Almond and Cardamom Cakes 2025

On July 16th, 2025, I was selected to be the A&S Champion of the Barony of the Rhydderich Hael. The project that I submitted was a 13th Century lemon syrup. The Champions of the seven Baronies of AEthelmearc compete against one another at the Seven Pearls Event, which rotates through each of the seven Baronies. 

I was not able to attend the event due to family, but my Baron and Baroness said that they would bring my project to the event, for me. 

I have a guideline for my A&S projects: I will not re-enter the same item into another A&S competition once it wins. I have no issues with entering the same item, a scroll, a beverage, leather work, or whatever if that item doesn't win. But, once it wins, it is retired from competition. Unless it is food or beverage and I rewrite the documentation to show how I have improved on my earlier work. 

This is my rule, for me. I don't have a problem with other people who re-enter the same thing over and over; win or lose. It might have to do with when I was starting to enter A&S competitions way back in the late 1900s. There was a general rule that entries had to be either "virgin" (never entered before) or had never won another competition before. Not every competition has these rules but it has stuck with me over the decades. For me, I expect myself to do new things for competition. It has helped me grow in the A&S world. Forced me to learn new skills, improve my research abilities as well as my documentation. 

I took the documentation I wrote in 2017, and 2007, and completely rewrote it for this new entry. I added in my thoughts about Dr. Cosman's "Fabulous Feasts", where I first heard of this recipe, and my personal A&S growth in the SCA. As I wrote in this latest version of my documentation:

As I had stated in the introduction, this project is ultimately based on a non-period cookie presented as a medieval recipe. One might ask why I am taking so much trouble to reverse document this one recipe when there are period sources at my disposal. Aside from the fun of researching and writing, this is an old recipe that I have been making for almost thirty years. Since the 1990s, I understood that “Fabulous Feasts” wasn’t a good cook book to use for historical research, but everyone has to start somewhere. By revisiting this recipe, and my documentation, every few years, I have improved my researching skills, my baking skills, as well as my ability to explain my thinking process to a wider audience. While this might appear to be a modern cookie recipe from an unreliable source, it is actually a time line of my A&S journey: from seeking out period cookie recipes, to improving my writing skills, to learning better ways to bake cookies. When I first wrote actual, multi page documentation for this recipe, in 2007, I had only a Sycamore to my name. Since then I have been inducted into the Fleur and then into the Laurel, and I do attribute this cookie as one of the factors for my personal growth in the A&S world.

As I said, everyone has to start from somewhere. While I would never use “Fabulous Feasts”, or any of Dr. Cosman’s other books, as a primary source, it, like Wikipedia, is a good place to start. The circlets recipe might be one of Dr. Cosman’s most popular recipes, appearing in all of her cook books, medieval studies hand outs and work books, newspaper article, public appearances, and dinners she organized. I don’t remember where I first learned of this recipe (it would have been in the late 20th Century) but it was everywhere, in and outside of the SCA. While her recipe might have been lifted from another cook book, or redacted from an unknown source, my version of it is yummy and deserving of a place at any feast table, vigil, or sideboard. And the research that I have collected on small cakes and the period spice trade is worth its weight in gold.

I did not win, but I was told that my cookies were yummy. Which is a nice thing to hear. 

I will have to bloggify my documentation, but I have posted it to my Academia page.

13th Century Lemon Syrup - 2025

 13th Century Lemon Syrup

A PDF of this post can be found on my Academia page.

1) Introduction:

This is a revisit of a syrup that I have made many times. It is based on a recipe from the Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook. Oddly enough, the Cookbook doesn’t give any suggestions for using this syrup. Nor is this syrup mentioned anywhere else in the cookbook, but you most certainly can dilute it in hot or cold water and make lemonade. I have poured this over pound cake (poke some holes in the top of the cake, first), and it is a good glaze to apply on grilled chicken, or just spooned into hot tea.

This particular project, and documentation, was started the week before War Practice, which was not an impossible task as no fermentation was required. (Post War Practice note: I brought everything I needed for the competition, except for the syrup.)

 

2) Technical documentation of the project for people who don’t like reading 100 pages before finding the ingredient list.

2 pounds of lemons.
1/2 pound of sugar, muscovado was used for this project but any sugar can be used.
1 pint of water

Zest all of the lemons before juicing them into a measuring cup. Add in enough water to make sure that the liquid is a total of one cup in volume. Combine with the sugar and zest in a pot and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to a simmer and let it cook down for about an hour, stirring often. Just a warning: molten sugar is kitchen napalm; do not let it over heat as it will make a big mess. Also, do not continue to boil the liquid unless you wish to make lemon candy.

Reduce the liquid by half, then turn off the heat. Let cool before straining out the zest and moving the liquid to a container.

13th Century Lemon Syrup

An attractive beverage of the modern era is lemonade; sweet and tart, served ice cold, quenches one’s thirst on the hottest of days. But, lemonade has a history that dates back centuries and is easy to make. The Moorish cookbook, “The Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook”, list many syrups (or sharabs] that were used as ingredients for other dishes and sauces, but were also intended to be mixed with water and served as drinks. This project is based on the following recipe:

Syrup of Lemon
Take lemon, after peeling off the skin, press it [to a pulp] and take a ratl of juice, and add as much of sugar. Cook it until it takes the form of a syrup. Its advantages are for the heat of bile; it cuts the thirst and binds the bowels.[1]

 ===============

 The redaction from Rowan Houndskeeper

SYRUP OF LEMON = LEMONADE
Redaction:
2 c lemon juice (either purchased or fresh squeezed from ~12 large lemons)
2 c sugar
2 c water

Boil sugar, lemon juice, and water together in an adequately sized pot for ~15 minutes to obtain a thin syrup. This syrup should be diluted 1:2 with cold water to form lemonade. The original recipe doesn’t mention if this drink is served hot or cold. Served undiluted as a warm syrup it is actually quite tasty as a hot, refreshing alternative to herbal teas. Dilute it as directed above and you have period lemonade. Although dilution is not mentioned in the original recipe, most of the other herb or fruit syrup drinks in the same source do mention diluting with water. Therefore this is a reasonable interpretation of the original recipe. If there is any question about how “modern” this recipe is - a recipe nearly identical to the original period one can be found in The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook (1989) on p. 470.

===============

My method for this project:

The original recipe called for a ratl of lemon juice and the same amount of sugar. A ratl is between 400g and 470g depending on the source.[2] Martin Levey tells us that one ratl is equivalent to 406.25g, with the following caveat: “The weights mentioned in the text are those of ninth-century Baghdad....Very little is known of the exact weights of the units in most periods and most areas of the medieval Islamic world. The above values must, therefore, be considered uncertain subject to further research.”[3]

The actual amount does not matter; as long as the juice and the sugar are of equal weights.
2 pounds of lemons.
1/2 pound of muscovado sugar.
1 pint water

I zested[4] the lemons, cut them in half and squeezed the juice from them. This gave me just under 1 cup of lemon juice. I topped off the measuring cup with extra water bringing up the volume to 1 cup, or a half a pint. Since a pint’s a pound the world round,[5] we can maintain the equal weight ratio of the original recipe. I used whatever brand of lemons I found at my local grocery store; I did not have a choice between varieties or region, since I started this project at the beginning of May. I moved the zest and juice into a sauce pot and added the sugar.

I brought the mixture up to a boil to dissolve all of the sugar, then I dropped the heat down to a simmer and let the mixture reduce down by half, which took about 45 minutes. Once the mixture had reduced, I took the pot off of the heat and let it cool down.

Once cool, I strained the zest out and moved the syrup to a container and parked in the ‘fridge.

Water

I used tap water run through a Pur filter. The water from my tap is good, but I wanted to make sure that no funky flavors made their way into my syrup.

Sugar

I used muscovado, or un-refined sugar, because I feel that it is very close to the common sugar that was used in the time period.[6] Muscovado sugar, unlike the hard cones of piloncillo sugar, is still soft and scoopable. This means that I can easily measure out the amount of sugar that I need without resorting to a box grater. Period inventories and shopping lists mention sugar loaves as well as references to “sugre blanche”, “white sugar” or “candy sugar”. Which indicates that there was a difference between the varieties of sugar. Furthermore, The Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook uses the word “sugar” in most of its recipes but calls for other varieties of sugar in some: “good white sugar”,[7] “lump white sugar”,[8] “white sugar”,[9] “pounded white sugar”,[10] “white manna of sugarcane”[11] and “Sulaimani sugar”[12]

Balducci Pegolotti, an early 14th century Floretine trader, listed various types of sugar in his hand book...five kinds of loaf sugar, in order of quality: mucchera, cafetino, bambillonia, musciatto and dommaschino. The colour and cost of the loaves varied widely. A sugar loaf looks a little like a bomb. [13]

 

The Arabic sources from medieval times describe raw sugar as red (sukkar ahmar) rather than brown. A cone-shaped loaf of sugar, also called an ubluj, typically had a white upper section and a red or dark lower point. Tricks...were clearly employed by the sugar merchants to hide the red part, and present the illusion of an entire white cone.[14]

We expect our sugar to be white, uniform crystals, readily available at a moment’s notice. And while the market is offering organic, “unrefined” sugar (turbinado, cane crystals, raw sugar) it is still processed and packaged to be easily scooped and measured.

Sugar itself was exported in solid conical loaves of various sizes, since a cone-shaped mould was in standard use wherever sugar was refined. We tend to think of sugar as a pure, white and unvarying substance, but the difficulty and expense of refining meant that until the mid 19th century there were many more grades of sugar than today, and that a batch or loaf of sugar was by no means always white - and if it looked white on the outside, it may have been brown within. [15]

Muscovado[16] is un-refined, crystallized, sugar-cane juice, loaded with molasses. This is not the same as modern brown sugar which is processed, refined, white-sugar mixed with molasses; processed so that it can be easily spooned out.

Lemons

I purchased a bag of small lemons from my local store. The bag did not list a country of origin, but each lemon had a sticker labeled: Sunkist - 4033 - USA. I will assume that they are the Mayer variety grown in Florida.[17] I am disappointed that Wegman’s did not list more information on the bag, like they do for grapes and other bagged produce. I do not know what variety of lemons would have been available in 13th Century Spain, but it certainly wasn’t the Meyer variety, which was “invented” in 1908 by cultivator Frank Meyer who bred them from Chinese varieties he had imported.[18] I do not know what varieties of lemons would have existed in the 13th Century, but it really doesn’t matter; I was only able to secure one variety of lemon and did not have the time to hunt down other varieties. But, what do we know about lemons from the time period of the Cookbook? Did the author only know of one variety of lemon? Were they new to the region? Was this recipe a novel one or would the readers have been familiar with lemons?

According to Dr. Dafna Langgut, of the Tel Aviv University, lemons, sour oranges, limes and pomelos were introduced to the West by Muslim traders via Sicily and the Iberian Peninsula in the 10th century AD. “It is clear that Muslim traders played a crucial role in the dispersal of cultivated citrus in Northern Africa and Southern Europe,” Dr. Langgut said. “It’s also evident because the common names of many of the citrus types were derived from Arabic, following an earlier diversification in Southeast Asia. Muslims controlled extensive territory and commerce routes from India to the Mediterranean.”[19]

In 13th century Arabo-Andalusian cookery, added sourness in dishes was achieved by the use of sour apples, citron or pomegranates, in addition to that of vinegar and verjuice. In Christian Europe, recipes with lemon juice, of Arabic origin, were called Limonia (or limonea in the Sent Sovi) and they are found in the Liber de Coquina, the Anonimo Toscano, the Anonimo Veneziano and the Modus. Recipes with pomegranate were called Romania (Liber de Coquina, Anonimo Toscano, Modus). The Libre del Coch also uses lemon and orange juice for sauces. Candied lemon was used in Arabo-Andalusian cookery, and was found again at the end of the 16th century in Lancelot de Casteau. The Viandier de Taillevent (printed edition) has a recipe for blancmange with pomegranates. .. Initially citrus fruits were valued and cultivated for their healing and medicinal properties, their intense fragrance, and their ornamental flowers. In the 4th century BC, the citron was recorded as being cultivated in Persia and the Middle East, while the first lemons appeared in Rome around the 1st century AD (the citron being known during ancient Roman times as the Persian Pomo). Although, it’s known that lemons were grown at Pompeii earlier, as they feature in one of its famous wall frescoes dating to 79 BC. However, the first of the truly sweet citrus – oranges, only arrived in Italy from China in the mid-17th century.[20]

It would appear that the Andalusians would had had three centuries to cultivate and experiment with lemons, and while the Meyers that I used might have been sweeter than what was commonly available, I think that they would have been recognized as lemons and used in the same fashion as the locally grown varieties.

Stove and pot.

As to the cooking hardware, I used my electric stove top, a one quart stainless steel pot and a silicone slotted spoon. In the 13th Century, cooks would have used a ceramic, copper, or lead pot to cook in and would have placed the pot into hot coals, over a fire or on a hearth next to a fire. I prefer to cook using electricity because I can control it completely. And I don’t like open fire in my house. For this beverage I don’t think there would be any difference between fire and electricity other than there would be no smoke, ash, or particulate matter in my beverage, where, depending on the ventilation, there might be if I did this outside on my grill. Also, I used the pot that I had; stainless steel. The metal is non-reactive, but so is ceramic. Copper ions can leach out into acidic solutions and cause copperiedus[21] over time and I do not have to explain why using lead cookware is a bad thing. The 13th Century cooks did not have access to silicone, but I used a high-heat spatula because it is non-reactive and much easier to clean than wood. This is an occasion where the use of modern cookware is preferred to period cookware: safer to use; easier to clean; and doesn’t add or take away anything good that period equipment would possess.

 

Procedure.

Before I started, I gathered my hardware and cleaned everything. Then I scrubbed the edible wax from the lemons using running water and a green scrubby-pad.[22] I used a modern “ribbon” style zester instead of a micro plane as I wanted to be able to strain out all of the zest. I could have used a knife, which is what would have been done before the invention of zesting tools, but the lemons were slippery and I did not want to slice the rinds and then scrape the pith from them: all I wanted was the zest.... And all of my fingers intact. I had also intended to save the zest and hope that it turned into candied lemon peel, which I could use for a future project. With the two pounds on lemon, I ended up with a bit under 1 cup of very loosely packed zest, which turned into about two tablespoons at the end of the project.

Once I had zested all of the lemons, I sliced them in half and juiced them by hand. I didn’t worry about the seeds as I was going to pour the juice through a stainer. The amount of juice I got from the lemons was just under one cup. I had planned for a full pint of juice to go with the full pound of sugar, but I decided to reduce my project’s scope: I felt that working with a cup of juice and of sugar was more manageable than running out to the store and buying another two pounds of lemons.

  

 

   

 I weighed out one half pound of sugar using a kitchen scale and added it to my pot, along with the zest and the juice, poured through a strainer, as mentioned before. I brought the mixture to a boil and held it there until the sugar dissolved. Then I reduced the heat to a quiet simmer and cooked the mixture until volume reduced down to a thin syrup. I used the “back of the spoon” test. This reduction took about 45 minutes, with me adjusting the heat and stirring often. I strained the syrup through a metal sieve, pouring clean water over the zest to get most of the syrup, and poured the syrup into a bottle to cool. I ended up with 350ml[23] of syrup which was a bit thinner than what I was working for, but I did not want to cook the syrup any further and risk burning the sugar. What I had would be fine for a one week project.

While the recipe does not call for the syrup to be diluted, as I quoted from Rowan Houndskeeper, other recipes in the same section of the text do call for dilution with water: “The drink is made with two ûqiyas of syrup to three ûqiyas of hot water”;[24] “The drink is an ûqiya with two of hot water”;[25] “Drink an ûqiya and a half of this with three of water”.[26] I know from experience with this recipe, and other syrups from the Cookbook that the hot syrup is rather harsh and that it would need to cool down, overnight, to let the sweet and sour flavors meld.

Observations:

The recipe does not indicate whether to drink this hot or cold. It is very refreshing when cold, but I did sample it while it was still hot. At temperature, the smell and taste of lemons is almost over powering; it reminded me of a liquid cough drop, which was telling as, when I first made this beverage, many years ago, I did have a scratchy throat, due to the weather. The hot syrup did ease my throat pain almost immediately. This should not be surprising as hot lemon tea and honey is still recommended for sore throats, and the 1918 edition of The Dispensatory of the United States of America does list a very similar recipe for “syrup of lemon”.[27]

“Lemon Peel, in thin slices or grated, 20 grammes; Alcohol (90 per cent.), a sufficient quantity; Lemon Juice, 500 millilitres; Refined Sugar, 760 grammes. Macerate the Lemon Peel in thirty millilitres of the Alcohol for seven days; press; filter; add sufficient of the Alcohol to produce forty millilitres. In the Lemon Juice, clarified by subsidence or filtration, dissolve the Refined Sugar by the aid of gentle heat; cool; add the forty millilitres of alcoholic liquid; mix.” Br.[28]

Due to the molasses in the sugar, lemonade made from this syrup is much darker than modern lemonade, which is made from refined sugar, it also, I feel, has a much richer flavor. I also feel that this syrup can be used to cover a cake or over chicken, as a marinade, although the cookbook does not mention this syrup as an ingredient for other recipes. Further experimentation is necessary.

Due to the nature of these syrups, the actual ratio of syrup to water are user dependant. This syrup is not like a modern lemonade mix, which is formulated to be pleasant to a majority of pallets. The strong lemon and molasses flavors can be over powering if not diluted enough. My recommendation is to use a little of the syrup and dilute with water, taste, and then add more syrup or water as needed. Perhaps start with one quarter teaspoon of syrup to a full cup of water.


   

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

American Friends of Tel Aviv University. “Citrus fruits were the clear status symbols of the nobility in the ancient Mediterranean.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 August 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170818092100.htm>.

Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook. Kitab al tabikh fi-l-Maghrib wa-l-Andalus fi `asr al-Muwahhidin, li-mu’allif majhul. The Book of Cooking in Maghreb and Andalus in the era of Almohads, by an unknown author: 13th Century Al-Andalus Cookbook. translation is by Charles Perry and others

Cooperson, Michael; Perry, Charles; Toorawa, Shawkat M. “Scents and Flavors: a Syrian Cookbook.” New York University Press. New York. 2017.

Davidson, Linda Kay; Gitlitz, David M. A Drizzle of Honey: The Life and Recipes of Spain’s Secret Jews. Macmillan. 2000

Did You Know It’s Period? - Modern Medieval Food. THL Rowan Houndskeeper. Stefan’s Florilegium: DYKIP-Food-art - 5/29/09

Galloway, J. H. The Sugar Cane Industry: An Historical Geography from Its Origins to 1914. Cambridge University Press. 2005

gardenhistorygirl. “The ‘juicy’ Tale of the Renaissance Citron.” Gardenhistorygirl, 27 Apr. 2022, https://www.gardenhistorygirl.co.uk/post/the-juicy-tale-of-the-renaissance-citron.

Goldstein, Darra. “The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets.” Oxford University Press, 2015.

McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. Simon and Schuster, 2007.

The Medical Formulary, or Aqrabadhin of Al-kindi. Translated with a study of its materia medica by Martin Levey. University of Wisconsin Press. Madison, WI. 1966.

Meri, Josef W. “Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, Volume 1” Psychology Press, 2006

Meyer, F. G.; Trueblood, E.E.; Heller ,J. L. , editors. The Great Herbal of Leonard Fuchs. 1542 edition. Stanford University Press, Palo Alto. CA. 1999.

“Muscovado, N.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, September 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1357600444.

“Oldcook : Fruits in Medieval Europe.” Oldcook, https://www.oldcook.com/en/medieval-fruit. Accessed 5 May 2025.

Richardson, Tim. Sweets: A History of Candy. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2008

Roberts, Teresa. Did You Know It’s Period? Modern Medieval Food by HL Rowan Houndskeeper. Stephen’s Flogiorun. 2008

Ruas, Marie-Pierre, et al. “Citrus Fruit in Historical France: Written Sources, Iconographic and Plant Remains”. AGRUMED: Archaeology and History of Citrus Fruit in the Mediterranean, edited by Véronique Zech-Matterne and Girolamo Fiorentino, Publications du Centre Jean Bérard, 2017, https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pcjb.2243.

Sato, Tsugitaka. Sugar in the Social Life of Medieval Islam. Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands 2014

ScienceDaily. “Citrus Fruits Were the Clear Status Symbols of the Nobility in the Ancient Mediterranean.” ScienceDaily, 18 Aug. 2017, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170818092100.htm.

Serjeant, R. B.; Bidwell, R. L. Arabian Studies. Cambridge University Press. 2005

Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne. History of Food. Translated from the French bu Anthea Bell. Barnes & Noble Books. 1992.

University of Florida. “Meyer Lemon – Gardening Solutions.” UF/IFAS Center for Land Use Efficiency, https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/edibles/fruits/meyer-lemon/. Accessed 6 May 2025.

Vaughan, J. G.; Geissler, C. The New Oxford Book of Food Plants. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 1997.

Weiss Adamson, Melitta. Food in Medieval Times. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004.

Wood, George Bacon; Bache, Franklin; Remington, Joseph Price; Sadtler, Samuel Philip. The Dispensatory of the United States of America. Grigg & Elliot. Philadelphia. 1918.

Zaouali, Lilia. “Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World: A Concise History with 174 Recipes” Univ of California Press, Sep 14, 2009

 

[1] Andalusian Cookbook, p18
[2] Perry and Serjeant/Bidwell, respectively
[3] The Medical Formulary, or Aqrabadhin of Al-kindi, p25
[4] Using a modern zesting tool, I did not want to risk using a knife.
[5] At least it is here on planet Earth.
[6] 13th century Spain.
[7] Recipe for Zrbja
[8] Making of Elegant Isfunja
[9] Recipe for Jullbiyya, a Dish with Julep
[10] White Fldhaja With Milk
[11] Syrup of Sandalwood
[12] Another Like It, a Summer Dish that Cools the Body
[13] Richardson, p101-2
[14] Sato, p69
[15] Richardson, p101
[16] Muscovado is derived from a corruption of Portuguese “açúcar mascavado” (unrefined sugar) or the Spanish “mascabado” - (sugar) of lowest quality: EOD.
[17] Based on Sunkist’s website, and from reports of bad harvests in Texas and California.
[18] University of Florida
[19] ScienceDaily, quoting Dafna Langgut. The Citrus Route Revealed: From Southeast Asia into the Mediterranean. HortScience, 2017; 52 (6): 814 DOI: 10.21273/HORTSCI11023-16
[20] GardenhistoryGirl
[21] Copper toxicity
[22] Also not found in period, but our 13th Century cooks didn’t have to deal with edible wax and fruit stickers.
[23] Yes, I’m throwing in a metric measurement. I took the picture with the metric gauge facing me.
[24] p13,The Little Drink of Roots: Way of Making It
[25] p13, Syrup of Aloe Wood: Way of Making It
[26] p16, Syrup of Dried Roses
[27] Only mixed with alcohol.
[28] p147

Not All Sugar Is Created Equal 

or Caleb has writer's block on the article he needs to finish so he wrote this, instead.

by Caleb Reynolds

In our modern middle ages, we attempt to create dishes and treats from ancient cook books. We are often stymied by the lack of detailed steps of how to make a thing, and there certainly were no temperatures listed to help us with our modern ovens. We also have to figure out what is the closest thing available, today, to what our ancestors would have had. Is a modern chicken the same as one from the 14th century? Are our eggs the same size? What can I use from my local supermarket to substitute for garum? Even simple sugar can be far more complicated that one can imagine. [1]

We are so used to going to the aforesaid supermarket and buying a pound of 99.99% pure sucrose sugar; bleached whiter than white with each grain separate and scoopable. All for the low, low cost of $5. Or brown sugar by the bag. Even "raw" sugar by the box. As much as we want, anytime of the year. But, was this what was available to our medieval counterparts? 

Well... Yes and no. Modern, mass-produced sugar is well above and beyond the technological means of medieval Europe and North Africa. Sugar makers use massive machinery to turn raw sugar cane into a chemically pure product in numbers that would be un-imaginable to anyone living before 1900. Even brown sugar is different: it's pure sucrose blended with a precise ratio of molasses, then dried and packaged so that it is still scoopable. Compare that with Mexican piloncillo sugar packaged in hard blocks or cones that have to be grated or chopped up before it can be used. French muscovado is also a raw, "brown" sugar, but processed not in hard, compacted cones, but in a soft format that one can stick a spoon into without much effort. Both piloncillo and muscovado sugar are considered "exotic" by today's standard because it is barely processed. Our perception of sugar is that bright white crystals is the norm; anything else is weird. 

So, what was available to the Medieval chef? Period inventories and shopping lists mention sugar loaves as well as references to “sugre blanche”, “white sugar” or “candy sugar”. Which indicates that there was a difference between the varieties of sugar. Furthermore, many cookbooks use the word “sugar” in most recipes but calls for other varieties of sugar in some: “good white sugar” “lump white sugar”, “white sugar” “pounded white sugar”, “white manna of sugarcane” and “Sulaimani sugar”. [2]

Balducci Pegolotti, an early 14th century Floretine trader, listed various types of sugar in his handbook; “five kinds of loaf sugar, in order of quality: mucchera, cafetino, bambillonia, musciatto and dommaschino. The color and cost of the loaves varied widely. A sugar loaf looks a little like a bomb.” [3]

"The Arabic sources from medieval times describe raw sugar as red (sukkar ahmar) rather than brown. A cone-shaped loaf of sugar, also called an ubluj, typically had a white upper section and a red or dark lower point. Tricks...were clearly employed by the sugar merchants to hide the red part, and present the illusion of an entire white cone." [4]

"Sugar itself was exported in solid conical loaves of various sizes, since a cone-shaped mould was in standard use wherever sugar was refined. We tend to think of sugar as a pure, white and unvarying substance, but the difficulty and expense of refining meant that until the mid 19th century there were many more grades of sugar than today, and that a batch or loaf of sugar was by no means always white - and if it looked white on the outside, it may have been brown within." [5]

The 15th century "Liber cure Cocorum" lists various types of sugar in its pages. Take the recipe for frumenty:

"Color it with saffron and salt it well,

"And serve it forth, Sir, at the meal;

"With sugar candy, you may sweeten it,

"If it is served in [a] great lord’s house.

"Take black sugar for meaner men;" [6]

The cost of sugar varied by the quality. In January 1601, during the building of Gawthorope Hall, in Lancaster, the housekeeper paid 22d [7] for 1 pound of sugar, but paid 2s 8d [8] for 1/2 pound of white sugar. [9] For a marriage feast, also at Gawthorope Hall, in 1530, two loaves of sugar weighing 16 pounds were purchased for 9s 9d. [10] In a letter from Sir Edward Wootton to Lord Cobham, dated Calais, March 6th, 1546, states that Sir Edward had “purchased 25 sugar loaves at 6s a loaf, which is 8d a pound,” [11] although the source does not mention where the sugar was purchased: England; France; Spain? A pound of securades sugar, white, refined sugar, in 1433 London, cost 2s 8d. [12]

"“I find no loaf of sugar in 1481 [in written texts]. Two loaves are then bought in London each of 7# weight. In 1529 2 loaves at 7 1/4 # each. In 1527 3 loaves are nearly 7# 5oz each. In 1530 there are loaves of 8# and in 1533 on 6 1/2#.... Sugar loaves then up to 1533 generally weighed about 7#. Afterwards they are manufactured into about 11#, and finally the weight is raised to nearly 16#. The increase in the weight indicates, I think, an improvement in the process of manufacture.... The average price of sugar by the pound being 5 1/4d. In 1520 the price [increases] to 6d. Sugar plate [used to make fondant] ... in 1406 it is 1S 2d the pound; in 1467, 1s 4d; in 1469, 1482, and 1488, 1s [per pound].”" [13]

“Between 1478 and 1482, the price of sugar [in London] dropped dramatically from a mode price of 20d per pound to 12d per pound; and then dropped again to around 7d per pound c.1495. Sugar prices were dropping throughout Europe in these years as a result of the new Portuguese navigation and subsequent colonial developments, which included a large-scale development of sugar production and trade in and from the new territories.” [14] Essex has long been the hub of English sugar refining, importing sugar cane and refining it on English soil. [15]

It is clear that sugar was an affordable luxury for some people of England. “The wages of sundry workmen were first fixed by act of parliament 25th Edward III, 1350. [Harvest-men were paid per day] 1350, 1d; 1460 2d; 1568 4d. [16] While Jane Hodgkinson, the housekeeper of Gawthorope Hall, could spend the equivalent several week’s wages on sugar in Lancaster, for the Hall, [17] it is unlikely that Jane would have been able to afford the sugar for herself. Hall records show that Jane and three other female servants were paid, collectively, 17s, 6d per quarter, or an average of 52.5 pence per quarter or just over 2d, per person, per day. As opposed to the 10 male servants who were paid, collectively, £3, 18s, 4d. per quarter, or 940d per quarter or just over 7d per person a day. [18]

Please keep in mind that Europeans thought of sugar as a spice: an expensive luxury that was imported from far off lands. If you could afford sugar, you bought the quality, and color, that you could afford. Today, raw muscovado sugar actually costs three times what ultra refined white sugar goes for, but this is only because of the industry and machinery used in today's sugar refineries. The very wealthy would buy the finest, whitest sugar to show off their wealth. The middle class would buy the best they could afford and still show off their station merely by having sugar in any quantity. White sugar became an affordable luxury for the poor only in the 19th century, and we would not consider what was sold then to be white sugar. We would look at it and think that it was more like "Sugar In The Raw" processed turbinado sugar than our cheap but pure sugar. 

Why is this important? Well, go on the interwebs and look for a breakdown of what various kinds of sugar can do for the end result of a cookie. It does make a difference in the end product and, depending on who the dish is meant for, changing the sugar will change the dish. Like that recipe from  "Liber cure Cocorum": Candy sugar for a Lord, black sugar for "meaner" men. To my mind, we have some options for medieval sugar. Muscovado or piloncillo for "cheap" sugar. Both are loaded with molasses and are rich with flavor. Turbinado sugar for the mid-range sugar. Still some molasses but mostly sucrose crystals. 

On the high end of the scale, I use organic, pure cane sugar that is unbleached and granulated. It still has some color to it, but it can't be called "brown". Using the organic sugar ensured that no bleaching agents were used to make the sugar completely white, as well as no anti-clumping agents were added. Do not mistake it for evaporated cane juice, which still has a lot of molasses in it: more than turbinado but less than muscovado or piloncillo. You can also use crystal sugar, which is extremely refined sugar that is allowed to grow into large crystals. Rock candy is crystal sugar that is normally grown on sticks. It can also be purchased by the pound so that it can be ground into appropriate size grains needed for any baking project. You can turn all sugar in to crystal sugar, but it takes a while and then you would have to grind the big crystals into the powder size you wish. Beet sugar shouldn't be used for an A&S project: Sugar beets were developed in the 19th century. I don't think it would matter for a dish at feast; I don't think anyone would notice the difference if you used it in a cake or a cookie. 

Why should this matter? Well, we should be striving to create accurate projects. And, as I said earlier, different types of sugar can affect the final product. It is also of interest of how expensive a project would be in period. So, Digby has a recipe in his book for Doctor Harvey's Pleasant Water-Cider [19] that calls for five pounds of brown sugar. Poking about I see that Muscovado sugar was imported into London, from the Caribbean, at a cost of 2S [20] per hundred-weight. [21] A hundred-weight was 8 stone, or 112 pounds. [22] The same sugar was sold retail at an average of 17d per pound around the year Digby published his book. [23] Doctor's Harvey's cider would require 85 pence, or 7 shillings and one pence worth of brown sugar. Which is between $85 and $1118 in today's money, depending on how you do the calculations [24]. Somewhat pricey, even in the perspective of a full bushel of apples required to make this cider. We can conclude that this recipe was probably not intended for the average working Joe or Jane. By selecting the correct type of sugar, we can better simulate what our project would have been like to the people who would have enjoyed it, centuries ago. 

[1] Not to be confused with simple sugar.

[2] Various sources.

[3] Richardson, p101-2

[4] Sato, p69

[5] Richardson, p101

[6] Renfrow’s translation, recipe 56

[7] 22 pence or pennies.

[8] 2 shillings, 8 pence, or 32 pence

[9] Remains, p1001

[10] Harland, 1029

[11] Harland, 1029

[12] Rogers, p678

[13] Rogers, p676-7

[14] Threlfall-Holmes p95, Hicks and Hicks, 152, almost verbatim.

[15] Constable. p496

[16] Remains, 1074

[17] Harland, 1001

[18] Harland, p168. The source mentions that the male servants included the Hall steward and bailiff, who would have been paid more than the farm laborers, housekeepers and carters. My source does not list what other compensation was added, food, clothing, etc. Harland does list Christmas presents given to the servants, which were nice bonuses at the end of the year, elsewhere in his book.

[19] p104

[20] 24d

[21] Governance

[22] No, I don't know why it's called a hundred weight. Feel free to figure it our on your own.

[23] Boulton, p459

[24] see https://www.measuringworth.com/ for more information.

Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook. Kitab al tabikh fi-l-Maghrib wa-l-Andalus fi `asr al-Muwahhidin, li-mu’allif majhul. The Book of Cooking in Maghreb and Andalus in the era of Almohads, by an unknown author: 13th Century Al-Andalus Cookbook. translation is by Charles Perry and others

Ashtor, Eliyahu. Levant Trade in the Later Middle Ages. Princeton University Press, 1983.

Boulton, Jeremy. “Food Prices and the Standard of Living in London in the ‘Century of Revolution’, 1580-1700.” The Economic History Review, vol. 53, no. 3, 2000, pp. 455–92. 

Constable, William Page. The Victoria History of the County of Essex, Volume 2. Herbert Arthur Doubleday. 1907. 

Digby K, The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digbie Kt. Opened: Whereby Is Discovered Several Ways for Making of Metheglin, Sider, Cherry-Wine, &c.: Together with Excellent Directions for Cookery As Also for Preserving, Conserving, Candying, &c. Published by His Son’s Consent (1669)

Edel, Matthew. “The Brazilian Sugar Cycle of the Seventeenth Century and the Rise of West Indian Competition.” Caribbean Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, 1969, pp. 24–44. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25612106. Accessed 13 May 2024.

Epstein, Steven A. Wage Labor and Guilds in Medieval Europe. UNC Press Books, 1991.

Galloway, J. H. The Sugar Cane Industry: An Historical Geography from Its Origins to 1914. Cambridge University Press. 2005

Governance, value-added and rents in plantation slavery-based value-chains - Scientific Figure on ResearchGate. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-price-of-refined-sugar-in-Amsterdam-and-London-1650-1820-grams-Ag-kg-sugar_fig3_349693525 [accessed 13 May, 2024]

Hanham, Alison. The Celys and Their World: An English Merchant Family of the Fifteenth Century. Cambridge University Press, 2002.  

Harland, John. The House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworths of Gawthorpe Hall in the County of Lancaster at Smithils and Gawthorpe: From September 1582 to October 1621. 1856.

Harrison, William. Elizabethan England by William Harrison. Walter Scott, www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32593. 

Harrison, William, and Georges Edelen. The Description of England: The Classic Contemporary Account of Tudor Social Life. Courier Corporation, 1994.

Hicks, Michael A., and Michael Hicks. Revolution and Consumption in Late Medieval England. Boydell & Brewer, 2001.

Remains, Historical and Literary, Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester. Vol. 46, Chetham Society, 1844.

Renfrow, Cindy. Liber cure Cocorum. A Modern English Translation with Notes, Based on Richard Morris’ transcription of 1862. www.pbm.com/~lindahl/lcc/parallel.html

Richardson, Tim. Sweets: A History of Candy. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2008

Rogers, James Edwin Thorold. A History of Agriculture and Prices in England: (1259-1792). 1887.

Sato, Tsugitaka. Sugar in the Social Life of Medieval Islam. Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands 2014

Threlfall-Holmes, Miranda. Monks and Markets: Durham Cathedral Priory 1460-1520. Oxford University Press on Demand, 2005.

Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne. History of Food, Barnes & Noble Books, New York. 1998. Translated by Anthea Bell.

A Cure for the Plague.

 Aqua Alexiteria

In this brief paper I will discuss a recipe that was published in Sir Charles Scarborough's 1665's Practical Method as Used for the Cure of the Plague in London. This will be an informal paper, cribbed from notes I have gathered over the years about cordials, and written over the course of a week. And while it will be presented as a plague paper for Lady Mary's, I do not intend this to be a full fledged research paper, but more for the entertainment of any readers. While Scarborough's book was published outside of the SCA time period, I feel that it is a good fit for these trying times of our modern plague. I will be discussing Aqua Alexiteria, a "cure" for plague. 

"In the giving this Medicine, you are to consider the Age and Strength of the Patient; the Dose is from Ten Grains, or half a Scruple, to half a Dram, or a Dram, as you see Occasion. Take it dissolved in Sack, White Port, or some other convenient Vehicle; as the Aqua Alexiteria, or some such like. When the Sick takes it for the Plague, or any malignant Fever, let them be in their naked Bed, that they may Sweat well upon it, and so continue for Five or Six Hours; after which they will lie in a kind of breathing Sweat, at which Time moisten their Mouth with the Juice of an Orange, or some other pleasant Cordial, made gratefully Acid, with some few Drops of Oils of Sulphur, Vitriol and Salt, mixed equally alike together."

I will not be making this cordial, just discussing the recipe. First of all, gathering all of the ingredients would be cost prohibitive. Secondly, the amount of time it would would take to prepare, steep, and distill this cordial might end up being a months long project. In addition, some of the ingredients are linked to some dangerous medical problems.

To begin with, allow me to define what a cordial is. A cordial is a flavored alcoholic beverage, normally wine, that has been distilled, mostly for medicinal purposes. The majority of cordial recipes date to the end of the SCA period but there are enough recipes that we can conclude that they were well known. Some modern cordials, such as Benedictine and Frangelico, date back to the 16th and 17th Century. The theory of distilling itself dates back to the 4th Century BCE when Aristotle wrote Meteorology in which he details the specifics of the process.

The earliest European records of flavored alcohols were written by a Spanish alchemist by the name of Arnold de Vila Nova. In 1240 he wrote the Boke of Wine in which he details methods for flavoring alcohol and proposed the restorative and life giving properties of these beverages. One of Arnold’s students, Raymond Lully, proclaimed that their production was “a divinely inspired gift from Heaven.” Legal documents dating to 1411 mention the distillation of wine into brandy in the Armagnac region of France. Most of the surviving recipes offer cordials for medicinal use rather than recreational use, and most of these recipes are listed along side of those for liniments, surfeits, poultices, and other medicinal tonics. 

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a cordial with regard to medicine, food or beverage, as “any invigorating and stimulating preparation that is intended for a medicinal purpose.” Particularly in regards to one’s health, especially for one’s heart: cordial derives from the Latin for heart: cor. Spirits, distillations of alcoholic beverages (wine and ale) were considered to be good for one’s health all on their own. Whiskey (or whisky) is derived from the Gaelic uisge beatha, or “water of life”: aqua vitae, in Latin. Medieval doctors and alchemists claimed that it could: preserve youth; improve memory; treat diseases of the brain, nerves and joints; revive the heart; calm toothache; cure blindness, speech defects and paralysis and even protect against the plague. (Pssst! It can't.) By adding additional ingredients, the spirit of alcohol would enhance the medicinal properties of those ingredients, like a super hero team up.

With that in mind, here is Scarborough's Aqua Alexiteria.

R Mithridate, Nine Ounces; Virginia Snake-Root, an Ounce; Contrayerva, Zedoary, Winters-Bark, Cinnamon, Bay-berries, Six Drams; Mace, Cloves, Nutmegs, Cardamoms, Juniper-Berries, Jamaica Pepper, Ginger, of each Three Drams; Saffron, Cochineel, Limon-Peels, Orange-Peels, of each Two Drams; Rue, Rosemary, Bawin, Mint, Peniroyal, Sage, Savory, Mother of Thyme, and Lavender-Flowers, Angelica, of each a good Pugil; Spirit of Wine Three Pints; bruise what are to be bruised, and digest all together for a Fortnight, then put thereto White Wine Two Quarts; Distil all in an Alembick, with a Refrigeratory, and draw off Three Pints of Spirit, which reserve; then change the Receiver, and draw off a Quart more, which with treble refined Sugar, make into a Syrup, to which put thereunto the first distilled Spirit, and let them stand until they are clear. 

This Water may be given from half a Spoonful, to Two Spoonfuls, upon any emergent Occasion: As, in the Morning, a little before Dinner, and at Night going to Bed.

This is such shopping list that I can only conclude that if an apothecary were to make this, they would charge thousands of dollars, in modern money, per dose, like epinephrine. Sir Hugh Plat’s recipe “How to make the ordinarie spirit of wine, that is solde for five shillings & a noble, a pinte” shows how costly these beverages were. A noble was the first gold coin minted in Medieval England and was worth 80 pence. Or 6 shillings and 8 pence. So, Plat's cordial could be sold for 11 shillings and 8 pence per pint. According to MeasuringWorth.com, this would be worth between $142 and $2400 in 2018 dollars, depending on the method of calculation. Cordials were not cheap. In London, in 1609, the year Plat published this particular recipe book, a barrel, 36 gallons, of the best ale was sold for 3 shillings and 8 pence, and a barrel of the best beer was sold for 4 shillings. This works out to 3 to 3.5 pennies per gallon. Cordials were too expensive to be consumed as a social beverage.

Ingredients:

R Mithridate, or Royal Mithridate. This is a all purpose remedy made up of 70 ingredients. It was reported to have been concocted by Mithridates VI in the 1st century BC. 

"Mithridate takes its name from its inventor, Mithridates VI, King of Pontus (134 to 63 BC) who is said to have so fortified his body against poisons with antidotes and preservatives, that when he tried to kill himself, he could not find any poison that would have an effect, and, according to some legends, had to ask a soldier to run him through with a sword. The recipe for the reputed antidote was found in his cabinet, written with his own hand, and was carried to Rome by Pompey. It was translated into Latin by Pompey's freedman Lenaeus, and later improved upon by Nero's physician Andromachus and Marcus Aurelius's physician Galen. It likely underwent considerable alterations since the time of Mithridates."

In the Middle Ages, and into the Reneance, mithridate was used as a cure-all for all sorts of plauge, and was proscribed, in London, up the 18th century. According to Simon Kellwaye (1593), one should "take a great Onyon, make a hole in the myddle of him, then fill the place with Mitridat or Triacle, and some leaues of Rue".

Aulus Cornelius Celsus details one version of the antidote in De Medicina (ca. AD 30). A recent translation is as follows: "But the most famous antidote is that of Mithridates, which that king is said to have taken daily and by it to have rendered his body safe against danger from poison". It contained:

costmary, 1–66 grams

sweet flag, 20 grams

hypericum, 8 grams

Natural gum, 8 grams

sagapenum,[12] 8 grams

acacia juice, 8 grams

Illyrian iris (probably I. germanica),[13] 8 grams

cardamom, 8 grams

anise, 12 grams

Gallic nard (Valeriana italica),[14] 16 grams

gentian root, 16 grams

dried rose leaves, 16 grams

poppy-tears (Papaver rhoeas, a wild poppy with low opiate content),[15] 17 grams

parsley, 17 grams

casia, 20–66 grams

saxifrage, 20–66 grams

darnel, 20–66 grams

long pepper, 20–66 grams

storax, 21 grams

castoreum, 24 grams

frankincense, 24 grams

hypocistis juice,[16] 24 grams

myrrh, 24 grams

opopanax, 24 grams

malabathrum leaves, 24 grams

flower of round rush, 24–66 grams

turpentine-resin, 24–66 grams

galbanum, 24–66 grams

Cretan carrot seeds, 24–66 grams

nard, 25 grams

opobalsam, 25 grams

shepherd's purse, 25 grams

rhubarb root, 28 grams

saffron, 29 grams

ginger, 29 grams

cinnamon, 29 grams

The ingredients are then "pounded and taken up in honey. Against poisoning, a piece the size of an almond is given in wine. In other affections an amount corresponding in size to an Egyptian bean is sufficient." Of these ingredients, Illyrian iris, darnel, and rhubarb were not commonly found in other versions of the antidote. However, Celsus' formulation, written 100 years after the death of Mithridates, was one of the first published. Galen called the antidote "theriac" and presented versions by Aelius (used by Julius Caesar), Andromachus (physician to Nero), Antipater, Nicostratus, and Damocratis. The Andromachus formulation closely resembles that of Celsus.

The manufacture of antidotes called mithridate or theriac (English "treacle") continued into the nineteenth century. Ephraim Chambers, in his 1728 Cyclopaedia, says "Mithridate is one of the capital Medicines in the Apothecaries Shops, being composed of a vast Number of Drugs, as Opium, Myrrh, Agaric, Saffron, Ginger, Cinnamon, Spikenard, Frankincense, Castor, Pepper, Gentian, &c". It is accounted a Cordial, Opiate, Sudorific, and Alexipharmic". Petrus Andreas Matthiolus considered it more effectual against poisons than Venice treacle, and easier to make. Late versions of the antidote incorporated dried blood or the dried flesh of lizards or vipers or Malabathrum.

Virginia Snake-Root.  Found in eastern USA, but was imported from the Virginia Colony. It has been shown to stimulate poor appetizes, reduce fever, and has some use in neutralizing snake venom. In large doses it can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and miscarriages. 

Contrayerva, is a rhizome from Central and South America, used as a stimulant, and sweat enhancer, and as a snake bite cure. It can also cause arrhythmia in the heart and increase the chance of infant death if taken by breast-feeding women. 

Zedoary, a relative of turmeric, also found in India.  Used to treat indigestion, gas, and bloating.

Winters-Bark, Drimys winteri or canelo. Native to Argentina and Chile. Brought to England by Sir Francis Drake in 1579. Loaded with Vitamin C and was used as a remedy for Scurvy. Also used for toothaches and colic in babies. 

Cinnamon, no variety is mentioned. Was used for pretty much as a cure-all for infections and colds, even though it does not have much provable medicinal benefits. 

Bay-berries, Also known as  Myrica, candleberry, sweet gale, and wax-myrtle. Native to South America. Used as a flavoring for beer and other alcoholic beverages, much as is hops. Used in traditional medicine for high blood pressure, ulcers, and diarrhea. Modern research shows that there is no evidence for any medicinal benefits. 

Mace, from the far east. Used as a spice and to treat gum inflammation and bleeding.

Cloves, varieties are found from North Africa, through out the Middle East, all the way to India and China. Used as a spice for food and beverage, as well as a numbing agent. Fairly effective as a tooth plaque remover and is still used in natural cough drops.

Nutmeg, from the Spice Islands of Indonesia. In Scarborough's time, Nutmeg was thought that it could cure everything. It couldn't, but it tastes good.

Cardamom, found in the Middle East. Was recommended for heartburn, IBS, and other digestive issues. Was also used as a relief for sore throats. No mention as to which variety of Cardamom: black, green or white. White cardamom is found in China and doesn't have much of a taste, but imparts a wonderful aroma to dishes and to incense. I would assume that Scarborough would have used black or green cardamom.

Juniper-Berries, found through out Northern Europe. Was used to treat joint inflammation, kidney stones, and heartburn.

Jamaica Pepper. Known today as Allspice. Like nutmeg, was claimed to cure everything. It does have some minor effect as an antiseptic, due to its high levels of eugenol. 

Ginger, from the far east, but was imported to Europe from the time of the Ancient Greeks. Actually useful for nausea and morning sickness, reducing painful menstrual pain, and joint pain, both through ingestion and by external application. 

Saffron, from North Africa, Middle East, and Southern Spain. Used to treat depression, PMS, and asthma. 

Cochineel, or Cochineal. An insect best known as a source for carmine dye, from Central and South America. I was unable to find any medicinal benefits for Cochineal. Large doses in modern foods have been shown to cause allergies ranging from mild cases of hives to atrial fibrillation and anaphylactic shock. I don't know why this was included since I could find no period sources describing any health benefits. It would have dyed the mother liquid red, but I am unsure if the end product would have any trace of the red dye, after the distillation process.

Lemon and Orange peel. I think these were added to the mix to provide better flavor. Lemon and Orange oils do distill well.  No mention is given as to these are fresh or dried peels. Or if the pith should be removed or not. I would hazard to guess that it these are being added strictly to add flavor, than the piths would be removed to reduce the bitterness. Although, there are other bitter ingredients in this potion. 

Rue. Found all over Europe and Asia. One of the bitter herbs mentioned in Exodus. Was used for a multitude of reasons: heart palpations, breathing issues, headache, arthritis, cramps, fever, intestinal worms, bad breath, and to induce miscarriages. Large doses can lead to stomach, kidney, and liver damage. 

Rosemary. Another common herb that was given a multiple of medicinal properties: heartburn, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, memory loss, sunburn treatment, hair loss, toothache, eczema, muscle aches. As well as a wound cleaner and a poison antidote. It tastes nice.

Bawin. Looking at the original text, I do not think the writer actually wrote B A W I N, since bawin isn't listed anywhere else in the period's herbals: only in this book. Nor is it to be found in herbals from later centuries. I think that the printer actually used the word Bawm and the font used made it look like Bawin.  

The 19th century A Dictionary of English Plant-names: Part 1, does have a listing for "Bawme (or Bawm), which is listed as Melissa officianlis. Bawm was formerly in great repute in Cumb. as a medicinal plant and Bawm-tea is still a cottager's antidote to feverish colds." Melissa officinalis is known by it's modern, English name, lemon balm, which is native to central Europe and the Mediterranean basin. Lemon balm also has some effect in treating upset stomachs, insomnia, and colic. 

Mint. Found almost everywhere. Used for heartburn, toothache, bad breath, bleeding gums, morning sickness, sore throats, coughs, and peppermint oil has been used, in period, for muscle and joint pain. And was used in Classical Roman and Greek times for dry and itchy skin. Scarborough does not say what type of mint to use, though.

Peniroyal, or pennyroyal, a common European herb. Was used to regulate mensural cycles, treat mouth sores, gout, insect bites, and as an insect repellent. Pennyroyal was also used to induce abortions, although the doses required can cause permanent kidney and liver damage. 

Sage, another common herb. Was used for a laundry list of treatments: digestive problems, including loss of appetite, flatulence, stomach pain, gout, diarrhea, bloating, heartburn, excess sweating, sore throats, cold sores, gum disease, clogged nasal passages, depression, driving off demons, reducing menstrual pain, hot flashes, and to help with milk flow while breast feeding. The inhalation of burning sage smoke is still used as a treatment for asthma in places where modern inhalers, nebulizers, and medications are not available.

Savory, another common herb. Used for sore throats, mouth sores, insect bites, and has been shown to slow blood clotting and was used in in bleeding to allow more of the "bad humors" to escape the body.

Mother of Thyme, or common thyme, yet another common herb. Was used as a cough remedy, fever, and in reducing lung mucus in sick people. Was used in tooth cleaning recipes, as it contains Thymol which is an anti bacterial agent that is effective against gingivitis. It was also used as a anti-fungal agent for stinky feet. 

Lavender-Flowers. Used for treatment of migraines, joint pains, hair loss, and as a insect repellant.

Angelica, native to northern Europe, Asia, and North America. Used to stop bleeding, treat heartburn, running noses, insomnia, joint pain, skin rashes, and was generally thought of as a cure for the Black Death in and of itself. 

Now, please take most of these claims with a hug grain of salt as modern medicine has not gathered sufficient evidence of the medical benefits that people have claimed. Although, some of these claims do bare out as true in double-blind trials. Peppermint is still the number one flavoring in toothpaste because of the benefits of peppermint oil on the gums and in reducing bad breath. Mace, cloves, and cardamom can still be found in cough drops as they are effective in reducing scratchy throats and dry coughs. 

Looking through this list of ingredients, about half of them were thought to be able to reduce fever and/or inflammation. Others were seen as treatments of heartburn and other digestive problems. While not a panacea for the plague, it is possible that this concoction could ease some minor aches and pains. As well as making one's dying breath minty fresh.

Spirit of wine. This would be brandy.

White wine. Early in the text, Scarborough waxes on about French wine: "The Wines of Provence and Languedoc, are most commonly Red, and not inferior to Burgundy; but the most excellent Wines for Strength and Flavour, are the Red and White St. Laurence, a Town between Toulon and Nice; and the Frontiniac of Vic, Mirabel, and Frontiniac, Three Towns near the Sea, in Languedoc, where this Wine is made." Other text discussing distilling wine into brandy call for the best wine. 

So, our ingredient list would be:

9 ounces of: 

Royal Mithridate.

1 ounce of: 

Virginia Snakeroot.

6 drams (0.782 ounce) of: (apothecaries dram)

Contrayerva

Zedoary

Winters-Bark

Cinnamon

Bay-berries

3 drams (0.42 ounce) of:

Mace

Cloves

Nutmeg

Cardamom

Juniper Berries

Allspice

Ginger

2 drams (0.28 ounce) of:

Saffron threads

Cochineel shells

Lemon Peel

Orange Peel

A heavy pinch of:

Rue

Rosemary

Lemon balm

Mint

Pennyroyal

Sage

Savory

Thyme

Lavender flowers

Angelica flowers

Three pints of:

Brandy

Two quarts of:

White wine

I will assume that all of the ingredients would be dried: The spices from the other side of the planet would most certainly be dried to survive the long travel time. The herbs from Scarborough's figurative back yard would most likely also be dried so that they would be available year round. Also, no mention is made of using fresh ingredients, which is often the case in cordial recipes, if fresh herbs are required. 

Clearly, this would be an expensive cordial, whether it worked or not. Mint and sage might have been a penny for a year's supply, but spices from the far East and the New World would not be cheap. In 1617 prices were set for nutmeg in India; English traders could purchase 1 pound of nutmeg for 4d (4 Pennies) and could sell them in London for 70 to 90 Shillings a pound (840 to 1080 Pennies or 3.5 to 4.5 Pounds). At a time when the average London laborer was making 20 to 30 Pennies a week, this was a luxury item. The cost for just the amount of nutmeg used, in this potion, would be around 24 pennies, or a week's salary for an average laborer. This "cure" clearly was intended for the richest people of London. 

Method redaction:

Take all of the ingredients and prepare them as needed. "Bruse what are to be brusied" implies that leaves are not ground into powder, but just bruised to open them up for extraction. No mention is given to if the harder spices, the cinnamon and nutmeg, were ground into powder. Personally, I feel that since Scarborough did not mention grinding the ingredients into a powder, he did not intend them to be ground into a power. Two reasons: 1) The goal was to extract the oils of the ingredients, it was not to integrate them into a sauce. 2) From experience with cordials, the larger the pieces, the easier it is to clean, and the less time it takes for the sediment to settle. 

So, I would recommend bruising the leaves and flowers and lightly tapping the spices with a ball-peen hammer, just to slightly crush them and open them up. Any kind of hammer could be used, but I prefer using a ball-peen hammer. 

All of the ingredients need to be put into a container and then three pints of brandy added. Spirit of wine is brandy, not vodka. The flavors are very different. Let them soak in the brandy for two weeks. The brandy will extract alcohol and water soluble oils and flavors. After the two weeks, pour the brandy and herbs and spices into a still and add two quarts of white wine. The herbs and spices must be added to the still so that they can be cooked while the alcohol is distilled. Skipping this step will mean that the final beverage will not be all that it can be. This is actually an issue that mock-cordials have. Soaking herbs and spices in a neutral spirit, such as vodka, then straining the particulate matter out, cannot compare with cooking the oils, flavors, ethers, and other things, and letting those particulates be distilled along with the alcohol. The taste differences between an actual distilled cordial and herbs infused in a spirit are like the differences between night and day.

An alembick, or alembic,  is a style of still and the refrigeratory is cooling tube to assist in the condensation of the alcohol vapor. I do not know what style of workshop Scarborough had. I will assume that he had more than an single still. Perhaps he had a set up similar to the 16th century alchemy lab found in a tunnel under a street in Prague, Czech Republic.

With the three pints of brandy, herbs and spices, and two quarts of white wine in the still (seven pints of liquid, total), distill three pints of spirits in one container. In a separate container, distill an additional quart of spirits. 

This does not make sense to me, too much liquid is being distilled. Also, the next steps are to add sugar to the extra quart and then reduce it down to a syrup. That is a lot of liquid to reduce and a lot of sugar: more sugar than alcohol. I had to find a second copy of a period printing to double check the text. Two different books to show that a quart is distilled after three pints are distilled. That is five pints of liquid out of a starting volume of seven pints. The average ABV of modern wine is 11.6%. There is no reason to assume that 17th century, unfortified wine was any different. If this is the correct amount of distilled product, then that would indicate that the mother liquid was being brought to a boil and water vapor was being removed and distilled. Most of the water was being removed along with the alcohol. Even if the starting brandy had an ABV of 40%, the end result of the distillation would be mostly water. I think that the recipe should had read "draw off a pint more" which also makes more sense grammatically: "draw off three pints.... then a pint more."

So, if I were to make this cordial, I would complete the text as follows:

With the three pints of brandy, herbs and spices, and two quarts of white wine in the still (seven pints of liquid, total), distill three pints of spirits in one container. In a separate container, distill an additional pint of spirits. Mix the single pint of spirit with an equal volume of the whitest sugar and cook it down to a syrup. Mix the syrup into the first three pints of spirit and let sit until any particulate material has settled. 

The text does not tell us how much sugar to use, only to use triple refined sugar, which would be white sugar, similar to modern refined sugar. Another expensive ingredient: at this time, sugar was selling for about 18d a pound in London. I think that we are to take an equal volume of spirit and sugar to make a simple syrup. We are not told to cook it down into a thick syrup or to cook it for a given amount of time. Since we will be mixing it, right away, with three pints of liquid, I feel that a simple syrup would be best. Many similar cordial and medicinal syrup recipes don't explain how to make a syrup, just to do so. The 1854 A Universal Formulary tells us to only make small amounts of syrup so that it doesn't go bad ("the best is to prepare them only in such quantities as will be used within a short time." p520). The 1909 National Standard Dispensatory gives us the following instruction for Aromatic Syrup of Rhubarb, "Digest and evaporate till the liquor is reduced to half a pint; strain, and add one pound of sugar, and half a pint of diluted alcohol; then boil a little to form a syrup." Modern simple syrup recipes call for an equal volume of liquid and sugar.

So, with that in mind, if I were to make this cordial, I would take one pint of the finest, ground, white sugar I had access to and add it into my one pint of reserved spirit, and bring it up to a boil only long enough to fully dissolve the sugar into the alcohol. Then I would pour the simple syrup, I just created, into the three pints of cordial, and then let it stand until any particulates settle to the bottom of the container. Now, technically, what we would end up with is a liqueur, since we added sugar to it. The sugar would counter-act the bitterness of the rue, snakeroot, winters-bark, and the bay berries.  Our liqueur, if we were to actually make it, would be extremely sweet, essentially one quarter sugar syrup.  But, we are not expected to drink it. We are told to take a half to two spoonfuls at a time. Looking at the spoons of the time period, I would make an educated guess that we are talking about a modern tablespoon amount. A tablespoon of bitter, savory, sweet medicine doesn't sound so bad. 

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Something Amazing-ish

I'm 50% sure that I liked it.

At War Practice, this past weekend, I was having a conversation with people and my brain took the road less traveled, in mid conversation. My brain wanted to know what would Sikanjabîn syrup mixed with seltzer or club soda taste like.

Tonight, after I finished mowing the lawn, I decided to find out, FOR SCIENCE!

I had no club soda or tonic water in the house, but I did have one bottle of Boylan's Lemon Seltzer in the house. I don't know when I bought it or why, but I had it.

First, I pulled out a small bottle of my syrup of lemon, left over from my class at 3 Ravens. I poured a little bit of the syrup into a glass and topped it off with the seltzer.

Not bad.... Not great, at least to my liking. I'm not a big fan of seltzer... And I just remembered why I had this bottle in my house... But that's a different story. The taste of the seltzer overwhelmed the subtle flavor of the syrup. Even though it was lemon flavored seltzer, it really didn't taste much more than sweetened, lemon-flavored seltzer.

Next, I pulled out a bottle of Sikanjabîn and added about a teaspoon to the glass.

The Sikanjabîn is much, much, much more concentrated than the syrup of lemon. The syrup of lemon was not cooked down all the way, so that it could be poured over pound cake (Mmmmmm! Pound cake). The Sikanjabîn was cooked down to a thick syrup. The way I like it is a teaspoon of syrup to a cup of water. So, a teaspoon of syrup and the rest of the seltzer.

It needed to be stirred to mix together. Now, I know that about half of my readers hate Sikanjabîn. Sugar and vinegar? Yuck! But, I will counter that most people who hate Sikanjabîn have never had good Sikanjabîn and/or had it provided too strong. I think that the sugar and vinegar should be balanced and that the imbiber should be allowed to dilute it to one's taste. I like it watered down enough that the sweet and sour flavors are just noticeable on the tongue.

With the lemon seltzer (about a half a glass) mixed with the syrup, the flavor and "mouth feel" were much lighter, due to the bubbles. The lemon flavor was no longer noticeable and the seltzer flavor blended in nicely with the sugar and vinegar. I approve and will have to try it with tonic water; you know, in case I need protection from malaria.