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.
Thursday, October 12, 2017
Primary Resources for CIDER & PERRY
Transcriptions & translations, as needed, by Susan Verberg.
If you know of a recipe not included, please contact me!
PERIOD (<1600)
The fyrst boke of the introduction of knowledge made by Andrew Borde, of physycke doctor. A compendyous regyment; or, A dyetary of helth made in Mountpyllier MDCCCLXX
LONDON:PUBLISHED FOB THE EARLY ENGLISH TEXT SOCIETY, BY N. TRUBNER & CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1870
https://archive.org/stream/fyrstbokeintrod01boorgoog/fyrstbokeintrod01boorgoog_djvu.txt
https://ia600205.us.archive.org/8/items/fyrstbokeintrod01boorgoog/fyrstbokeintrod01boorgoog.pdf
[p.256/264]
Of cyder.
Cyder is made of the iuce of peeres, or of the iuce of aples; & other whyle cyder is made of both; but the best cyder is made of cleane peeres, the which be dulcet; but the beest is not praysed in physycke, for cyder is colde of operacyon, and is full of ventosyte, wherfore it doth ingendre euyll humours, and doth swage to moche the naturall heate of man, & doth let dygestyon, and doth hurte the stomacke; but they the which be vsed to it, yf it be dronken in haruyst, it doth lytell harme.
William Harrison: Description Of Elizabethan England, 1577 (from Holinshed's Chronicles). Dr. Furnivall condensed Harrison's chapters for the New Shakespeare Society, and these have since been reprinted by Mr. Lothrop Withington, 1876.
http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1577harrison-england.asp
In some places of England there is a kind of drink made of apples which they call cider or pomage, but that of pears is called perry, and both are ground and pressed in presses made for the nonce. Certes these two are very common in Sussex, Kent, Worcester, and other steeds where these sorts of fruit do abound, howbeit they are not their only drink at all times, but referred unto the delicate sorts of drink, as metheglin is in Wales, whereof the Welshmen make no less account (and not without cause, if it be well handled) than the Greeks did of their ambrosia or nectar, which for the pleasantness thereof was supposed to be such as the gods themselves did delight in.
Le Paulmier, Julien. Traité du vin et du cidre ("De vino et pomaceo"), traduit en français par Jacques de Cahaignes, réimprimé, avec une introduction, par Émile Travers. (1589), 1896.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Iuliani_Palmarii_De_vino_et_pomaceo_libr.html?id=sGoXACtol1wC (Latin, 1588)
http://www.europeana.eu/portal/en/record/9200365/BibliographicResource_3000004846954.html
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3787011
SEMI-PERIOD (1600-1650)
Gervase Markham, the English Hus-wife, 1615
GervaseMarhamTheEnglishHuswife-39.pdf
https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/objects/lse:heh898zor/read/single#page/1/mode/2up
[p.185/196]
Of making Perry or Cider.
As for the making of Perry and Cider, which are Drinks much used in the West parts, and other Countries well stored with fruit in this Kingdom, you shall know, that your Perry is made of Pears only, and your Cider of Apples; and for the manner of making thereof, it is done after one fashion, that is to say, After your Pears and Apples are well pick'd from the stalks, rottenness, and all manner of other filth, you shall put them in the Press-mill which is made with a Millstone running round in a circle, under which you shall crush your Pears or Apples, and then straining them thorow a bag of Hair-cloth, tun up the same, (after it hath been a little settled) into Hogsheads, Barrels, and other close vessels.
Now after you have prest all, you shall save that which is within the hair-cloth bag, and putting it into several vessels, put a pretty quantity of Water thereunto, and after it hath stood a day or two, and hath been well stirred together, press it also over again, for this will make a small Perry or Cider, and must be spent first, Now of your best Cider, that which you make of your Summer of Sweet fruit, you shall call Summer, or Sweet Cyder or Perry, and that you shall spend first also ; and that which you make of the Winter and hard Fruit, you shall call Winter, and sowr Cider or Perry, and that you may spend last, for it will endure the longest.
Cogan, Thomas. The Haven of Health (1584). London: Anne Griffin, 1636
https://ia800500.us.archive.org/22/items/havenofhealthchi00coga/havenofhealthchi00coga.pdf
Chap. 219 Of Cyder.
The fifth kinde of drinke usuall here in England is Cyder. Howbeit Cider is not in so common use any where within this land as in Worcester shire, and Glocester shire, where fruits doe most abound. And marvaile it is to see how plentifull apples and peares are in those countries, in so much that every hedge almost in the common fields, and by high way sides are full of good fruites. And if a man travaile through that country, when they be ripe, hee shall see as many lie under his horse feet, as would in some places of England bee gladly gathered up, and layed in store under locke and key. Cyder is for the more part cold in operation, and is better or worse, according to the fruit whereof it is made: in respect of the coldnesse it is good for them that have hot stomackes, or hot livers. Yet if it bee used for a common drinke (as master Eliote reporteth) it maketh even in youth, the colour of the face pale, and the skinne riveled. It cannot bee very wholesome in any condition, considering that fruites doe ingender ill humours. Yet it is best after Christmas and about Lent. I remember when I was a student at Oxford one mistris, G. sold Pery [Perie] insteed of Rhenish wine, and so beguiled many a poore Scholler. And indeed that Cyder which is made of pure peares, being drunke after winter is like in taste, to a small white or Rhenish Wine, but yet differeth much in operation. Sed caveat emptor. [buyer beware] (p.254-255)
Venner, Tobias. Via Recta ad Vitam Longam, or, A plain Philosophical Demonstration of the Nature, faculties and Effects of all such things. Printed by R. Bishop, for Henry Hood, and are to be sold at his shop in Saint Dunstans Churchyard in Fleetstreet, London: 1636.
https://archive.org/details/TobiasVennerViaRectaAdVitamLongamOrAPlainPhilosophical
Whether Cyder and Perry are for common use wholesome and profitable drinkes.
Cyder and Perry are usuall drinkes where fruits doe abound: they are cold in operation, and better or worse, according to the fruits wherof they are made. In respect of the coldnesse of them, they are good for such as have hot stomacks, or hot livers, and by reason of a very pleasing sharpe taste which they have, if they be drunke after they are foure or five moneths old, they are of a notable penetrating faculty, and doe greatly helpe the weaknesse of the stomack, and distemperature of it, proceeding of a hot cause: for tey excite the appetite, temper the drinesseof te humors and inwards parts, assuage the thirst, and very greatly represse the ebulation of choler. Moreover by reason of their penetrable power, they provoke urine, and open the obstructions of the stomack, mesaraick veines, milt, lieer, and reines. They are wholsome for hot and dry bodies, namely, for the cholerick, but especially the atrabilarick. Yet they are not good to be used as common drinke, with meats, except of them that have very dry stomacks, and subject to too much atriction of the same, bacuse they cause the meats too speedily to descend from the stomack, and besides that, the much and often use of them is hurtfull to the liver, which by over-cooling, it doth so enfeeble and dispoliate of its sanguifying faculty, that the colour of the face becommeth pale and riv'led, and the skin oftentimes polluted with a white spotty deformity, through an ill habit of the parts, acquired by the too often use of these drinkes doth exceedingly weaken the braine and reines, whereupon rheumes and seminall fluctions, aches of the joynts, weaknesse of the limmes and back, doe very quickly ensue. They are best to be taken for whom they are agreeable, in an empty stomack, as mornings fasting, and about an houre or two before meale, for then they are better remove the obstructions, and attemper the drinesse of the parts. Only those that are atrabilarij, which abound with choler adult, for the most part, the meats doe very slowly, and that not without some difficulty descend, may very profitable drinke a draught or two thereof at their meales. But let the plegmatick, and such as are of cold constitutions, or subject unto the windie collick, altogether eschew the use of these drinks, because they abundantly opplete their bodies with waterish, crude, and windy humors, with a sudden labefaction of the liver. They are meliorated, by putting to them Sugar, Nutmeg, and especially Ginger, which chiefly corrected their crude and windy quality. Of these two sords of drinks, caeteris paribus, Perry for pleasantnesse and goodnesse hath the precedency, which in taste is like unto small Rhenish-wine, from which it differeth but little in operation. But you must understand that these drinks, while they be new, are very hurtfull, because they consist of much excrementall moysture, which abundantly filleth the body with crude and flatuous humors. But after that the excremental superfluity of them, by processe of time is concocted and absumed, which in foure or five moneths will very well come to passe, the use of them, as I have shewed, may be very profitable to coole, to moysten, and to open obstructions.
OUT OF PERIOD (>1650)
John Evelyn’s Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest-Trees, and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. As it was Deliver’d in the Royal Society the xvth of October, [MDCLXII]…To which is annexed Pomona; Or, An Appendix concerning Fruit-Trees in relation to CIDER; The Making, and severall wayes of Ordering it. The Royal Society, 1664.
http://www.wine-maker.net/Thackrey_Library/Library_pdf.files/Evelyn_Cider_V1.pdf
Digby, Kenelme. The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digby Knight Opened, 1669. The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened. Anne MacDonell (ed.), 2005.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16441
TO MAKE CIDER
Take a Peck of Apples, and slice them, and boil them in a barrel of water, till the third part be wasted; Then cool your water as you do for wort, and when it is cold, you must pour the water upon three measures of grown Apples. Then draw forth the water at a tap three or four times a day, for three days together. Then press out the Liquor, and Tun it up; when it hath done working, then stop it up close.
A VERY PLEASANT DRINK OF APPLES
Take about fifty Pippins; quarter and core them, without paring them: for the paring is the Cordialest part of them. Therefore onely wipe or wash them well, and pick away the black excrescence at the top; and be sure to leave out all the seeds, which are hot. You may cut them (after all the superfluities are taken away) into thinner slices, if you please. Put three Gallons of Fountain water to them in a great Pipkin, and let them boil, till the Apples become clear and transparent; which is a sign, they are perfectly tender, and will be in a good half hour, or a little more. Then with your Ladle break them into Mash and Pulpe, incorporated with the water; letting all boil half an hour longer, that the water may draw into it self all the vertue of the Apples. Then put to them a pound and a half of pure dubble refined Sugar in powder, which will soon dissolve in that hot Liquor. Then pour it into an Hippocras bag, and let it run through it two or three times, to be very clear. Then put it up into bottles; and after a little time, it will be a most pleasant, quick, cooling, smoothing drink. Excellent in sharp Gonorrhoeas.
SIR PAUL NEALE'S WAY OF MAKING CIDER
The best Apples make the best Cider, as Pearmains, Pippins, Golden-pippins, and the like. Codlings make the finest Cider of all. They must be ripe, when you make Cider of them: and is in prime in the Summer season, when no other Cider is good. But lasteth not long, not beyond Autumn. The foundation of making perfect Cyder consisteth in not having it work much, scarce ever at all; but at least, no second time; which Ordinary Cider doth often, upon change of weather, and upon motion: and upon every working it grows harder. Do then thus:
Choose good Apples. Red streaks are the best for Cider to keep; Ginet-moils the next, then Pippins. Let them lie about three weeks, after they are gathered; Then stamp and strain them in the Ordinary way, into a woodden fat that hath a spigot three or four fingers breadth above the bottom. Cover the fat with some hair or sackcloth, to secure it from any thing to fall in, and to keep in some of the Spirits, so to preserve it from dying; but not so much as to make it ferment. When the juyce hath been there twelve hours, draw it by the spigot (the fat inclining that way, as if it were a little tilted) into a barrel; which must not be full by about two fingers. Leave the bung open for the Air to come in, upon a superficies, all along the barrel, to hinder it from fermenting; but not so large a superficies as to endanger dying, by the airs depredating too many spirits from it.
The drift in both these settlings is, that the grosser parts consisting of the substance of the Apple, may settle to the bottom, and be severed from the Liquor; for it is that, which maketh it work again (upon motion or change of weather) and spoils it. After twenty four hours draw of it, to see if it be clear, by the settling of all dregs, above which your spigot must be. If it be not clear enough, draw it from the thick dregs into another vessel, and let it settle there twenty four hours. This vessel must be less then the first, because you draw not all out of the first. If then it should not be clear enough, draw it into a third, yet lesser than the second; but usually it is at the first. When it is clear enough draw it into bottles, filling them within two fingers, which stop close. After two or three days visit them; that if there be a danger of their working (which would break the bottles) you may take out the stopples, and let them stand open for half a quarter of an hour. Then stop them close, and they are secure for ever after. In cold freesing weather, set them upon Hay, and cover them over with Hay or Straw. In open weather in Winter transpose them to another part of the Cellar to stand upon the bare ground or pavement. In hot weather set them in sand.
The Cider of the Apples of the last season, as Pippins, not Peermains, nor codlings, will last till the Summer grow hot. Though this never work, 'tis not of the Nature of Strummed Wine; because the naughty dregs are not left in it.
DOCTOR HARVEY'S PLEASANT WATER-CIDER, WHEREOF HE USED TO DRINK MUCH, MAKING IT HIS ORDINARY DRINK
Take one Bushel of Pippins, cut them into slices with the Parings and Cores; boil them in twelve Gallons of water, till the goodness of them be in the water; and that consumed about three Gallons. Then put it into an Hypocras-bag, made of Cotton; and when it is clear run out, and almost cold, sweeten it with five pound of Brown-sugar, and put a pint of Ale-yest to it, and set it a working two nights and days: Then skim off the yest clean, and put it into bottles, and let it stand two or three days, till the yest fall dead at the top: Then take it off clean with a knife, and fill it up a little within the neck (that is to say, that a little about a fingers breadth of the neck be empty, between the superficies of the Liquor, and the bottom of the stopple) and then stop them up and tye them, or else it will drive out the Corks. Within a fortnight you may drink of it. It will keep five or six weeks.
APPLE DRINK WITH SUGAR, HONEY, &c
A very pleasant drink is made of Apples, thus; Boil sliced Apples in water, to make the water strong of Apples, as when you make to drink it for coolness and pleasure. Sweeten it with Sugar to your tast, such a quantity of sliced Apples, as would make so much water strong enough of Apples; and then bottle it up close for three or four months. There will come a thick mother at the top, which being taken off, all the rest will be very clear, and quick and pleasant to the taste, beyond any Cider. It will be the better to most taste, if you put a very little Rosemary into the liquor, when you boil it, and a little Limon-peel into each bottle, when you bottle it up.
Gulielma Maria Posthuma Springett Penn. Penn Family Recipes: Cooking Recipes of Wm. Penn's Wife, 1674. G. Shumway, 1966.
https://www.amazon.com/Penn-family-recipes-Cooking-Gulielma/dp/B0006BNTYW/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1507835446&sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=Penn+Family+Recipes%3A+Cooking+Recipes+of+Wm.+Penn%27s+Wife%2C+Gulielma+Gulielma+Maria+Posthuma+Springett+Penn%2C+1674.+G.+Shumway%2C+1966
John Worlidge. Vinetum Britannicum: Ora Treatise of Cider and Other Wines and Drinks ... Fruits Growing in this Kingdom ... Propagating All Sorts of Vinous Fruit-trees ... Making Metheglin and Birch-wine. The Second Impression. To which is Added, a Discourse Teaching the Best Way of Improving Bees. Dring, 1678 (p.52)
https://books.google.com/books/about/Vinetum_Britannicum_Ora_Treatise_of_Cide.html?id=ck1XAAAAcAAJ
C. W. Radcliffe Cooke. A Book about Cider and Perry. Horace Cox, 1898 - Cider.
https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Book_about_Cider_and_Perry.html?id=RS1EAAAAYAAJ
Renfrow, Cindy. A Sip Through Time, a Collection of old Brewing Recipes. Self published, 1996.
https://www.amazon.com/Sip-Through-Time-Collection-Brewing/dp/0962859834/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507835393&sr=8-1&keywords=a+sip+through+time
If you know of a recipe not included, please contact me!
PERIOD (<1600)
The fyrst boke of the introduction of knowledge made by Andrew Borde, of physycke doctor. A compendyous regyment; or, A dyetary of helth made in Mountpyllier MDCCCLXX
LONDON:PUBLISHED FOB THE EARLY ENGLISH TEXT SOCIETY, BY N. TRUBNER & CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1870
https://archive.org/stream/fyrstbokeintrod01boorgoog/fyrstbokeintrod01boorgoog_djvu.txt
https://ia600205.us.archive.org/8/items/fyrstbokeintrod01boorgoog/fyrstbokeintrod01boorgoog.pdf
[p.256/264]
Of cyder.
Cyder is made of the iuce of peeres, or of the iuce of aples; & other whyle cyder is made of both; but the best cyder is made of cleane peeres, the which be dulcet; but the beest is not praysed in physycke, for cyder is colde of operacyon, and is full of ventosyte, wherfore it doth ingendre euyll humours, and doth swage to moche the naturall heate of man, & doth let dygestyon, and doth hurte the stomacke; but they the which be vsed to it, yf it be dronken in haruyst, it doth lytell harme.
William Harrison: Description Of Elizabethan England, 1577 (from Holinshed's Chronicles). Dr. Furnivall condensed Harrison's chapters for the New Shakespeare Society, and these have since been reprinted by Mr. Lothrop Withington, 1876.
http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1577harrison-england.asp
In some places of England there is a kind of drink made of apples which they call cider or pomage, but that of pears is called perry, and both are ground and pressed in presses made for the nonce. Certes these two are very common in Sussex, Kent, Worcester, and other steeds where these sorts of fruit do abound, howbeit they are not their only drink at all times, but referred unto the delicate sorts of drink, as metheglin is in Wales, whereof the Welshmen make no less account (and not without cause, if it be well handled) than the Greeks did of their ambrosia or nectar, which for the pleasantness thereof was supposed to be such as the gods themselves did delight in.
Le Paulmier, Julien. Traité du vin et du cidre ("De vino et pomaceo"), traduit en français par Jacques de Cahaignes, réimprimé, avec une introduction, par Émile Travers. (1589), 1896.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Iuliani_Palmarii_De_vino_et_pomaceo_libr.html?id=sGoXACtol1wC (Latin, 1588)
http://www.europeana.eu/portal/en/record/9200365/BibliographicResource_3000004846954.html
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3787011
SEMI-PERIOD (1600-1650)
Gervase Markham, the English Hus-wife, 1615
GervaseMarhamTheEnglishHuswife-39.pdf
https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/objects/lse:heh898zor/read/single#page/1/mode/2up
[p.185/196]
Of making Perry or Cider.
As for the making of Perry and Cider, which are Drinks much used in the West parts, and other Countries well stored with fruit in this Kingdom, you shall know, that your Perry is made of Pears only, and your Cider of Apples; and for the manner of making thereof, it is done after one fashion, that is to say, After your Pears and Apples are well pick'd from the stalks, rottenness, and all manner of other filth, you shall put them in the Press-mill which is made with a Millstone running round in a circle, under which you shall crush your Pears or Apples, and then straining them thorow a bag of Hair-cloth, tun up the same, (after it hath been a little settled) into Hogsheads, Barrels, and other close vessels.
Now after you have prest all, you shall save that which is within the hair-cloth bag, and putting it into several vessels, put a pretty quantity of Water thereunto, and after it hath stood a day or two, and hath been well stirred together, press it also over again, for this will make a small Perry or Cider, and must be spent first, Now of your best Cider, that which you make of your Summer of Sweet fruit, you shall call Summer, or Sweet Cyder or Perry, and that you shall spend first also ; and that which you make of the Winter and hard Fruit, you shall call Winter, and sowr Cider or Perry, and that you may spend last, for it will endure the longest.
Cogan, Thomas. The Haven of Health (1584). London: Anne Griffin, 1636
https://ia800500.us.archive.org/22/items/havenofhealthchi00coga/havenofhealthchi00coga.pdf
Chap. 219 Of Cyder.
The fifth kinde of drinke usuall here in England is Cyder. Howbeit Cider is not in so common use any where within this land as in Worcester shire, and Glocester shire, where fruits doe most abound. And marvaile it is to see how plentifull apples and peares are in those countries, in so much that every hedge almost in the common fields, and by high way sides are full of good fruites. And if a man travaile through that country, when they be ripe, hee shall see as many lie under his horse feet, as would in some places of England bee gladly gathered up, and layed in store under locke and key. Cyder is for the more part cold in operation, and is better or worse, according to the fruit whereof it is made: in respect of the coldnesse it is good for them that have hot stomackes, or hot livers. Yet if it bee used for a common drinke (as master Eliote reporteth) it maketh even in youth, the colour of the face pale, and the skinne riveled. It cannot bee very wholesome in any condition, considering that fruites doe ingender ill humours. Yet it is best after Christmas and about Lent. I remember when I was a student at Oxford one mistris, G. sold Pery [Perie] insteed of Rhenish wine, and so beguiled many a poore Scholler. And indeed that Cyder which is made of pure peares, being drunke after winter is like in taste, to a small white or Rhenish Wine, but yet differeth much in operation. Sed caveat emptor. [buyer beware] (p.254-255)
Venner, Tobias. Via Recta ad Vitam Longam, or, A plain Philosophical Demonstration of the Nature, faculties and Effects of all such things. Printed by R. Bishop, for Henry Hood, and are to be sold at his shop in Saint Dunstans Churchyard in Fleetstreet, London: 1636.
https://archive.org/details/TobiasVennerViaRectaAdVitamLongamOrAPlainPhilosophical
Whether Cyder and Perry are for common use wholesome and profitable drinkes.
Cyder and Perry are usuall drinkes where fruits doe abound: they are cold in operation, and better or worse, according to the fruits wherof they are made. In respect of the coldnesse of them, they are good for such as have hot stomacks, or hot livers, and by reason of a very pleasing sharpe taste which they have, if they be drunke after they are foure or five moneths old, they are of a notable penetrating faculty, and doe greatly helpe the weaknesse of the stomack, and distemperature of it, proceeding of a hot cause: for tey excite the appetite, temper the drinesseof te humors and inwards parts, assuage the thirst, and very greatly represse the ebulation of choler. Moreover by reason of their penetrable power, they provoke urine, and open the obstructions of the stomack, mesaraick veines, milt, lieer, and reines. They are wholsome for hot and dry bodies, namely, for the cholerick, but especially the atrabilarick. Yet they are not good to be used as common drinke, with meats, except of them that have very dry stomacks, and subject to too much atriction of the same, bacuse they cause the meats too speedily to descend from the stomack, and besides that, the much and often use of them is hurtfull to the liver, which by over-cooling, it doth so enfeeble and dispoliate of its sanguifying faculty, that the colour of the face becommeth pale and riv'led, and the skin oftentimes polluted with a white spotty deformity, through an ill habit of the parts, acquired by the too often use of these drinkes doth exceedingly weaken the braine and reines, whereupon rheumes and seminall fluctions, aches of the joynts, weaknesse of the limmes and back, doe very quickly ensue. They are best to be taken for whom they are agreeable, in an empty stomack, as mornings fasting, and about an houre or two before meale, for then they are better remove the obstructions, and attemper the drinesse of the parts. Only those that are atrabilarij, which abound with choler adult, for the most part, the meats doe very slowly, and that not without some difficulty descend, may very profitable drinke a draught or two thereof at their meales. But let the plegmatick, and such as are of cold constitutions, or subject unto the windie collick, altogether eschew the use of these drinks, because they abundantly opplete their bodies with waterish, crude, and windy humors, with a sudden labefaction of the liver. They are meliorated, by putting to them Sugar, Nutmeg, and especially Ginger, which chiefly corrected their crude and windy quality. Of these two sords of drinks, caeteris paribus, Perry for pleasantnesse and goodnesse hath the precedency, which in taste is like unto small Rhenish-wine, from which it differeth but little in operation. But you must understand that these drinks, while they be new, are very hurtfull, because they consist of much excrementall moysture, which abundantly filleth the body with crude and flatuous humors. But after that the excremental superfluity of them, by processe of time is concocted and absumed, which in foure or five moneths will very well come to passe, the use of them, as I have shewed, may be very profitable to coole, to moysten, and to open obstructions.
OUT OF PERIOD (>1650)
John Evelyn’s Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest-Trees, and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. As it was Deliver’d in the Royal Society the xvth of October, [MDCLXII]…To which is annexed Pomona; Or, An Appendix concerning Fruit-Trees in relation to CIDER; The Making, and severall wayes of Ordering it. The Royal Society, 1664.
http://www.wine-maker.net/Thackrey_Library/Library_pdf.files/Evelyn_Cider_V1.pdf
Digby, Kenelme. The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digby Knight Opened, 1669. The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened. Anne MacDonell (ed.), 2005.
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16441
TO MAKE CIDER
Take a Peck of Apples, and slice them, and boil them in a barrel of water, till the third part be wasted; Then cool your water as you do for wort, and when it is cold, you must pour the water upon three measures of grown Apples. Then draw forth the water at a tap three or four times a day, for three days together. Then press out the Liquor, and Tun it up; when it hath done working, then stop it up close.
A VERY PLEASANT DRINK OF APPLES
Take about fifty Pippins; quarter and core them, without paring them: for the paring is the Cordialest part of them. Therefore onely wipe or wash them well, and pick away the black excrescence at the top; and be sure to leave out all the seeds, which are hot. You may cut them (after all the superfluities are taken away) into thinner slices, if you please. Put three Gallons of Fountain water to them in a great Pipkin, and let them boil, till the Apples become clear and transparent; which is a sign, they are perfectly tender, and will be in a good half hour, or a little more. Then with your Ladle break them into Mash and Pulpe, incorporated with the water; letting all boil half an hour longer, that the water may draw into it self all the vertue of the Apples. Then put to them a pound and a half of pure dubble refined Sugar in powder, which will soon dissolve in that hot Liquor. Then pour it into an Hippocras bag, and let it run through it two or three times, to be very clear. Then put it up into bottles; and after a little time, it will be a most pleasant, quick, cooling, smoothing drink. Excellent in sharp Gonorrhoeas.
SIR PAUL NEALE'S WAY OF MAKING CIDER
The best Apples make the best Cider, as Pearmains, Pippins, Golden-pippins, and the like. Codlings make the finest Cider of all. They must be ripe, when you make Cider of them: and is in prime in the Summer season, when no other Cider is good. But lasteth not long, not beyond Autumn. The foundation of making perfect Cyder consisteth in not having it work much, scarce ever at all; but at least, no second time; which Ordinary Cider doth often, upon change of weather, and upon motion: and upon every working it grows harder. Do then thus:
Choose good Apples. Red streaks are the best for Cider to keep; Ginet-moils the next, then Pippins. Let them lie about three weeks, after they are gathered; Then stamp and strain them in the Ordinary way, into a woodden fat that hath a spigot three or four fingers breadth above the bottom. Cover the fat with some hair or sackcloth, to secure it from any thing to fall in, and to keep in some of the Spirits, so to preserve it from dying; but not so much as to make it ferment. When the juyce hath been there twelve hours, draw it by the spigot (the fat inclining that way, as if it were a little tilted) into a barrel; which must not be full by about two fingers. Leave the bung open for the Air to come in, upon a superficies, all along the barrel, to hinder it from fermenting; but not so large a superficies as to endanger dying, by the airs depredating too many spirits from it.
The drift in both these settlings is, that the grosser parts consisting of the substance of the Apple, may settle to the bottom, and be severed from the Liquor; for it is that, which maketh it work again (upon motion or change of weather) and spoils it. After twenty four hours draw of it, to see if it be clear, by the settling of all dregs, above which your spigot must be. If it be not clear enough, draw it from the thick dregs into another vessel, and let it settle there twenty four hours. This vessel must be less then the first, because you draw not all out of the first. If then it should not be clear enough, draw it into a third, yet lesser than the second; but usually it is at the first. When it is clear enough draw it into bottles, filling them within two fingers, which stop close. After two or three days visit them; that if there be a danger of their working (which would break the bottles) you may take out the stopples, and let them stand open for half a quarter of an hour. Then stop them close, and they are secure for ever after. In cold freesing weather, set them upon Hay, and cover them over with Hay or Straw. In open weather in Winter transpose them to another part of the Cellar to stand upon the bare ground or pavement. In hot weather set them in sand.
The Cider of the Apples of the last season, as Pippins, not Peermains, nor codlings, will last till the Summer grow hot. Though this never work, 'tis not of the Nature of Strummed Wine; because the naughty dregs are not left in it.
DOCTOR HARVEY'S PLEASANT WATER-CIDER, WHEREOF HE USED TO DRINK MUCH, MAKING IT HIS ORDINARY DRINK
Take one Bushel of Pippins, cut them into slices with the Parings and Cores; boil them in twelve Gallons of water, till the goodness of them be in the water; and that consumed about three Gallons. Then put it into an Hypocras-bag, made of Cotton; and when it is clear run out, and almost cold, sweeten it with five pound of Brown-sugar, and put a pint of Ale-yest to it, and set it a working two nights and days: Then skim off the yest clean, and put it into bottles, and let it stand two or three days, till the yest fall dead at the top: Then take it off clean with a knife, and fill it up a little within the neck (that is to say, that a little about a fingers breadth of the neck be empty, between the superficies of the Liquor, and the bottom of the stopple) and then stop them up and tye them, or else it will drive out the Corks. Within a fortnight you may drink of it. It will keep five or six weeks.
APPLE DRINK WITH SUGAR, HONEY, &c
A very pleasant drink is made of Apples, thus; Boil sliced Apples in water, to make the water strong of Apples, as when you make to drink it for coolness and pleasure. Sweeten it with Sugar to your tast, such a quantity of sliced Apples, as would make so much water strong enough of Apples; and then bottle it up close for three or four months. There will come a thick mother at the top, which being taken off, all the rest will be very clear, and quick and pleasant to the taste, beyond any Cider. It will be the better to most taste, if you put a very little Rosemary into the liquor, when you boil it, and a little Limon-peel into each bottle, when you bottle it up.
Gulielma Maria Posthuma Springett Penn. Penn Family Recipes: Cooking Recipes of Wm. Penn's Wife, 1674. G. Shumway, 1966.
https://www.amazon.com/Penn-family-recipes-Cooking-Gulielma/dp/B0006BNTYW/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1507835446&sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=Penn+Family+Recipes%3A+Cooking+Recipes+of+Wm.+Penn%27s+Wife%2C+Gulielma+Gulielma+Maria+Posthuma+Springett+Penn%2C+1674.+G.+Shumway%2C+1966
John Worlidge. Vinetum Britannicum: Ora Treatise of Cider and Other Wines and Drinks ... Fruits Growing in this Kingdom ... Propagating All Sorts of Vinous Fruit-trees ... Making Metheglin and Birch-wine. The Second Impression. To which is Added, a Discourse Teaching the Best Way of Improving Bees. Dring, 1678 (p.52)
https://books.google.com/books/about/Vinetum_Britannicum_Ora_Treatise_of_Cide.html?id=ck1XAAAAcAAJ
C. W. Radcliffe Cooke. A Book about Cider and Perry. Horace Cox, 1898 - Cider.
https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Book_about_Cider_and_Perry.html?id=RS1EAAAAYAAJ
Renfrow, Cindy. A Sip Through Time, a Collection of old Brewing Recipes. Self published, 1996.
https://www.amazon.com/Sip-Through-Time-Collection-Brewing/dp/0962859834/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507835393&sr=8-1&keywords=a+sip+through+time
Saturday, October 7, 2017
To make the tassels on the Skjoldehamn Belt, version 2
As my son was in need of yet another belt, I choose to make
him one inspired by the Harvest Raid harvest theme. While I did not shear the sheep or
spun the wool, each skein started out as natural white and the colors all came
from different dyestuffs harvested from our backyard.
The belt itself is based on a belt found with a peat bog body,
likely female, from Skjoldehamn in Northern Norway.
The body was found wearing a near complete outfit, including this belt.
Initially, the find was assumed to date to the 15th to early 16th
century based on the style of clothing, but new analysis of the find using
carbon dating in 2009 found a date of 1075 ± 20 years instead.
I dyed seven skeins, and the kid chose four colors to use in
his belt. His favorites were Black Walnut, Onion Skin, Iron and Stinging Nettle
(mordanted). It ended up creating a camouflage pattern which he is very happy
with!
A CHANGE:
I have made few versions of this belt and had an idea I
wanted to experiment small scale, making this a perfect kids’ belt project.
Instead of using separate thin and colorful yarn for the tassels I re-used yarn
from the core (braid), and instead of attaching “hair” made of a different
fuzzy yarn I, again, re-used yarn from the core (braid). This difference in technique
meant I had to use multiple colors for the belt braid to end up with enough
different colors to make a banded design along the cords, and I also had to leave
more length of unused yarn at the beginning and end of the braid to have enough
to make the tassels.
This blog post is about the alternative way of wrapping the cords and making the tassels. For information on how to make the braid, please see my previous post at:
https://bookeofsecretes.blogspot.com/2017/10/how-to-make-12-strand-skjoldehamn-belt.html
https://bookeofsecretes.blogspot.com/2017/10/how-to-make-12-strand-skjoldehamn-belt.html
Instead of wrapping with separate thinner yarn I chose to
use this project to try out a different technique. I used one strand of the
core four colors instead, alternating as looked pleasing. Keep in mind the
pattern of the wrappings; each tasseled end has an alternating center. The banded
tassels look symmetrical without being completely identical, which is
surprisingly hard to emulate. Shown in the picture below is how I use the new strand (brown) to lock the previous one (grey) in place.
I tightly tied my yarn around the strands at the beginning and manually wrapped yarn around and around, occasionally shoving back the looped yarn to tighten the wrap (see images below). At a new field or band I did not tie off the previous color but wrapped it in with the tassel cords with the new color, until I needed it again.
A tuft of thick felted yarn is present on the original
tassel heads at this point of time. It is not clear if the tassels were felted
when new; they could have been made felted but they could also have felted
afterwards by wear and tear, or even by burial and soil erosion. As there is an
area of felting on the inside of the knotted loop made by use, it was not a new
belt, but other than that it is hard to say whether the tassel was originally
felted or not. To make my tassels I looped back the yarn ends to have three
times the bulk of yarn for the head’s “hairdo”.
The tassel necks are wrapped and secured with three rows of
fastening stitches. The raised knots are not created by knotting the yarn but
created by stitching the ends back into the neck. I used the same stitching
technique to wrap and secure my tassel heads as was used on the original (while
initially a little hard to figure out, it works surprisingly well to lock in
the stitch). See the previous blog post for more detail on the stitching.
Then the “hairdo” is cut to length, and the belt is done!
All in all it takes about 6-8 hours to make a Skjoldehamn
belt using this (likely) abbreviated technique.
The belt and the skeins of dyed wool at the AS 52 Harvest Raid A&S Competition (received First Place). For the accompanying documentation, please check:
These blog posts are to illustrate the technique of making the 12 strand braided belt in detail. For more information on the find itself please check my paper at:
https://www.academia.edu/27845585/A_Viking_Belt_based_on_the_Skjoldehamn_Find
which is based in part on Dan Halvard Løvlid dissertation at:
https://www.academia.edu/14654038/The_Skjoldehamn_find_in_the_light_of_new_knowledg
https://www.academia.edu/27845585/A_Viking_Belt_based_on_the_Skjoldehamn_Find
which is based in part on Dan Halvard Løvlid dissertation at:
https://www.academia.edu/14654038/The_Skjoldehamn_find_in_the_light_of_new_knowledg
To make the tassels for the Skjoldehamn Belt, version 1.
The belt is based on a belt found with a peat bog body,
likely female, from Skjoldehamn in Northern Norway.
The body was found wearing a near complete outfit, including this belt.
Initially, the find was assumed to date to the 15th to early 16thcentury based on the style of clothing, but new analysis of the find using
carbon dating in 2009 found a date of 1075 ± 20 years instead.
The person found was about 40-50 years old. Even though most
of the large bones including the skull disintegrated during the excavation in
1936 the remaining bones show no signs of wear and tear and no strong muscle
attachments. Together with a slim build and a small stature of 5’ the general
archaeological consensus is that the remains are too short and slender for a
typical Norwegian male, and could very well be female (or possibly Sámi male or
female).
This blog post is about how to finish the ends of the braid into period plausible tasseled cords.
When the braid is at length, both ends are split into three units of four strands, each of which are separately wrapped to create the tassels.
I start with the middle cord, and tie up the two outer cords, to keep them out of the way
From the images provided in the thesis (see above) it looks like the wrapping
yarn used is thinner than the yarn used for the belt and the tassel necks. Keep in mind the pattern of the wrappings; every tassel cord has a
center band and the center tassels are red fields with green/gold/green bands
and the outside tassels are green fields with gold/red/gold bands. The cords
look symmetrical without being completely identical, which is surprisingly hard
to emulate.
Adding a third color; from now on the colored yarn can be "picked up" from the yarn making up the cord's core.
All done with the wrapped cords. Notice how to center cord of each bundle is in opposite colors as the outside cords - as is the same on the extant piece.
It is not clear from the original find if the tassel head is made from separate yarn, of by looping back and doubling up on the core yarn, like demonstrated below. In my first version I tied four single ply yarns to the end of the tassel core to make the tassel head, and used yarn from the tassel core to secure the base. Then the single ply wool went bonkers from the humidity and fluffed up quite considerably, making me look for a different technique.
Then the tail end of the yarn is looped back and secured with a knot to make the tassel head.
I use a secure flat knot to tie the yarn right at the base of the cords. Then the tassels get combed down, keeping one long yarn separate to use to wrap and secure the base of the tassels.
Then one of the long ends is used to wrap and stitch the base of the tassel (this is a different tassel, the above only has two red ones to stitch with but as that was not very visible I used one in white to show the stitch).
The stitch feels kind of backwards. I work from L to R, therefore I wrap the yarn around the back and come up on top, then I stitch under the base of the beginning of the yarn loop, to come back out over the previous yarn loop (but under the new one) and then it gets pulled tight. Repeat until the base is well defined and securely stitched in. In the extant piece the base stitching was done in three bands of two colors.
Then the tassels are cut to length and nicely ruffled up. It is not clear from the extant piece if the tassel fibers are only from the core, added separately, or both. The same for the cord wrapping. From looking closely at the pictures it seems like different diameter fibers are used, making a case that both existing thicker cord yarn, and added thinner wrapping yarn is used to wrap the cords. The extant tassels are felted, but again, it is not clear if the felting happened on purpose at construction, happened during wear, or happened during burial.
This blog post is to illustrate how to make the tasseled cords of the 12 strand braided belt in detail. Look for my earlier blog post on how to make the braid itself, and for a later post on an alternate way of wrapping.
For more information on the find itself please check my paper at:
https://www.academia.edu/27845585/A_Viking_Belt_based_on_the_Skjoldehamn_Find
which is base in part on Dan Halvard Løvlid dissertation at:
https://www.academia.edu/14654038/The_Skjoldehamn_find_in_the_light_of_new_knowledge
which is base in part on Dan Halvard Løvlid dissertation at:
https://www.academia.edu/14654038/The_Skjoldehamn_find_in_the_light_of_new_knowledge
All illustrations are from Dan Halvard Løvlid dissertation.
To make the 12 strand Skjoldehamn Belt braid
This belt is a 24 yarn, 12 strand braid, and is based on a belt found with a peat
bog body, likely female, from Skjoldehamn in Northern
Norway. The ends of the belt were decorated with tasseled wrapped cords, in the style of modern Scandinavian Sami people. The body was found wearing a near complete outfit,
including this belt. Initially, the find was assumed to date to the 15th
to early 16th century based on the style of clothing, but new
analysis of the find using carbon dating in 2009 found a date of 1075 ± 20
years instead. Chromosome research indicate the body to be a female.
This blog post is to illustrate the technique of the 12 strand braid used in this belt in detail. For more information on the find itself please check my paper at:
https://www.academia.edu/27845585/A_Viking_Belt_based_on_the_Skjoldehamn_Find
which is based in part on Dan Halvard Løvlid dissertation at:
https://www.academia.edu/14654038/The_Skjoldehamn_find_in_the_light_of_new_knowledge
which is based in part on Dan Halvard Løvlid dissertation at:
https://www.academia.edu/14654038/The_Skjoldehamn_find_in_the_light_of_new_knowledge
The braid of this belt works best with a fairly low twist yarn. The stiffer the yarn the bulkier the belt, and it can get too bulky for wear. Do a small test piece to make sure your yarn braids well. I prefer to use weaving yarn, or yarn which does not have much stretch (unlike knitting yarn) as this make for a sturdy weave.
First measure 12 pairs of yarn, at least twice the length of the
intended finished product. Wind the pairs on a bobbin, preferably a kumihimo
bobbin (large size) but if not available, a piece of cardboard works as
well (but does get easily tangled). Keep the L and R sides separated, for instance with a chip clip. For the beginner, please start with two contrasting colors as it really helps to keep the sides separate.
I use an inkle loom as a holder. I've placed it on it's rear and use the first / top bar or peg to give me a working height to do a nicely tensioned braid. When I've braiding enough length to be too low for comfort, I use the other pegs to loop back and forth in between to keep the braid shed at a comfortable working height.
I use an inkle loom as a holder. I've placed it on it's rear and use the first / top bar or peg to give me a working height to do a nicely tensioned braid. When I've braiding enough length to be too low for comfort, I use the other pegs to loop back and forth in between to keep the braid shed at a comfortable working height.
To start I measure out about 2 feet from the end (if using the braid yarn to make the tassels) and put in a knot. I put in some random other knots in the tail to later use to secure to the loom pegs in just the right spot.
I use a chip clip to flatten the yarns into two sheds of 12 strands, 6 strands on each side.
Pick up the outermost R (white) strand, go OVER three, and then UNDER the last two OF ITS OWN SIDE. Then pick up the outermost R (red) strand, go OVER three, and then UNDER the last two, which is now one red and one white.
Repeat this movement, take the outermost, and go under the last two of THE SAME SIDE. After six passes on both sides, the red and white will have reversed sides.
When tightening the weave DO NOT overtighten. Gently pull together; pull taught, but do not really pull tight. If the weave is overtightend then the edges will get compacted and not work well. With my fingers, I keep the strands of the braid flat and in order while braiding so I can easily see where I am going, and which strand is the actual last one. If not sure, pull gently and see which herringbone tightens up. My biggest problem with this project are the bobbins - my frugal cardboard pieces *love* to wrap themselves around their neighbors and get stuck. When I then shift attention to untangling I sometimes let go of strand(s) and loose track of which went where... As I've made three of these so far and see myself making more, Kumihimo bobbins are now in my Amazon queue!
With this braid, the actually braided part is the herringbone pattern in the middle - the edges are the strands looping over from side to side (follow one of the colored bands and you see the zigzag pattern the strands make throughout the braid). This image (above) also shows that one side - counting from the center - has on the L three whites, two over and one under, and to the R had three reds, one under and two over. The side which starts with two over, side-by-side, as seen FROM THE CENTER, is the side which is braided towards. So in this shed, pick up the outermost white, go under the two red, to align with the two side-by-side whites. This is your visual queue as to where you left off and is slightly counter-intuitive for some reason.
When it's time for a break, I use my trusty chip clip to clamp one of the sides. It is better to clamp one then to clamp both on one clip: it is absolutely necessary to keep both sides separate to start back up, but not really important if the strands themselves stay in order. When you lost track of which strand to use next and have no idea how to proceed, slowly back up and unbraid until you have all red, and all white, on separate sides again. Then look for the side with the two-over, and start again.
This image shows how the pegs on the loom can be used to wrap up the length created while braiding, to keep your braiding shed at a comfortable height. If a suitable inkle loom is not available, you could also use a wood clamp on a table's edge and clip or tie your braid to the top, or the back of a high-backed chair.
Next Up: How to make the cord and tassel, two versions.
Some more information on this belt, includes an alternative to making the tassels:
https://www.academia.edu/34790443/Skjoldehamn_Belt_made_from_wool_dyed_with_natural_pigments
Illustration from Dan Halvard Løvlid dissertation, at:
https://www.academia.edu/14654038/The_Skjoldehamn_find_in_the_light_of_new_knowledge
Illustration from Dan Halvard Løvlid dissertation, at:
https://www.academia.edu/14654038/The_Skjoldehamn_find_in_the_light_of_new_knowledge
Peach Ginger Conserve, or, jam is not period.
Following is my documentation for a Peach Ginger Conserve entered into the AS52 Harvest
Raid Arts & Science Competition - Theme: The Harvest
In keeping with this year’s theme I decided to make
something with a fruit harvested from our own homestead orchard. As we were
blessed with many peaches this year I choose to make a peach ginger conserve,
modernly called a jam.
Some background on
period preserves:
While preserving fruits has always been a staple of medieval
kitchen, looking deeper into the subject I found that preserving fruit as a jam
was not. The word "jam" began to creep into manuscript cookery-books
in the last quarter of the seventeenth century, and into the printed ones early
in the eighteenth. It might have had a Middle Eastern origin, as there is an
Arab word "jam" which means "close-packed" or "all
together". From its more general usage in English for things that were
jammed against one another, the word passed into the realm of confectionery, to
indicate those preserves where soft fruits cooked with sugar were crushed
together, rather than sieved, and could thus be described as
"jammed", or "in a jam".
In period, fruits were preserved in sweet, spiced syrups of
wine and sugar or honey, or in the form of solid marmalade's. Syrup preserves
are found in sources starting at Apicius,
a collection of 4-5th century Roman cookery recipes, and solid
marmalade recipes have been found as early as the 14th century. The
spreadable soft-fruit preserve we currently know as jams & jellies are
usually sealed up in preserving jars or cans of some kind, which is necessary
to avoid spoilage like mold. Recipes for soft jams and jellies are mostly found
from the 18th century up, when canning also became a possibility. A
storage technique which could have been used in period, and has been post
period, is using some kind of vessel like a ceramic jar, topped with a brandy
soaked disk of parchment, and covered with melted lard or beeswax.
An interesting nugget is the idea that the word “marmalade”
originally came from “Marie malade”, or sick Mary, because marmalade was
regularly made for Mary Queen of Scots to keep her healthy. The word marmalade
actually comes via French from the Portuguese marmelada and means quince jelly. The earliest reference to
marmalade is from 1524 - 18 years before the birth of Queen Mary – when one box
of marmalade was presented to the King (it was an expensive delicacy). The French
condoignac and chardequynce are antecedents of the marmalade we know today and are
themselves descendants from the cidonitum
of 4th century Palladius.
The medieval malomellus was a term
used both for the fruit quince and for the conserve, and the modern Portuguese
for the fruit is still marmelo.
To recap:
Preserves (like
halved peaches in syrup) are period.
Dry Marmalade
(more akin to fruit leather than what we recognize today) is period.
Wet Marmalade
(like the British orange marmalade, with rind) is post period.
Solid Jelly is
period (but probably would not be stored overly long).
Soft Jam is post
period.
MY RECIPE:
3 ½ pounds of peaches, peeled, pitted and chopped.
5 cups of sugar
¼ cup of lemon juice
½ cup crystallized ginger
The fruit is combined with the sugar, ginger and lemon juice
and heated in a large heavy saucepan. It is stirred until all the sugar is dissolved
and boiled slowly until the mixture thickens and the fruit becomes translucent.
Remove from heat, skim as necessary, and process for 10 minutes in a
boiling-water-bath canner.
This recipe is a mix of “Old Fashioned Peach Preserves” and
“Ginger Jam” from The Big Book of
Preserving the Harvest.
Because this conserve is meant to be preserved, as advised
by the FDA I used a modern conserving recipe to make sure it cans safely. All
ingredients taken separate were available in period, including the lemon juice,
but due to the lack of canning technology not necessarily used in this manner.
The quinces in the period recipe are used to thicken the marmalade until it is
solid as it is very high in pectin.
PERIOD INSPIRATION RECIPES:
This 15th
century Portuguese recipe indicates peaches were used in conserves:
60 - Pessegada. Cortem ao meio duas partes de pêssego e uma
de marmelo, e levem-nas a cozer, em separado. Depois que estiverem cozidas,
passem tudo por uma peneira fina. A seguir, ajuntem tanto açúcar quanto for o
peso da massa,
e levem o tacho ao fogobrando. Deixem atingir o ponto de marmelada, e coloquem
o doce em caixetas.
Peach Marmalade. Cut in half two parts of peach and one of
quince, and cook them separately. After they are cooked, put everything through
a fine sieve. Next, add a like amount of sugar to the weight of the paste, and
take the pot to a low heat. Allow it to reach the point of marmalade, and place
the confection in little boxes.
From A Treatise of Portuguese Cuisine from the
15th Century.
This 16th
– 17th century recipe indicates boiling to candy height (interpreted as sheeting):
#S112 TO MAKE A PASTE OF PEACHES
Take peaches & boyle them tender, as you did your
apricocks, & strayne them. then take
as much sugar as they weigh & boyle it to candy height. mix ym together, & make it up into paste
as you doe yr other fruit. soe dry them
and use it at your pleasure. Peel and slice peaches. Bring them to a boil over
medium heat in a thick pan. Cover pan,
stirring occasionally. Add a little
rosewater if desired.
From A Booke of Sweetmeats, Martha
Washington's Booke of Cookery,
1550-1650.
This 1608 recipe indicates
ginger was used in spicing conserves:
27. To make rough-red Marmelade of Quinces, commonly called
lump-Marmelade, that shall looke as red as any rubie.
Pare ripe and well coloured Peare-quinces, and cut them in
pieces like dice, parboile them very tender, or rather reasonably tender in
faire water, then powre them into a Colender, and let the water runne from them
into a cleane Bason, then straine that water through a strainer into a Posnet
[skillet], for if there be any grauell in the Quinces, it will be in that water
: Then take the weight of the Quinces in double refined Sugar very fine, put
halfe thereof into the Posnet, into the water with a graine of Muske, a slice
or two of Ginger tied in a thrid, and let it boile couered close, vntill you
see your sugar come to the colour of Claret wine, then vncouer it and take out
your Ginger, and so let it boile vntill your sirupe being to consume away, then
take it off the fire, and pomice it with a ladle, and so stirre it and coole
it, and it will looke thick like tart-stuffe, then put in your other halfe of
your Sugar, and so let it boile, always stirring it vntill it come from the
bottome of the Posnet, then box it, and it will looke red like a Rubie, the
putting of the last Sugar brings it to an orient colour.
A Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen, 1608
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Costenbader, Carol W. The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest.
Storey Publishing, 1997.
Gomes, Fernanda (trans.). A Treatise of Portuguese Cuisine from the 15th Century.
https://web.archive.org/.../Faerisa/portuguese15thC.html
Hess, Karen (transcriber) Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery. Columbia
University Press, New York, 1981.
Holloway, Johnna. A
Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen (1608). 2011.
http://www.medievalcookery.com/notes/1608closet.pdf
Stefan’s Florilegium.
http://www.florilegium.org/.../FOOD.../jams-jellies-msg.html
http://www.florilegium.org/.../FOOD.../marmalades-msg.html
Wilson, C. Anne. The
Book of Marmalade. University
of Pennsylvania Press,
1999
And the cooks at the SCA
Cooks facebook group. Thank you!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/604657969575143/
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