschreven / het wordt seer dickmaels gebruyckt / ende tot veel dinghen ghepresen.
Oxymel Simplex.
This oxymel is described in the first part of 2 Chapter 6. It is often used and for many things praised.

Oxymel Compositum. 78.S.
Dit wort alsoo daeromme ghenaemt / om dattet van veel diversche dingen gemaect wort / het welche oock int eerste Deel / int 2.Capittel beschreven staet. [cap.2.6.S. p.35]
Oxymel Compositum.
This also therefor is named, because it is made of diverse things, which is also described in the first part, in Chapter 2.6.S.

Oxymel Scyllium, 79.S.
Dit wort oock op de selve plaetse bescheven / ende dickmaels ghebruyckt.
Oxymel Scyllium.
This is described in the same place, and often used.

Oxyrrhodinum, 80.S.
Het is een ander menghelinghe / als de voor-gaende / het wort veel ghebruyckt teghens de pyne des Hoofts / van buyten op gheleydt / hier af zijnder tweederley ghelyck als hier voren int tweede Deel gheleert is.
Oxyrrhodinum.
This is a different mix, then the previous. It is often used against headache imposed from outside, from here are two similars as before is taught in the second part.

Oxysacchara, 81.S.
Dese Compositije ende hare cracht is int eerte Deel / int 8. Cap.2.S. bescheven.
Oxysacchara.
This composition and her strength is in the first part, in 8. Chapter 2.s. described.

Capt.2. fol.35 p.56
Diversche Oxymel. $.6.
Eerstelijck / willen wy beginnen van tghene datmen op d'Apteke Oxymel simpl. noemt / omdat het alleene van Heunigh ende Azijn ghemaeckt wort: Om nu t'selve te maken/ soo neemt ghesuyverden Heunigh vier Oncen / daer by giet twee Oncen claer waters/ dat selve siedet tesamen / ende schuymt het / tot dat alle het water versoden is / doet daer toe twee Oncen Azyns / laet het tsamen tot een Syrope in sieden: dit verteert alle taeye slijm / ende dic ke humeuren / het opent alle verstoppinge, suyvert de Borst / ende maeckt lichten Adem.
Diverse Oxymel.
First we begin with what the apothecary calls simple oxymel, because it is made with only honey and vinegar. To make your own, take clarified honey four ounces, pour into it two ounces of clear water, cook this together, and scum it, until all the water has evaporated. Add two ounces of vinegar, and let it cook into a syrup: this removes all tough slime, and thick humors, it opens all constipation, purifies the chest, and makes light breath.

Het ander Oxymel, in d'Apteke Compositum of Diureticum ghenaemt / maeckt men op dese maniere: Neemt Venckel-wortel / ende Joffroumerck-wortel / van elcks twee Oncen /  Zaedt van Peterselie / van Rusken / van Sperghen / van Joffrou-mercke / ende van Venckel / van elcks een Once / doer de wortelen het houdt uyt / snijdt ende siedtse in eenen Pot waters / tot datse morwe werden / druckt se daer naer door eenen doeck / ende tot het Sop giet zes Oncen scherpen Azijns / ghesuyverden Heunigh twaelf Oncen / latet tsamen sieden tot een Syrope. Dit is in alles veel stercker / dan dat bovenste / het doet scheyden alle taeye slijm / het drijftse uyt den leden / opent de verstoppinghe der Lever/ der Milten / ende der Nieren / Drijft de urijne / ende het Sweet uyt.
The other oxymel, called Compositum of Diureticum by the apothecary, one makes in this manner: take fennel root, and wild celery [Apium palustre] of each two ounces, seed of parsley, of rushes [Juncaceae], of asparagus [?], of wild celery and fennel, each an ounce. Remove the wood off the roots, cut and cook in a pot water until they are soft. Press through a cloth and unto this cookwater pour six ounces sharp vinegar, clarified honey twelve ounces, and let it simmer into a syrup. This is stronger in everything, than the one [recipe] above, it parts all tough slime and pushes it out, opens constipated liver and spleen and kidneys, drives off urine and sweat.

Het derde Oxymel is van Squillen ghemaeckt / Oxymel Scillinum, oft in d'Apteke Scilliticum ghenaemt / daer toe neemt Azijn van Squillen (als hier voren int 2. Capit.S.1. teghen de coude Pijne des Hoofts beschreven staet) vier Oncen / ghesuyverden Heunigh zes Oncen / ende siedet samen tot een Syrope.
The third oxymel is made from squill [Urginea scilla], called Oxymel Scilliticum at the apothecary. Take thus vinegar of squill (as is mentioned before in 2. Chapter against cold pain of the head) four ounces, clarified honey six ounces and simmer together into a syrup.

 Het vierde / is Oxymel Scillinum Compositum: Men maket alsoo: Neemt Wortels van Joffroumercke / van Venckel / van elcks twee Oncen / wortelen van Peterselie / Rusken / ende van Sperghen / Zaedt van Joffroumercke ende van Venckel / van elckx een Loot / siedet al t'samen in eenen Pot waters / totdat de wortelen morwe werden : tot dit so doet twaelf Oncen goeden Azijn / ghesuyverden homich 18. Oncen / ende siedet voorts tot een Syrope. Beyde zijde seer goet / om het taeye slijm te doen scheyden / de Maghe stercken / ende water te doen lossen / dan het eerse is noch crachtigher in openinghe van alle Verstopt heyt / ende is sonderlijck goet teghen de daghe lycksche / ende vierdaechiche Coortse.
The fourth is Oxymel Scillinum Compositum: One makes also: take roots of wild celery, of fennel, of each two ounces. Roots of parsley, rushes [Juncaceae], and asparagus [?], seed of wild celery and fennel, of each a loot. Cook is all together in a pot water, until the roots are soft: unto this put twelve ounce good vinegar, clarified honey 18 ounces, and simmer it into a syrup.
Both are very good to part tough slime, make the stomach stronger, and to loose water, than the first is much stronger in opening all constipation and is exceptional against daily fever and four-day fever.


Theodorus Clutius. Van de Byen, 1597.
https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0NnAAAAcAAJ&dq=van+de+byen&source=gbs_navlinks_s

To make vinegar of mead.
Take mead and let it sour in the sun / the same as one uses wine or beer / and as soon as a skin forms one shall tap it / and put the mead in another barrel / until it is sour enough.

Another way.
Take a part honey / six parts waters / a quarter vinegar / set it in a barrel in the sun until it is sour enough / as is said above / some people take sourdough instead of vinegar / and let it stand thus / and tap it clear off as long as it is sour enough.


SEMI-PERIOD (1600-1650)

Koge Bog: Indeholdendis et hundrede fornødene stycker/  Som ere/om Brygning/Bagning/ Kogen/Brændevijn oc Miød at berede/ saare nytteligt vdi Husz holdning/&c. Som tilforn icke paa vort Danske Sprock vdi Tryck er vdgaaen. Prentet i Kiøbenhaffn/Aff Salomone Sartorio/1616.
Cook book: Containing A hundred useful pieces, Which are about brewing, baking, Cooking, aquavit and mead to make, As is useful in house Holding &c. Which before not in our Danish Language is issued in print. Printed in Copenhagen, by Salomone Sartorio, 1616.
http://www.forest.gen.nz/Medieval/articles/cooking/1616.html

CAP. IV. Om Edicke.
Naar Øel eller Peremust bliffuer megit gammel/eller oc ligger paa varme steder/forandres det gierne til Edicke. Sommesteds brygger mand Edicke/saa at Edicke giøris i tuende maade: Enten aff sig selff/eller fomedelst Konst. Den bryggis i saa maade: Mand tager søt Øel oc siuder det/lader det siden bliffue kalt/kaster saa Surdey oc steegte Erter de noget ere forbrende/der vdi/saa faar mand snart god Edicke. Jtem/Biug oc Erter steegte paa en Pande/til de bliffue sorte/oc lagde i vijn/saa haffuer mand Edicke inden to Dage. Somme legge oc der i Birckespaane/som ved Ilden vel ere tørde. Vilt du snart haffue en god Edicke/saa kast Salt/Peber oc Surdey sammenblandet/i Vijn eller Øel/oc rør det vel om. Eller oc Glødsteen/Tegelsteen/skaal/etc. oc kast der i. Jitem Reddicker/wmode blommer/Slaaen/etc.

Chapter IV. About vinegar.
When beer or perry become quite old, or is stored in a warm place, it is wont to turn into vinegar. Someplaces people brew vinegar, so that vinegar is made in two ways, either by itself, or by art. It is brewed in this way: You take sweet beer and seethe it, then let it go cold. Throw sourdough and fried peas that are a little burned, therein, and then you will soon have good vinegar. Item, yeast and peas fried on a pan, until they are black, and put in wine, then you have vinegar within two days. Some also put in it birch shavings, that have been dried by the fire. If you want a good vinegar quickly, then put salt, pepper and sourdough together, in wine or beer, and mix it well. Or soapstone, brick, shells etc, and put it in. Iitem, radishes, unripe plums, sloe etc.


Gervase Markham, Countrey Contentments, or the English House-wife. 1623
https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/objects/lse:heh898zor/read/single#page/1/mode/2up

[p.139-141]
to make all sorts of vinegar
to make veriuyce
[not transcribed as of yet]


OUT OF PERIOD (>1650)

Carolus Dattum. Het Secreet-Boek Vol Heerlijcke Konsten, in veelerley Materien. Leewarden, 1664 (googlebook)
[not transcribed nor translated as of yet]

Om den Azijn wel suyr te maken. [66/56]
Om haeftif den Zijn sterck te maken. [66/56]
Om in der hast Wijn tot Azijn te maecken. [67/57]
Om van Wijn haestigh Azijn te maken. [67/57]
Om van water Azijn te maken. [67/57]
[511/525-513/527]
Van Bier Azijn te maken.
Om Azijn te houden in fijn zuurheyt, ende in sijnen zuren smaecke.
Om krancken Azijn goedt te maken.
Een ander.
Om op alle manieren Azijn te maken.
Azijn te  maken in korten tijdt.
Pulver te maken, dat met 't in wijn dede, 't soude terstont Azijn Werden.