Sunday, February 20, 2022

Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum: Micro-Research for Giant Rhymes

Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum: Micro-Research for Giant Rhymes

Quick question, my readers: Why doesn't Fee-Fi-fo-fum rhyme with Englishman? Dead and bread on the next two lines do rhyme; why a partial rhyming scheme?


So, before I answer my question, let us look at the phrase. We mostly know of this phrase from "Jack and the Beanstalk" which was originally published as "Jack the Giant Killer", a Cornish book first printed in 1760, which was a longer version of a 1711 chapbook entitled "The History of Jack and the Giants". "Jack the Giant Killer" recounts the story of how a Cornish young man, Jack, hunts down and kills multiple giants, attracts the attention of King Arthur, is invited to join the Round Table, fights Lucifer, [1] rescues a duke's daughter from a sorcerer, marries, and lives happily ever after. But, most of us only know of the "fee-fi-fo-fum" bellowed by the giant Thunderdell. But, what does "fee-fi-fo-fum" mean?

The earliest written reference to the phrase dates back to 1595 in George Peele's play "The Old Wives' Tale":

"Fee, fa, fum, here is the Englishman,
Conquer him that can, came for his lady bright,
To prooue himselfe a knight,
And win her loue in fight."


In 1596, Thomas Nashe uses a similar phrase in his "Have With You to Saffron-walden":

"O, tis a precious apothegmatical Pedant, who will find matter enough to dilate a whole day of the first invention of Fy, fa, fum, I smell the blood of an English-man".
Shakespeare, yes that Shakespeare, uses it in "King Lear" in 1605:

"Child Roland to the dark tower came,
His word was still, Fie, foh, and fum,
I smell the blood of a British man."

And in the 1621 "Tom Thumb" we have the familiar phrase and setting:

"Now fi, fee, fau, fan,
I feele smell of a dangerous man,
Be he alive, or be he dead,
He grind his bones to make me bread."

In Shakespeare's time, "fi", or "fie", was a word used to express disapproval, like "bah" or "meh". Shakespeare uses "fie" a lot in his plays. King Lear shouts "Fie, fie, fie! pah, pah!" when confronted with the betrayal of his daughters. Mark Antony shouts "O fie, fie, fie!" in "Antony and Cleopatra". "Fo" and "fum" were used as we would use "pooh" or "crap". "Fee" might have been used to complete the alliterative quartet and to rhyme with "Be" in the third line.

Charles Mackay, in his 1877 "The Gaelic Etymology of the Languages of Western Europe", postulates that this is a complete sentence in Gaelic

(ffiafliC.— Faich (fa!), behold! see! fiadh (fee-a), food; fiu, good to eat, worthy; fogh (fo), sufficient; foghair, to suffice ; feum (French /aim), hunger ; whence faich, fiadh, Jiu, fogh, feum, or " fa, fe, fi, fo, fum ! " " Behold food, good to eat, sufficient for my hunger;" the exclamation of the Keltic giant, who, without being a cannibal, would have been glad to devour the Saxon.
Other sources state that this is a Scottish charm or spell used by Ettins. The spell was sung to find the thing mentioned in the charm. "I am looking for.... an Englishman." Other sources credit this to the Norse and their mythology of giants and dwarves using similar rhyming phrases to cast spells. I did find similar phrases in Russian folk stories. A phrase that crops up a lot with Baba Yaga is “Foo! Foo! Foo! I smell a Russian spirit!” The Russian word "dookh" is used which could mean spirit, soul, or odor. "Foo" can be used as in "Foo! What is that smell." I think the implication is that monstrous creatures have poor vision and require their sense of smell and, perhaps, the assistance of magic in order to hunt humans.

In practical terms, i.e.: children's stories, the phrase can not only be used to hint at the un-worldly, but if the reader stamps their feet in tempo, to convey a size of the giant. The second line hints at the animal nature of the giant, it doesn't see Jack, but can smell him. The next line hints what a monster the giant is, it doesn't care if Jack is dead or alive, the giant will eat him one way or another. And while most little children might never hear the sound of bones being ground up, they might have, back in the day, have heard grain being ground in a mill or a quern.

"Fee-fi-fo-fum
I smell the blood of an Englishman.
Be he alive or be he dead
​I'll grind his bones to make my bread."

With the stamping of the feet, and a deep voice, any parent can scare the bejeebers out of the little tykes right before bedtime.

But, why is "fum" rhymed with "man"? Because, it is actually rhymed with "mun". It is an accent affliction, a way to show ignorance and uncultured behavior based on the method of speech. In England's West countries, particularly in modern Cornwall, the regional accent pronounces "man" as "mun". Jon Mills and Alistair McGowan did a documentary on British accents and explained that English, the language, took a few hundred years to move from the East to the West; Cornwall resisted fully adopting English well into the 18th century. Even today, TV shows and movies use rural accents to subtly hint at the intellect of characters: the more rural a character sounds, the more stupid they must be. Fluellen, in "Henry V", is a good guy, but Shakespeare wrote his dialog to clearly show that, while he was brave, loyal, and a leader of a company, he was without a doubt a pig-ignorant Welshman.[2]

"I tell you, captain, if you look in the maps of the
'orld, I warrant you sall find, in the comparisons
between Macedon and Monmouth, that the situations,
look you, is both alike. There is a river in
Macedon; and there is also moreover a river at
Monmouth: it is called Wye at Monmouth; but it is
out of my prains what is the name of the other
river; but 'tis all one, 'tis alike as my fingers is
to my fingers, and there is salmons in both." [3]
While writers and producers have been trying to dispel this causal racism by casting actors and actresses with regional dialects into more positive roles, the practice was firmly entrenched in English culture for centuries. Dumb characters in Shakespeare have mumbling, rural accents, and the heroes have crisp and clear London accents. Much as today we would have a character use "ain't", "expresso", "irregardless", or "like totally" to show their lack of education, having a fool or a giant say, "Englishmun" indicated that they were stupid and could easily be tricked. [4]


[1] Yes, that Lucifer. 
[2] Not my opinion, and I apologize for repeating derogatory insults. The English have a long history of treating the Welsh people like second-class citizens. 
[3] Act 4 Scene 7
[4] Thunderdell was indeed tricked by Jack into charging onto a weakened drawbridge, where he fell into a deep moat and almost drowned. 


Partial bibilography:


Boening, John. The Reception of Classical German Literature in England, 1760-1860, Volume 2: A Documentary History from Contemporary Periodicals. Routledge, Feb 11, 2020

Green, Caitlin R. Jack & Arthur: An Introduction to Jack the Giant-Killer, A resource book intended to accompany my article 'Tom Thumb and Jack the Giant Killer: Two Arthurian Fairytales', in Folklore, 118.2 (2007), pp. 123-40.

Green, Thomas. “Tom Thumb and Jack the Giant-Killer: Two Arthurian Fairytales?” Folklore 118, no. 2 (2007): 123–40.

Mackay, Charles. The Gaelic etymology of the languages of western Europe : and more especially of the English and Lowland Scotch and of their slang, cant, and colloquial dialects. London : Published for the author by N. Trübner, 1877?

Murray, Christopher John. Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760–1850. Routledge, May 13, 2013.

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. Oxford University Press, 1999

Ratcliffe, Susan. Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. OUP Oxford, Mar 17, 2011.

Steel, Flora Annie. English Fairy Tales. Macmillan And Co., Limited, London. 1918

The Young Folks Treasury, Volume 1. The University Society, Inc. 1909.

Saturday, February 5, 2022

Scroll - A Journey

 This is a project I did for the 2022 College of Three Ravens A&S competition. I submitted this under the category of The Journey: " Show us your project, from the earliest learning of the art to as complete as you want to consider it. You don’t need to have a “complete” project for this one, just show your work! "

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

Scroll - A Journey

Description:

This documentation will describe my journey, over the years, towards scribal excellence. I have made several scrolls based on an image from the 12th century manuscript Charleville-Mézières BM212. This paper will document what I have learned while making each scroll.



Details of the original image:

Unfortunately, I was unable to find any details about this manuscript, other than it is owned by a French university and that it dates to the 12th century. I will assume that it was made on vellum and used gold leaf.

First attempt - Technique:




The first time I attempted this image was in late 2009 or early 2010: the start of my journey of scribal work. I made it for a Golden Bee.[1] Looking at this image, now, I can clearly see that I did not know what I was doing.[2] The image was painted on Bristol cellulose paper. Probably 200# weight. 8x10” in size. The paint I was using was water-based acrylic: not gauche or water color. I used the same paint I used to paint RPG miniatures. Working from a high resolution image of the manuscript,[3] I removed the background colors and printed out the image. The design was transferred to the paper by tracing over a light box. I feel that there is no shame in using a light box, as I am better at tracing than I am at drawing free-hand.

Not knowing what I was doing, I slapped the paint onto the paper with no thought towards shading or even detail. Not used to working on paper, it is clear[4] that I was putting one wet layer of paint on top of another. If you look at the background, you can see how blotchy and uneven it is. I believe that my “plan” was to apply enough paint so that it was one, even coat. Unfortunately, too much water soaked into the paper.[5]

The only details that I had managed to do was with the addition of a black pen (Micron). While the majority of the design was traced from the source, I had free-handed the bee of the award. Not too terrible. Certainly looks more bee-like when viewed normal size.

Second attempt - Technique:




The second time I attempted this image was in 2013. It was for a backlog AOA scroll for someone in CAID. This was scroll number 117 for me [6] and I had taken some lessons on painting, and it shows. Like the first attempt, I had traced the image on a lightbox, but this time I used Arches 100% cotton paper: 9x12” in size, 140# hot press.

I used gouache, this time: Reeves for the color and Holbein for the gold. I went heavy on the gold to give it some texture. For the figures and background, I used a very watered down base coat all over, with three or four layers over each area; each layer thicker and thus, darker, than the previous one. Once the paint was dry, I added the white work. I have found that with the gouache, the added white really makes the paint pop, especially the dark paints. I applied the paint so that if the virtual light source came from the upper, left-hand corner of the page, the darkest shades would fall into the right-most corners, producing shadows.

Instead of a solid color background, I had decided to use a diaper pattern, as I had taken a class on diapering shortly before I started on this scroll. The coloration was based on the recipient’s device. Unlike the first attempt, this time was using less paint, and taking steps to attempt to do shading. Finishing with white gouache lines to simulate areas in bright light. I had also replaced my light box; the new one had a brighter, more even bulb which allowed me to see more detail of the source material.

Classes, practice, as well as 117 completed scrolls had taught me some valuable lessons. The most important of which was to see that what I was doing was wrong. That even coats was not achieved by thicker layers of paint, but by thin layers that I allowed to dry before moving on the to next layer. Better paint helped, as well. I use the cartoon method of painting: trace/draw with pencil; ink over the pencil lines; erase the graphite; paint; then ink over the lines. This gives a clear boundary between elements and allows the colors to stand out..

Third attempt - Technique:




The third time I attempted this image was in 2015. It was for a Millrind scroll. This was scroll number 240. Like the second attempt, I had traced the image on a lightbox onto Arches 100% cotton paper: 9x12” in size, 140# hot press.

This was also done with gouache: Reeves for colors and Winsor & Newton for the gold. I liked the diapering on the 2nd attempt, but I used a different style for this scroll. I used a three color square pattern: red, blue, and gold, with white, diagonal lines running through the red and blue squares. Then finished with a dot of black ink at the vertices.

I was learning to use less paint, yet make what was present do more work. I was learning to use more layers of paint in areas that I wished to be in shadow and less paint where I wanted to portray bright light. I was learning about how gouache works: by using thin layers of paint, light has to pass through more pigment before reaching the white of the paper and bouncing back towards our eyes. The layers scatter and diffuse the light, making the paint appear to be deeper, and the colors richer.

Like the second attempt, I used white lines to showcase highlights, but I was also learning to smear[7] the white ink across the paint to create areas of higher contrast. I would apply the ink with a pen, either a JellyRoll or UniBall ball point pen, or with a fountain pen loaded with blueprint ink. Then I would drag the ink with a damp brush from the spot where I wanted maximum brightness into darker areas. This smearing provided a diffusion of contrast from very white to barely detectable against the background color.

If you would compare the green in the ‘T’ on this image with the blue background on the first attempt, you can clearly see that I was much better at applying an even coat. I believe that the ‘T’ required 4 separate layers, each of gouache watered down to the consistency of Cool-Aid. The end result is visually more appealing than the thick layers of paint I used to use. I was still working on shading, but it is clear that I was making improvements.

Fourth attempt - Technique:




I had decided to use this image for a fourth time for this project.[8] There was no assignment, and no rush to make it. This blank will be used at some point: the “paper” was left blank and might have an award badge painted on it, with the tip of the brush painted in whatever color would match the badge.

This is scroll number 489 and I had made some changes to my kit and techniques. I had replaced my lightbox with a slim-line LED model in 2018. I had also added Winsor & Newton red and blue gouache.[9] Also, I had used up all of the blueprint ink that I had purchased for a drafting class I took in high school. The label had fallen off and I could not remember the brand of the ink. I had acquired a bottle of Winsor & Newton white ink and a dip pen to apply the ink.[10] I also was using a new brand of paper, new for me: Fabriano brand paper: 140#, 100% cotton paper

My technique was the same as the third attempt, only more refined. For the scribe’s garb, I first applied an extremely thin wash of paint, blue or red, then, once the wash was dry, I applied a 2nd coat starting from the right-hand edges (where I wanted shadows) and dragged the paint towards the left and lifting the brush up before reaching the left-hand edge. A third coat was applied in the same way, only I lifted the brush up further away from the left-hand edge. Then a fourth coat. Finally, a fifth coat was applied only on the right-hand edge. The method gives a feathering effect in the areas where the paint is transitioning from light to dark and prevents a solid boundary between the layers.

The white ink was applied to the left-hand edge, and where I wanted to simulate the top layers of the folded fabric, and smeared, with a damp brush, towards the right-hand edge. This gives the effect of a 3D surface, with some areas in light, and others in shadow.

I had left the skin unpainted: it’s winter. It’s okay to be pale.

I did make a mistake while doing the diapering. I had traced the image, inked it, then erased the pencil marks. Then I put a grid pattern under the paper, taped in place, and traced the grid pattern using a straight edge.[11] Then I inked the grid pattern. But, if you look at the scribe’s hands, I had inked lines running through the wrists, without noticing. Once I had started painting, I decided not to scrape the wayward ink, but to apply a light gray to the areas and pretend that I had intended on the scribe to have an under tunic.

I kept the same horizontal grid pattern as the third attempt, but I attempted a different motif, one based on an image I saw on Facebook. I was unable, on my practice sheets, to get a consistent red on the blue squares, so I compromised. I put a white box on the blue squares, with a white dot in the center, and a white cross on the red squares. I did apply too much white ink to a couple of the squares, but, overall, I like how they look, and that is the important thing.



The most important lesson I’ve had to learn over the past eleven years, and 489 scrolls, was to not stress over the mistakes, but to learn from them and learn not to “fix” your mistakes if they are too bad. I could scrape away the blob of thick, white ink, and redo that square. But I would at risk of removing too much paper and leaving a spot where the paint soaked into the paper, at that point, and left a greater eye sore.

After 489 scrolls, done for multiple Baronies, Shires, Cantons, and Kingdoms, I have surmounted Mount Stupid, fallen into the Valley of Despair,[12] and I am climbing the Slope of Enlightenment towards the Plateau of Sustainability.[13] I can clearly see the flaws in my work and now know enough see what I had done wrong. Perhaps in another few hundred scrolls, I will start to consider myself an expert on early period illumination reproduction, at least with modern paints. Being able to see one’s mistakes, and know what caused them, is the sign that one has truly started to learn. Knowing how to fix your mistakes, and equally important, how to leave them alone, is the sign that one has started understand the lessons.


[1] A&S award for the Barony of the Rhydderich Hael
[2] At the time, I thought it was great.
[3] From a Pinterest post.
[4] From the 20/20 hindsight of 2022.
[5] Have a joke about paint drying, but it is a bit boring and takes too long to tell.
[6] I had started numbering my scrolls when I started on an A&S50 challenge in 2010: 50 scroll blanks to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the SCA.
[7] Smear in a good way.
[8] 2022
[9] I had to replace a tube of paint: out of the blue.
[10] The ink is too thick to flow through a fountain pen or from my glass dip pen. I acquired a set of nibs that worked with this ink, based on recommendations from anime artists.
[11] I had also marked the boxes I intended to paint blue.
[12] Not to be confused with the Pit of Despair, the Glade of Despair, the Bog of Despair, or the Subshop of Despair.
[13] Dunning-Kruger.









Tuesday, January 25, 2022

16th Century Cordial

 This was an Ice Dragon Pent project from 2013.

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

16th Century Cordial

 Purpose:

This project is not only a period cordial, but a comparison between said cordial, the original spiced wine and the same spices in brandy and vodka. The purpose is to demonstrate the differences between a distilled beverage, the original spiced wine and the equivalents of infused spirits. With hope, this document will help future brewers with reproducing period cordials.

There are four bottles for this project:

1) Spiced red wine.
2) A cordial distilled from the same spiced red wine.
3) Spiced aged brandy.
4) Spiced vodka.


 

Please sample the beverages in the above order. First the original wine and compare its flavor to the distilled cordial. Then compare the cordial to the spiced bandy and finally to the spiced vodka. The goal is to see which one of the spirits is closest in taste to the distilled wine.

Introduction:

To begin with, allow me to define what a cordial is. A cordial is a flavored alcoholic beverage, normally wine, that has been distilled.[1] 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 and popular. Some modern cordials, such as Benedictine and Frangelico, date back to the 16th and 17th Century.[2] 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.[3]

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.”[4] Legal documents dating to 1411 mention the distillation of wine into brandy in the Armagnac region of France.[5]

By the 14th Century, the drinking of these beverages had become very popular in Italy and had also spread into France. A Tuscany native, Catherine de Medici,[6] is often credited with bringing them with her to France. There is some discussion as to whether or not she was the first to introduce them to France, but there is no doubt that she certainly increased the popularity and acceptance of these drinks among the nobility 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. It is more than likely that the liqueur evolved as a sweet beverage as to counter act the bitterness of the herbs and other ingredients. But is not my intention to reproduce a modern cough syrup, nor is it to flavor brandy or vodka and pretend that it’s period. This recipe will be made from infused wine and then distilled. The resultant cordial will be compared to similarly infused brandy and vodka. A post on the Gwyntarian Tunners Guild’s message board captures my feelings quite closely:[7]

If I may make a comment to this ‘I documented Brandy - used Vodka’ syndrome which is very common in the SCA, in A&S and in general: it DOES taste somewhat similar; but it’s generally only close, no cigar. If you have made the ‘recreation of a Period cordial’ your intent, it falls short of the mark, in that it is wrong, and/or undocumented. As an A&S judge, I have had to point that out, from time to time, especially when they use that old TI article as documentation. Not that Vodka isn’t in the general definition of distilled spirits, but Brandy is the spirit specified in period documents. Perhaps there is some cultural bias that keeps suggesting that substituting relatively modern, undocumented distillates in recipes calling for Brandy is desirable, but the research and making/testing of Cordials by Mistress Arwenna and the Gwyntarian Tunners Guild suggests otherwise. The main point is that philosophically, you’re pulling a ‘bait and switch’ of sorts, every time you substitute a modern equivalent ... for that called for in the Period recipes, when the Period ingredient is easily obtained. ... For me, though, it’s the equivalent of making a Rum cake, and throwing in Scotch instead, on the above theory. It may very well make a lovely cake, (I like Scotch), but it is no longer a Rum cake. (aside from the fact that Scotch is documentably Period, and Rum isn’t not.

Distillation:

To set the matter straight: distillation is illegal within the USA, and before I started this project I examined the law carefully. Article 10, Section 153 of the Special Provisions Relating To Illicit Alcoholic Beverages And Stills states the following:

Any person who shall manufacture any illicit alcoholic beverage or who, not being duly licensed as a distiller under the provisions of the alcoholic beverage control law, shall own, operate, possesses or have under his control any still or distilling apparatus is guilty of a felony. “Still” or “ distilling apparatus” shall mean any apparatus designed, intended, actually used, or capable of being used for or in connection with the separating of alcoholic or spirituous vapors, or alcohol or spirituous solutions, or alcohol or spirits, from alcohol or spirituous solutions or mixtures, but shall not include stills used for laboratory purposes or stills used for distilling water, oil, alcoholic or nonalcoholic materials where the cubic capacity of such stills is one gallon or less.
As I would only be distilling a liter of wine in a non-pressurized stock pot, and that I would not be selling the product nor transporting it across state lines, I feel that this is a safe project.

Method:

1) 1 liter of red wine spiced with three cloves, one large sprig of rosemary and 1 ounce of fresh ginger: strained.
2) 1 liter of red wine spiced with three cloves, one large sprig of rosemary and 1 ounce of fresh ginger: distilled.
3) 375ml of VSOP[8] brandy spiced with one clove, one half sprig of rosemary and 1 half ounce of fresh ginger
4) 375ml of vodka spiced with one clove, one half sprig of rosemary and 1 half ounce of fresh ginger

I was unable to procure unflavored white (unaged) brandy to complete this project.

The project starts off with some home made wine that was vinted in mid 2010. The wine was made with 25 pounds of locally grown red, seedless grapes,[9] which were purchased at my corner farmer’s market, three gallons of water and one packet of Mutton’s wine yeast. The grapes were sufficiently sweet enough to not require any additional sugar to be added. Not owning a wine press, I stripped the grapes from their stems and mashed them, the grapes, in a mixing bowl with a potato masher. The juice, pulp, skins and stems were placed into a stockpot with 1/2 gallon of water and boiled to kill off any wild yeast. After boiling for one minute, the must was transferred into the primary fermenter, along with the additional 2.5 gallons of water. Since the wine was going to be fermented in plastic and glass, I added two ounces of oak chips (also boiled) to the fermenter. My hope was the oak would give the wine some additional flavor. After allowing the must to cool overnight, I pitched the wine yeast and left it alone for two weeks.

After two weeks I racked the liquid into the secondary fermenter and discarded the remains. After six months the wine was racked over into the tertiary fermenter. After an additional six months, it was racked into the quaternary fermenter. It was left in the quaternary fermenter for around 18 months before being bottled. The resulting wine is pale red, dry yet with a touch of sweetness and a bit acidic. As I do not know what variety of grapes I used were, I can do no more than call my wine “red.”

To finish up the cordial, I turned to a recipe from Maison Rustique:[10]
Take equal parts of cloves, ginger, and fowers of rosemary, infuse them in very good wine the space of eight days: distil the whole. This water comforteth the stomacke, assuageth the pains and wringings of the belly, killeth worms, and maketh fat folk to becom leane, or maketh fat the leane, if they drink it mixt with sugar.
Two one liter bottles were filled with the wine and each one was spiced with three cloves, one large sprig of rosemary and 1 ounce of fresh ginger. The last time I made a cordial, I used ”two ounces of fresh ginger, two pinches of dried cloves (about 12 cloves) and four sprigs of rosemary, stems and all.” After distillation, the cordial had such a strong presence of cloves that it could have been used as a toothache remedy. Which was a good thing as the ginger would have burned one’s mouth.[11] Cutting back on the cloves will mean that the imbiber will be able to taste the rosemary and the ginger. I reduced the quantity of the rosemary and ginger so that they would not overpower the beverage.

Two 375ml bottles each of VSOP (aged) brandy and vodka (cheap) were spiced with one clove, one half sprig of rosemary and 1 half ounce of fresh ginger. I estimated the reduced amount of the spices based on the smaller amount of spirits and the higher alcohol content of each. I wanted a good comparison between the cordial and the infused spirits.


 

The spices were left to infuse for eight days before being strained out of the spirits and one of the two bottles of wine. The contents of the second bottle of wine was poured into a stockpot into which there was a brick topped with a ceramic bowl. The wine was brought to 170F[12], the lid placed on the pot and bags of ice placed on top of the lid. This method of low-pressure distillation is often used for home perfume and oil making. The instructions came from a cooking show on how to make home made rose water.[13]

At 170F the alcohol will boil off and rise to the top of the container, where it will condense when in contact with the cold lid and fall into the bowl, which is insulated from the heat by the brick. A turkey baster was used to transfer the cordial from the bowl into a waiting container and the ice was replaced as needed. After two and a half hours, less than a half a liter of clear liquid was distilled out of the wine.

Red Wine:

Red wines were known in period:[14]

... By the mid 13th century, three fourths of England’s royal wine came from Bordeaux, at a freight charge of 8 shillings the ton. The wine fleet convened twice a year; in October for the “vintage” shipping, and in February for the “rack” shipping of wine drawn off the lees. We have Bordeaux’s export figures for seven years of the early 14th century, averaging 83,000 tonneaux of 12 score and 12 gallons each. England took about half of this, and when the new wine arrived, last year’s was halved in price, or even just thrown away. These wines were the common drink, lower in status the Mediterranean and Rhenish wines, but they were plentiful and cheap. Bordeaux made three kinds of wines: white, red , and clairet. Until about 1600, clairet meant a light colored wine, ranging from yellow, as distinct from white, to pink. To get the desired pink color, called “partridge-eye”, red and white wines were often mixed. Red wines then would have been very light. They were only on the skins one day, and absorbed little color and tannins. After the wine was drawn off, the remainder, redder and coarser, was used for tinting wine, or sold cheaply as “vin vermeilh” or “pin pin”. This amounted to about 15% .

Herbs and Spices:

The medicinal properties of these three giants of flavor were well known:

Rosemary:[15] Our garden Rosemary is so well known, that I need not describe it. Government and virtues : The Sun claims privilege in it, and it is under the celestial Ram. It is an herb of as great use with us in these days as any whatsoever, not only for physical but civil purposes. The physical use of it (being my present task) is very much used both for inward and outward diseases, for by the warming and comforting heat thereof it helps all cold diseases both of the head, stomach, liver, and belly. The decoction thereof in wine, helps the cold distillations of rheum into the eyes, and all other cold diseases of the head and brain, as the giddiness or swimmings therein, drowsiness or dullness of the mind and senses like a stupidness, the dumb palsy, or loss of speech, the lethargy, and fallen- sickness, to be both drank, and the temples bathed therewith. It helps the pains in the gums and teeth, by rheum falling into them, not by putrefaction, causing an evil smell from them, or a stinking breath. It helps a weak memory, and quickens the senses. It is very comfortable to the stomach in all the cold griefs thereof, helps both retention of meat, and digestion, the decoction or powder being taken in wine. It is a remedy for the windiness in the stomach, bowels, and spleen, and expels it powerfully. It helps those that are liver-grown, by opening the obstructions thereof. It helps dim eyes, and procures a clear sight, the flowers thereof being taken all the while it is flowering every morning fasting, with bread and salt. Both Dioscorides and Galen say, That if a decoction be made thereof with water, and they that have the yellow jaundice exercise their bodies directly after the taking thereof, it will certainly cure them. The flowers and conserve made of them are singularly good to comfort the heart, and to expel the contagion of the pestilence; to burn the herb in houses and chambers, corrects the air in them. Both the flowers and leaves are very profitable for women that are troubled with the whites, if they be daily taken. The dried leaves shred small, and taken in a pipe, as tobacco is taken, helps those that have any cough, phthisic, or consumption, by warming and drying the thin distillations which cause those diseases. The leaves are very much used in bathings; and made into ointments or oil, are singularly good to help cold benumbed joints, sinews, or members. The chymical oil drawn from the leaves and flowers, is a sovereign help for all the diseases aforesaid, to touch the temples and nostrils with two or three drops for all the diseases of the head and brain spoken of before; as also to take one drop, two, or three, as the case requires, for the inward griefs. Yet must it be done with discretion, for it is very quick and piercing, and therefore but a little must be taken at a time. There is also another oil made by insolation in this manner: Take what quantity you will of the flowers, and put them into a strong glass close stopped, tie a fine linen cloth over the mouth, and turn the mouth down into another strong glass, which being set in the sun, an oil will distil down into the lower glass, to bepreserved as precious for divers uses, both inward and outward, as a sovereign balm to heal the disease beforementioned, to clear dim sights, and to take away spots, marks, and scars in the skin.
Cloves:[16] It is vain to describe an herb so well known. Government and virtues: They are gallant, fine, temperate flowers, of the nature and under the dominion of Jupiter; yea, so temperate, that no excess, neither in heat, cold, dryness, nor moisture, can be perceived in them; they are great strengtheners both of the brain and heart, and will therefore serve either for cordials or cephalics, as your occasion will serve. There is both a syrup and a conserve made of them alone, commonly to be had at every apothecary’s. To take now and then a little of either, strengthens nature much, in such as are in consumptions. They are also excellently good in hot pestilent fevers, and expel poison.

Ginger:[17]Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage. Ginger is stimulant, rubefacient, errhine, and sialagogue. When chewed it occasions an increased flow of saliva, and when swallowed it acts as a stimulating tonic, stomachic, and carminative, increasing the secretion of gastric juice, exalting the excitability of the alimentary muscular system, and dispelling gases accumulated in the stomach and bowels. Prepared with rhubarb, in the form of cordial or syrup, few articles are more valuable in cholera morbus and cholera infantum, when there is coldness of the surface and extremities, and nausea and vomiting accompany. It is eminently useful in habitual flatulency, atonic dyspepsia, hysteria, and enfeebled and relaxed habits, especially of old and gouty individuals; and is excellent to relieve nausea, pains and cramps of the stomach and bowels, and to obviate tenesmus, and especially when those conditions are due to colds, or to the ingestion of unripe or otherwise unwholesome fruit. Ginger is occasionally of value in fevers, particularly where the salivary secretions are scanty and there is pain and movement of gases within the intestines. Here, though a stimulant, it will assist in producing sedation by re-establishing secretion and relieving the distressing gastro-intestinal annoyances.

Spicing wine was not an uncommon practice and it is believed to be the “father” of cordials and liqueurs. The spicing of wine is among the oldest of methods of fortifying the beverage and granting it better taste or medicinal properties. Specific commentaries and recipes for it can be found from early Roman Imperial times. Some spiced wines, such as hippocras,[18] were an industry into themselves by the 14th Century. A recipe from a collection of Norman French papers called “B. L. Additional 32085” dating to the reign of King Edward I[19] is as follows:[20]

28. ICI COMENCE COMENT L’EN DEIT FERE CLAREE. Pernez de kanele, de gyngivre, de maces, les deus parties; de gilofres, nois de muge, fuyle de Inde, la tierce partie; semence de fenoyl, anys, karewi, autaunt; kardamome, squinaunte, la quarte partie; spicanardi a la meitJ de tuttes les autres choses. E metez en pudre, e puys metez la pudre en une puche, e pernez vin blaunc ou vermail e versez desus la pudre e fetes coler com lescive, si averez claree; e taunt cum plus reversez e colez la chose avaunt colee, si averez vostre claree plus forte, e si vos n’avez pas tuz ces espices, pernez kanele e gingivre, maces, les deux parties; de gilofres e spicanardi a la meitJ de tuttes les autres choses, e metez en pudre, e colez cum devaunt est dist; si averez claree. Explicit.

28. HERE BEGIN INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING CLAREE. Take half a measure of cinnamon, ginger, and mace; a third of a measure of cloves, nutmeg, malabathrum; fennel, anise, and caraway seeds, in the same amount; cardamom and squinant, a fourth of a measure; and spikenard in the amount of half the quantity of al the other spices. Grind this into a powder, and then put the powder in a pouch, and take white or red wine and pour it over the powder, wring it through the cloth, and you will have claree; the more you repeat the process, the stronger your claree will be. If you do not have all these spices, take two measures of cinnamon, ginger, and mace, cloves and spikenard to half the quantity of all other ingredients; grind to a powder, and strain as described above, and you will have claree.
Sir Kenelm Digbie listed the following hippocras recipe:
To make Ypocrasse for lords with gynger, synamon, and graines, sugour, and turnesol:and for comyn pepul, gynger, canell, longe peper, and clarifyed hony.
John French’s second book, The Art of Distillation, is almost completely devoted to the distillation of medicinal tonics. Nine examples follow:

USQUE - BATH OR IRISH AQUA VITAE IS MADE THUS Take a gallon of small aqua vitae and put it into a glass vessel. Put thereto a quart of canary sack, two pounds of raisins of the sun stoned, but not washed, two ounces of dates stoned, and the white skins thereof pulled out, two ounces of cinnamon grossly bruised, four good nutmegs bruised, an ounce of the best english licorice sliced and bruised. Stop the vessels very close and let them infuse in a cold place six or eight days. Then let the liquor run through a bag called Manica Hippocratis made of white cotton. This liquor is commonly used in surfeits, being a good stomach water.

AQUA CELESTIS IS MADE THUS Take of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmegs, zedoary, galangal, long pepper, citron pill, spikenard, lignum aloes, cububs, cardamum, calamus aromaticus, germander, ground pine, mace, white frankincense, tormentil, hermodactyls, the pith of dwarf elder, juniper berries, bay berries, the seeds and flowers of motherwort, the seeds of smallage, the seeds of fennel, seeds of anise, the leaves of sorrel, the leaves of sage, the leaves of felwort, rosemary, marJoram, mints, pennyroyal, stechados, the flowers of elder, the flowers of red roses, the flowers of white roses, of the leaves of scabious, rue, the lesser moonwort, agrimony, centory, fumitory, pimpernel, sow thistle, eyebright, maidenhair, endive, red launders, aloes - of each two ounces, pure amber, the best rhubarb - of each two drams, dried figs, raisins of the sun, stoned dates, sweet almonds, grains of the pine - of each an ounce. Of the best aqua vitae to the quantity of them all, of the best hard sugar a pound, of white honey half a pound. Then add the root of gentian, flowers of rosemary, pepperwort, the root of briony, sow bread, wormwood - of each half an ounce. Now before these are distilled, quench gold being made red hot, oftentimes in the aforesaid water, put therein oriental pearls beaten small an ounce, and then distill it after 24 hours infusion. This is a very cordial water, good against faintings and infection.

AQUA IMPERIALIS IS MADE THUS Take of the rind of citrons dried, oranges, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon - of each two ounces; of each half a pound of the roots of flowers-de-luce, the roots of cyprus, the roots of calamus aromaticus, the roots of zedoary, the roots of galangal, the roots of ginger; two handsful each of the tops of lavender, the tops of rosemary; of the leaves of the bay tree, of the leaves of marjoram, of the leaves of balm, of the leaves of mint, of the leaves of sage, of the leaves of thyme, flowers of white roses, flowers of damask roses, of each half a handful; rose water, four pints; the best white wine, a gallon. Bruise what must be bruised. Then infuse them all 24 hours, after which distill them. This is of the same virtue as the former.

AQUA MIRABILIS IS MADE THUS Take a dram each of cloves, galangal, cububs, mace, cardamum, nutmeg, and ginger; half a pint of the juice of sallendine; a pint of the spirit of wine; three pints of white wine. Infuse all these 24 hours, and then distill off two pints by alembic. This water is very good against wind in the stomach and head.

DR. STEPHEN’S WATER IS MADE THUS Take a gallon of gascoigne wine; a dram each of ginger, galganal, cinnamon, nutmeg, grains, aniseed, fennel seeds, carroway seeds; a handful each of sage, red mints, red roses, thyme, pellitory, rosemary, wild thyme, chamomile, and lavender. Beat the spices small and bruise the herbs, letting them macerate 12 hours, stirring them now and then. Distill them by an alembic or copper still with its refrigeratory. Keep the first pint by itself, and the second by itself. Note that the first pint will be hotter, but the second the stronger of the ingredients. This water is well known to comfort all the principal parts.
A FAMOUS SURFEIT WATER Take of red poppy cakes (after the water has been distilled from them in a cold still) not over dried two pounds. Pour upon them of the water of red poppy a gallon and a half, canary wine three pints. Add to them of coriander seeds bruised four ounces, of dill seed bruised two ounces, of cloves bruised half an ounce, of nutmeg sliced an ounce, of rosemary a handful, three oranges cut in the middle. Distill them in a hot still. To the water put the juice of six oranges and hang in it half an ounce of nutmeg sliced and as much cinnamon bruised, two drams of cloves, a handful of rosemary cut small, sweet fennel seeds bruised an ounce, of raisins of the sun stoned half a pound, being all put into a bag, which may be hung in the water (the vessel being close stopped) the space of a month, and then be taken out and cast away, the liquor thereof being first pressed out into the foresaid water. This water is of wonderful virtue in surfeits and pleurisies, composes the spirits, causes rest, helps digestion if two or three or four ounces thereof be drunk, and the patient composes himself to rest.

A PECTORAL WATER Distill green hysop in a cold still until you have a gallon and a half of the water. To this put four handfuls of dried hysop, a handful of rue, as much of rosemary, and horehound, elecampane root, bruised, and of horse-radish root, bruised, of each four ounces, of tobacco in the leaf three ounces, aniseed bruised two ounces, two quarts of canary wine. Let them all stand in digestion two days and then distill them. In the water that is distilled put half a pound of raisins of the sun stoned, of licorice two ounces, sweet fennel seeds bruised two ounces and a half, ginger sliced an ounce and a half. Let them be infused in frigido the space of ten days. Then take them out. This water sweetened with sugar candy and drunk to the quantity of three or four ounces twice in a day is very good for those that are ptisical. It strengthens the lungs, attenuates thick phlegm, opens obstructions, and is very good to comfort the stomach.

A VERY EXCELLENT WATER AGAINST THE WORMS Take of worm seed eight ounces, the shavings of harts-horn two ounces, of peach flowers dried an ounce, of aloes bruised half an ounce. Pour on these the water of tansy, rue, peach flowers, and of wormwood, of each a pint and a half. Let them, being put into a glass vessel be digested the space of three days. Then distill them. Cohobate this water three times. This water is very excellent against the worms. It may be given from half an ounce to 3 ounces, according to the age of the patient.
A WATER AGAINST THE CONVULSIONS Take of ros vitriol (which is that water that is distilled from vitriol in the calcining thereof) two quarts. In this put of rue a handful, juniper berries bruised an ounce, of bay berries bruised half an ounce, piony berries bruised six drams, camphor two drams, rhubarb sliced an ounce. Digest these four days in a temperate balneum. Then distill them in a glass vessel in ashes, and there will come over a water of no small virtue. It cures convulsions in children, especially. It helps also the vertigo, the hysterical passion, and epilepsy. It is very excellent against all offensive vapors and wind that annoys the head and stomach. It may be taken from two drams to two ounces.
The following diagram was given in F. B. Wright’s Distillation of Alcohol And De-Naturing. He lists his source as a 17th century book, but does not list the title. Wright lists the following components

V a wooden vat having a tight fitting cover a, through the center of which a hole has been cut. The wide end of a goose neck of copper pipe g is securely fitted over this aperture, the smaller end of this pipe passes through the cover of the retort R extending nearly to the bottom; wis the steam supply pipe from boiler; M the rectifier consisting of a cylindrical copper vessel containing a number of small vertical pipes surrounded by a cold water jacket; o the inlet for the cold water which circulates around these small pipes, discharging at n; the pipes in M have a common connection to a pipe p, which connects the rectifier with coil in cooler C; s is a pipe to the receptacle for receiving the distillate; u cold water supply pipe to cooler, and W discharge for warmed-up water, k discharge for refuse wash in vat V. The operation is as follows: The vat Vis nearly filled with fermented mash and retort R with weak distillate from a previous operation. Steam is then turned into the pipe; discharging near the bottom of the vat V and working up through the mash. This heats up the mash and the vapors escape up g over into R where they warm up the weak distillate. The vapors thus enriched rise into M, where a good percentage of the water vapor is distilled, that is, condensed by the cold water surrounding the small pipes. The vapor then passes over through C into the coil, where it is liquified and from whence it passes by pipe s into the receiver. The cold water for cooling both M and C can be turned on as soon as the apparatus has become thoroughly heated up.




My method was as different from Wright’s description as possible. As I have already described, my “still” is a low pressure one, unlike the one described by Wright. With the lid placed on the pot, the internal pressure does increase, but not by much, as there is no mechanism to enclose the pressure: hot air can still escape from around the lid. However, the slight increase of internal pressure does serve to allow the alcohol vapor to boil off faster and be retained long enough to condense against the cold lid.







Observations and Conclusions:

The wine and cordial were transferred to nice containers while the infused spirits were left in their original containers. This was done for two reasons: 1) I wanted to ensure that they would not be confused for other beverages. 2) I did not have any clean, nice bottles available for them.


 

1) Spiced wine: The wine, which was slightly sweet to begin with, ended up with a strong flavor of clove and ginger. The aroma was very mild.

2) Cordial: The cordial was a little bit sweet and a touch harsh. The liquid was clear; all traces of its original color were gone. The aroma was subtle and the flavor of the cloves, rosemary and ginger helped smooth out the “new” bite of the cordial.

3) Brandy: The brandy was sweet and smooth. The flavors of the herbs and spices were plesant on the tongue, although there was a definite aroma and flavor of vanilla, which is missing from the wine and the cordial.

4) Vodka: The vodka offered nothing to the flavor or aroma of the final product; in fact it degrades the beverage. The vodka was very harsh and the aroma was decidedly one of alcohol. The burning overbite of the vodka all but overpowers anything the herbs and spices added. The end result was something that, to my taste, was medicinal. I do not think that this would be improved by using better vodka.

My conclusion is that when reproducing a period cordial, without resorting to distillation, one should choose spirits that are closest to what one is trying to reproduce. Cordials based upon the distillation of wine, one should only use brandy and never vodka. Distillation, either using period equipment or the method that I used, is not a perfect method: all of the alcohol (and alcohol soluble flavors and oils) is not removed from the remaining liquid. Even modern fractional distillation equipment, used by chemical labs, cannot perfectly separate alcohol from water in one pass. In addition to alcohol (and alcohol soluble flavors and oils), water is also distilled along with water soluble flavors and oils.

When I distilled the wine, some of the sugar, in solution with the water, was condensed into the collection bowl along with the alcohol. Also, some of the flavor of the wine was distilled. The water soluble sugar, tannins, and oils are enhanced, along with the alcohol soluble flavors, by the higher alcohol content of the cordial. I estimate that the distillation converted the 12% ABV wine into a 20 to 25% ABV spirit while removing the predominate, and overpowering, flavors of the wine and of the herbs and spices. The result is a beverage where subtle flavors become more pronounced.

Vodka is distilled several times to remove impurities. Even the cheap vodka that I used was distilled three times. The result is a spirit with no flavor other than alcohol. Some people will say that that is the point: use a spirit with no flavor of its own so that one can only taste whatever is being infused into it. My counterpoint, and the purpose of this project, is to show that we want the flavors of the wine. We want the sugars and the tannins and the aromas that the wine gives up, when distilled. While the majority of period cordials recipes were for medicinal use, that does not mean that they tasted like medicine, or that our reproductions should taste like medicine. Many vodka-based modern cordials, including those entered into SCA A&S completions, include sugar or honey as an ingredient to counteract the harshness of the vodka. Why use vodka, then?

Commercial brandy is the best choice for wine-based cordial reproductions. It carries the subtle flavors of the wine from which it was distilled, it is naturally sweet, it is a period beverage for the regions where the recipes originate and it is the product of distilling wine. I would have preferred to have used white (unaged) brandy for this project as the aging process does add additional flavors. The brandy that I used was aged for five years in oak. The oak did give the brandy an additional vanilla flavor[21] and the aging did mellow the flavors. For some reason, none of the liquor stores I visited carried white brandy that was unflavored; I did not want to use peach, peppermint or mango flavored bandy. I believe that infused white-brandy would best represent distilling infused wine.

In conclusion: for reproducing wine-based cordials; distilling wine is the best option, albeit the most illegal, infusing white brandy would be the second best choice and then aged brandy. Vodka should not be used.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:


Anonymous. All Liquored Up! “The Herb Source” Volume 6 Issue 2 Oct. 2002

Culpeper, Nicholas. Culpeper’s Complete Herbal And English Physician; Wherein Several Hundred Herbs; With A Display Of Their Medicinal And Occult Properties; Are Physically Applied To The Cure Of All Disorders Incident To Mankind: To Which Are Added Rules For Compounding Medicines; Forming A Complete Family Dispensatory, And System Of Physic. To Which Is Annexed The British Florist Or Flower Garden Displayed; In Which The Most Ornamental Plants Will Be Accurately Represented In Their Natural Colours; With Their Names, Class, Order, Characters, Plans Of Growth, And Times Of Flowering; Together With The Most Approved Methods Of Culture. 1814

Culpeper, Nicholas. The English physitian: or an astrologo-physical discourse of the vulgar herbs of this nation. London : Peter Cole, 1652., 1652. Yale Medical School: http://www.med.yale.edu/library/historical/culpeper/culpeper.htm

Digbie, Sir Kenelme, The Closet of the Eminently Learned 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. First edition, London, 1669. Transcribed by Joyce Miller

Felter, Harvey Wickes and Lloyd, John Uri. King’s American Dispensatory. 1898. Scanned version by Henriette Kress. 1999

FitzMaurice, Forester Nigel. A Miscellany of Early Cordials. Http://web.raex.com/~obsidian/precwat.html

FitzMaurice, Forester Nigel. A Recipe For Spiced Wines. Http://web.raex.com/~obsidian/spcwine.html

Frangelico Online. Http://www.frangelico.com/default_en.asp

French, John. The Art of Distillation. Or, A Treatise of the Choicest Spagyrical Preparations Performed by Way o£ Distillation, Being Partly Taken Out of the Most Select Chemical Authors of the Diverse Languages and Partly Out of the Author’s Manual Experience together with, The Description of the Chiefest Furnaces and Vessels Used by Ancient and Modern Chemists also A Discourse on Diverse Spagyrical Experiments and Curiosities, and of the Anatomy of Gold and Silver, with The Chiefest Preparations and Curiosities Thereof, and Virtues of Them All. All Which Are Contained In Six Books Composed By John French, Dr. of Physick. London. Printed by Richard Cotes and are to sold by Thomas Williams at the Bible in Little-Britain without Aldersgate, 1651. Http://www.levity.com/alchemy/jfren_ar.html

Frisinger, H. Howard. Aristole’s Legacy in Meteorology. “Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society:” Vol. 54, No. 3, pp. 198–204.

Hannum, Hurst. Brandies and Liqueurs of the World. Doubleday & Company, Garden City, N.Y.

Hefner, Patricia. Found in Stefan’s Florilegium.

Hieatt, Constance B. and Jones Robin F. Two Anglo-Norman Culinary Collections Edited from British Library Manuscripts Additional 32085 and Royal 12.C.xii, “Speculum”, Vol. 61, No. 4 Oct. 1986

Hobbs, Christopher. Vitex: The Chaste Tree. (Pharmacy in History.) 1998

Liebault, John and Stevens, Charles. Le Maison Rustique or The Convntry Farms. Translated into English by Richard Surflet. Arnold Harfield. London. 1606

Mareschal, THL Alexander. Alcoholic Drinks of the Middle Ages. “Complete Anachronist” #60. http://home.sunlitsurf.com/~mshapiro/cliqueur.html#liqueur recipes

MacMillan, Lord Alistair. Wine. “Scum” Volume 1, number 16

Pichon, Jerome. Le Menagier de Platina. 1394. Translation by Janet Hinson, 1844. Annotated and posted by David Friedman and Elizabeth Cook. Http://www.best.com/~ddfr/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier.html

Pichon, Jerome. Le Menagier de Paris. 1394. Translation by Eileen Power, “The Goodman of Paris. 1928. “ reprinted in Richard M. Golden and Thomas Kuehn, eds., Western Societies: Primary Sources in Social History, Vol I, (New York: St Martins, 1993).

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

Wilson, C. Anne. Food & Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the 19th Century. Academy Chicago Pub. 1991

The World of Benedictine. Http://www.benedictine.fr/anglais/histoire_frame.html.

Wright, F. B. A Practical Handbook On The Distillation Of Alcohol From Farm Products Including The Processes Of Malting; Mashing And Mascerating; Fermenting And Distilling Alcohol From Grain, Beets, Potatoes. Molasses, Etc.. With Chanters On Alcoholometry And The De-Naturing Of Alcohol For Use In Farm Engines, Automobiles, Launch Motors, And In Heating And Lighting; With A Synopsis Of The New Free Alcohol Law And Its Amendment And The Government Regulations. 2nd Edition. Spon & Chamberlain. New York. 1907


[1] a flavored non-distilled alcohol is hippocras
[2] 1517 and 1676 respectively
[3] Frisinger
[4] Anonymous
[5] Hannum, pp. 62
[6] Ibid., pp 5, 145.
[7] Ian Gourdon July 4, 1999
[8] Very Superior Old Pale, aged at least five years in wood
[9] I do not know what variety the grapes were, except that they were not Welch’s grape jelly flavor grapes.
[10] Liebault and Stevens
[11] Take that, Vernors!
[12] Measured using a digital thermometer.
[13] Good Eats: Switched on Baklava, aired in 2008.
[14] MacMillan, see also the documentation for the Red Wine used for this project.
[15] Culpeper, Culpeper’s Complete Herbal
[16] Culpeper, The English physitian
[17] Felter and Lloyd
[18] a spiced and sweetened wine, often served steaming hot
[19] 1272-1307
[20] Hieatt and Jones, provided by FitzMaurice
[21] From the vanillin in the wood.













Thursday, January 13, 2022

Micro-research

So You Think You Can't Do Any Research?
by Caleb Reynolds

Hello, my friends.

Over the years I have heard from many SCAdians that they just do not have the skills or patience to sit down and write a research paper. And, by extension, write documentation for an A&S project. There appears to be an unfounded fear that documentation, or a research paper, has to be 100 pages long and ready to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. This is not the case. No one, in the SCA, expects every person, in the SCA, to spend a year or more writing a paper. But this fear does keep many people from even trying their hand at doing some research and some writing. Huge research papers are nice, but they are not for everyone. Also, large papers are too long to be published in local newsletters. And newsletters are always looking for articles for publication.

My recommendation? Micro-research. Small papers about limited topics.

Writing about the entirety of the Battle of Agnicourt would be a monumental task. Writing a half a page describing the pay scales Henry used for his army would be a far more manageable task, for a novice writer, and would be a nice glimpse into a very complicated subject. Foot soldiers were paid 3 pennies a day but archers were paid 6 pennies a day: What were the requirements of getting archer pay? Henry had a legal contract describing how ransom would be split; one could certainly write a half a page describing that.

There are a whole host of topics for micro-research; everything from your experience in cooking a single recipe, to the different weights and measures used in the SCA time period, to a bird's eye view of a battle, to an introduction to a person from history. Researching a limited topic, and writing a page or two about it, should be in the reach of most people. All information is useful and, again, every newsletter would welcome content for publication.

There are some things to keep in mind.

1) Write your paper in your words, even if you are getting your information from a single source. If you are making a thing from a recipe from Medieval Cookery, which provides translations and redactions, write how you made it. What steps you took, and why you made any changes. This is your project, please write your thoughts in your own words.

2) While a half a page describing Henry VIII's bowling alley doesn't require the research standards of a PhD thesis, it should be well written and include your sources. Please feel free to pester a friendly Fleur or a lovable Laurel for editing and proofreading.

3) You do not have to be the first SCAdian to write about your topic. Do not think that just because Mistress So-and-So wrote a paper on medieval gift wrapping 30 years ago that you can't add something new. Make sure that you give credit where credit is due.

4) Above all else, the SCA is an educational organization. The fighting, fencing, archery, courts, awards, and pageantry are the showy side of the SCA, but all of it is hollow without the arts and sciences that have been part of the Dream since the beginning. We need to do research and share what we find with others. Even if it is just your interpretation of a 1,000 year old joke.

Another thing to consider; micro-research can inspire you, or others, to do a deeper dive into the subject. You might write a page describing Leonardo da VInci's sketch of a water powered, automatic saw. This might inspire you to do more research, which might lead you to discover that Leonardo most likely copied the design from the sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt, who drew it about a century before Leonardo was born. Then you might want to build a scale model of his hydraulic saw. Or, you might be drawn into the exciting world of how artists shared their sketchbooks with one another. Or it might lead you to other water-powered machinery. Writing about small subjects can send you down so many rabbit holes as you do your research.

You might take some pictures of pilgrim badges you found in a museum and then write up a brief paper on what you saw. This might lead you to a longer paper on a wider variety of pilgrim badges. And that might lead you down the rabbit hole towards lead casting and sandstone molds. Anything is possible.

One more consideration: micro-research can be used in larger papers. I wrote a small paper, 4 paragraphs - sort of a "fact of the month" article, on the varieties of sugar available in the middle ages. I can incorporate those 4 paragraphs into any paper I write that involves sugar. I already did the research, the writing, and the bibliography; no sense in re-inventing the wheel anytime I want to explain why I'm using a particular variety of sugar in a recipe. Research that you do for one paper, can be reused in other papers. I wrote documentation for some red wine that I made. In my research I found some very nice references that described how England imported a tonne of red wine from France, particularly from Bordeaux. Years later, I was making mustard from an English recipe, which called for wine. But, what kind of wine would a 14th century English-type person use? How about some of that red Bordeaux wine that I already had the research for? Those two or three paragraphs can also be published, on their own, in my local newsletter.

You can also go through old newsletters looking for A&S articles that can inspire you to revisit the topic. Is there more information available, today? Thanks to the Internet, more reference material is available to us through Project Gutenberg, Google Books, Academia, JSTOR, and other sites. Can you make an improvement to a recipe with a better redaction or more appropriate ingredients? Long ago, when I was the Chronicler of the Hael, I published an A&S issue of our newsletter. I published a recipe for a meat pie that called for pre-packaged bread dough and margarine. I know why the cook used the two (for cost and convenience for the former and dietary restriction for the later), however, if you wanted to make a more period meat pie based on that particular recipe, tell me how you would make it. Again, always give credit to everyone, and their work, that inspires you.

I have, in front of me, issue #124 of Tournaments Illuminated (Autumn 1997). On pages 24 and 25 is a nice article by Diane Harper (Siglinde Harfinerstochter) titled "Drinking Vessels (Mostly Glass) of the Middle Ages". It is a nice article and it does inspire me to use Siglinde's overview on glass cups to do some of my own research. The article includes some crude drawings of drinking vessels with notes that some of them can be found at the Corning Museum of Glass, which is about a two hour drive from my house. I can certainly drive out to Corning and see these vessels for myself and write about them. Siglinde also has a small bibliography to lead me to additional resources to help me with my future research. I don't know if Siglinde ever thought that anyone would be reading her article 25 years later, but here we are.

In the same issue of the TI, there is a redaction of a 14th Century German recipe by Debra A Hense (Kateryn de Develyn, page 15). The recipe is for marinated veggies that call for balsamic vinegar. Would a 14th Century German use a 17th Century Italian vinegar? I'm not saying that it wouldn't taste nice, but I don't think balsamic vinegar would be the best choice to use. I would use cider vinegar. It is perfectly acceptable to springboard off of someone else's work because you disagree with their conclusion or methods. (Yes, documents describing the vinegar from the Balsamic region of Italy date back to around 1000AD, but I believe that the balsamic style vinegar that we can buy, today, only dates back to the 17th century. Don't agree with me, do some research and prove me wrong. I look forward to your article.)

There are a lot of surviving broadsheet ballads from the end of the SCA time period. Find a high resolution image of a broadsheet and transcribe it into modern English (or other languages if you wish). At the very least, convert it into modern spelling. You can also take the time to make footnotes explaining any unusual words or phrases. You might be the first person to transcribe it. I transcribed two broadsheets into modern English, the Case For and Against Coffee. It was a fun project.

Micro-research doesn't have to be 100% written for a newsletter. Remember, the AEthelmearc Gazette would happily welcome any short articles. Especially if there are nice pictures. There are several late-period manuscripts that explain how men and women should bow and/or curtsy. If you have nice garb, and a partner to hold the camera, make a photo spread of the steps necessary to show that one was properly trained to behave in court. Re-create the woodcuts with pictures from multiple angles.

With YouTube, you can make video research "papers". Do you know how to wrap "viking" leg wraps? Or how to properly roll chausses so that they don't fall down? Make a video and upload it.

And I highly recommend that you create an A&S blog so that you can keep track of what you work on. Wordpress and Blogger are two of the most popular. If you keep your research online, you will be able to, at an event, tell someone, "I know the answer to that. Just go to my blog at www.blablabla.com. and search for medieval pop tarts."

Here are some ideas that might inspire you; either for a small paper, or for a deeper dive for a broader research paper:

  • Describe the White Ship.
  • Who was Black Agnes?
  • The wheelbarrow was invented in China and Europe at the same time: how were they different? Same with the stern-mounted rudder.
  • Describe a medieval fire arrow.
  • Did Shakespeare invent the Knock-knock joke?
  • Where do “crocodile tears” come from?
  • Who were the Green Children of Woolpit?
  • How would you make a given recipe "kosher" for lent?
  • How were coiners paid?
  • Describe England's archery law.
  • How expensive were spices? Or pigments?
  • Tell me about Mahometta.
  • Explain a medieval idiom or phrase. (Were door nails really dead?)
  • What is the difference between a friar and a monk?
  • How did Mansa Musa cause an economic disaster in the 14th Century?
  • What was a mappa mundi?
  • How much profit could one get by buying sheep and then selling the fleece.
  • Who was Mayor Nicholas Brembre?
  • In "Romeo and Juliet", why did one Italian tell a second Italian that a third Italian fights in an Italian style all the while standing in an Italian city?

I hope that I have inspired you, my readers, to take your first steps on the road of research, and I look forward to reading what you have discovered.

Saturday, December 25, 2021

I'm rather pleased with myself.

 This turned out rather well.



I'm happy as to how this turned out. Micron black and red pens on Fluid 100% cotton paper. 


Water of Cloves

This was a project I did for the 2017 Ice Dragon A&S Pentathlon. I think I came in second in the beverages section. I'm not entirely certain. 

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

Water of Cloves

Description:

Cordial based on an mid 16th century, French recipe, from Charles Estienne and Jean Liebault ’s L’Agriculture et Maison Rustique. Originally in published French in 1564. First English translation in 1600 by Richard Surflet, reprinted 1606, then revised and republished as Maison Rustique, or, the Countrey Farme by Gervase Markham in 1616.

Intoduction:

To begin with, allow me to define what a cordial is. A cordial is a flavored alcoholic beverage, normally wine, that has been distilled.[1] 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 and popular. Some modern cordials, such as Benedictine and Frangelico, date back to the 16th and 17th Century.[2] 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.[3]

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.”[4] Legal documents dating to 1411 mention the distillation of wine into brandy in the Armagnac region of France.[5]

By the 14th Century, the drinking of these beverages had become very popular in Italy and had also spread into France. A Tuscany native, Catherine de Medici,[6] is often credited with bringing them with her to France. There is some discussion as to whether or not she was the first to introduce them to France, but there is no doubt that she certainly increased the popularity and acceptance of these drinks among the nobility 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. It is more than likely that the liqueur evolved as a sweet beverage as to counter act the bitterness of the herbs and other ingredients. But is not my intention to reproduce a modern cough syrup, nor is it to flavor brandy or vodka and pretend that it’s period. This recipe will be made from infused wine which is then distilled.

Details of the original recipe:

Water of Cloues [p462]
Take equall parts of Cloues, Ginger, and flowers of Rosemarie, infuse them in verie good Wine the space of eight daies: distill the whole: This vvater comforteth the stomacke,* assuageth the paines and vvringings of the bellie, killeth vvormes, and maketh fat folke to become leane, or maketh fat the leane, if they drinke it mixt with sugar.[7]

Redaction:

Take equal parts of cloves, ginger, and flowers of rosemary. Infuse them in a very good wine for eight days. Distil the whole. This water comforts the stomach, lessens the pains and cramps of the belly, kills worms and make fat folk to become skinny or make the fat become lean, if they drink it mixed with sugar.

  • 1.5L of French Bordeaux wine, Chateau La Gourtere brand
  • About 1/2 ounce sliced Tailand ginger
  • About 1/2 ounce Rosemary leaves
  • About 1/4 ounce Rosemary flowers
  • 10 Cloves
I placed the herbs and spices into the wine bottle and let sit for eight days. Afterwards, I poured the infused wine into my “still” and distilled it. The distilled liquid was moved into a new bottle and sealed.

Technique:


I will start with the cloves, first. The original recipe called for equal amounts of herbs and spices, but the cloves that I have are very powerful and can quickly overpower any other flavors. I did not want to risk using a full half ounce and ending up with a mouth numbing beverage. I would have used four or five, in a similar recipe, but I used ten because the cordial is called Water of Cloves.

Ginger: I picked up a hand of fresh ginger, and sliced up about a half an ounce. I think that my ginger would be far fresher and superior to anything available in France in the 16th century. The recipe does not give any measurements: either for the additions or for the wine required. I used a half an ounce for the ginger and rosemary (to be discussed below) based on my experience with brewing. A half an ounce of fresh ginger will be strong enough to stand up to four or five of the cloves that I use for spiced wines and meads. As I did not want this beverage to turn into a toothache remedy, I also did not want it to taste like spicy ginger beer. I intended for the final product to have subtle flavors, not be overpowering.

Rosemary: I used a half an ounce of leaves to match the amount of ginger used. I actually grew my own rosemary and let it flower. I harvested the flowers and stashed them in my freezer until I was ready to start this project. Since presentation was not an issue, and that the flowers would be soaking in wine, the freezing process did not damage the flowers relative to what I wanted from them. However, I only managed to gather about 1/4 ounce of flowers and the flowers, when fresh, really did not have much of a flavor. When frozen, they had none. To ensure that there would be rosemary flavor in this beverage, I added 1/2 ounce of fresh rosemary leaves, not the stems, purchased from the grocery store.

I did not feel the need to process the additions, other than to slice the ginger into small enough pieces to fit into the wine bottle. Since they will be steeping in the wine for just over a week, I saw no need to crush or grind them into smaller pieces: the alcohol of the wine can take the time to extract the water and alcohol soluble flavors from them. There are some recipes that call for the additions to be ground into power and then, immediately, added to the still. The recipe that I chose does not call for anything more than soaking in wine.

The medicinal properties of these three giants of flavor were well known:

Rosemary:[8]
Our garden Rosemary is so well known, that I need not describe it. Government and virtues : The Sun claims privilege in it, and it is under the celestial Ram. It is an herb of as great use with us in these days as any whatsoever, not only for physical but civil purposes. The physical use of it (being my present task) is very much used both for inward and outward diseases, for by the warming and comforting heat thereof it helps all cold diseases both of the head, stomach, liver, and belly. The decoction thereof in wine, helps the cold distillations of rheum into the eyes, and all other cold diseases of the head and brain, as the giddiness or swimmings therein, drowsiness or dullness of the mind and senses like a stupidness, the dumb palsy, or loss of speech, the lethargy, and fallen- sickness, to be both drank, and the temples bathed therewith. It helps the pains in the gums and teeth, by rheum falling into them, not by putrefaction, causing an evil smell from them, or a stinking breath. It helps a weak memory, and quickens the senses. It is very comfortable to the stomach in all the cold griefs thereof, helps both retention of meat, and digestion, the decoction or powder being taken in wine. It is a remedy for the windiness in the stomach, bowels, and spleen, and expels it powerfully. It helps those that are liver-grown, by opening the obstructions thereof. It helps dim eyes, and procures a clear sight, the flowers thereof being taken all the while it is flowering every morning fasting, with bread and salt. Both Dioscorides and Galen say, That if a decoction be made thereof with water, and they that have the yellow jaundice exercise their bodies directly after the taking thereof, it will certainly cure them. The flowers and conserve made of them are singularly good to comfort the heart, and to expel the contagion of the pestilence; to burn the herb in houses and chambers, corrects the air in them. Both the flowers and leaves are very profitable for women that are troubled with the whites, if they be daily taken. The dried leaves shred small, and taken in a pipe, as tobacco is taken, helps those that have any cough, phthisic, or consumption, by warming and drying the thin distillations which cause those diseases. The leaves are very much used in bathings; and made into ointments or oil, are singularly good to help cold benumbed joints, sinews, or members. The chymical oil drawn from the leaves and flowers, is a sovereign help for all the diseases aforesaid, to touch the temples and nostrils with two or three drops for all the diseases of the head and brain spoken of before; as also to take one drop, two, or three, as the case requires, for the inward griefs. Yet must it be done with discretion, for it is very quick and piercing, and therefore but a little must be taken at a time. There is also another oil made by insolation in this manner: Take what quantity you will of the flowers, and put them into a strong glass close stopped, tie a fine linen cloth over the mouth, and turn the mouth down into another strong glass, which being set in the sun, an oil will distil down into the lower glass, to bepreserved as precious for divers uses, both inward and outward, as a sovereign balm to heal the disease beforementioned, to clear dim sights, and to take away spots, marks, and scars in the skin.
Cloves: [9] It is vain to describe an herb so well known. Government and virtues : They are gallant, fine, temperate flowers, of the nature and under the dominion of Jupiter; yea, so temperate, that no excess, neither in heat, cold, dryness, nor moisture, can be perceived in them; they are great strengtheners both of the brain and heart, and will therefore serve either for cordials or cephalics, as your occasion will serve. There is both a syrup and a conserve made of them alone, commonly to be had at every apothecary’s. To take now and then a little of either, strengthens nature much, in such as are in consumptions. They are also excellently good in hot pestilent fevers, and expel poison.
Ginger:[10] Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage. Ginger is stimulant, rubefacient, errhine, and sialagogue. When chewed it occasions an increased flow of saliva, and when swallowed it acts as a stimulating tonic, stomachic, and carminative, increasing the secretion of gastric juice, exalting the excitability of the alimentary muscular system, and dispelling gases accumulated in the stomach and bowels. Prepared with rhubarb, in the form of cordial or syrup, few articles are more valuable in cholera morbus and cholera infantum, when there is coldness of the surface and extremities, and nausea and vomiting accompany. It is eminently useful in habitual flatulency, atonic dyspepsia, hysteria, and enfeebled and relaxed habits, especially of old and gouty individuals; and is excellent to relieve nausea, pains and cramps of the stomach and bowels, and to obviate tenesmus, and especially when those conditions are due to colds, or to the ingestion of unripe or otherwise unwholesome fruit. Ginger is occasionally of value in fevers, particularly where the salivary secretions are scanty and there is pain and movement of gases within the intestines. Here, though a stimulant, it will assist in producing sedation by re-establishing secretion and relieving the distressing gastro-intestinal annoyances.
Spicing wines was not an uncommon practice and it is believed to be the “father” of cordials and liqueurs. The spicing of wine is among the oldest of methods of fortifying the beverage and granting it better taste or medicinal properties. Specific commentaries and recipes for it can be found from early Roman Imperial times. Some spiced wines, such as hippocras,[11] were an industry into themselves by the 14th Century. A recipe from a collection of Norman French papers called “B. L. Additional 32085” dating to the reign of King Edward I[12] is as follows:[13]

28. ICI COMENCE COMENT L’EN DEIT FERE CLAREE. Pernez de kanele, de gyngivre, de maces, les deus parties; de gilofres, nois de muge, fuyle de Inde, la tierce partie; semence de fenoyl, anys, karewi, autaunt; kardamome, squinaunte, la quarte partie; spicanardi a la meitJ de tuttes les autres choses. E metez en pudre, e puys metez la pudre en une puche, e pernez vin blaunc ou vermail e versez desus la pudre e fetes coler com lescive, si averez claree; e taunt cum plus reversez e colez la chose avaunt colee, si averez vostre claree plus forte, e si vos n’avez pas tuz ces espices, pernez kanele e gingivre, maces, les deux parties; de gilofres e spicanardi a la meitJ de tuttes les autres choses, e metez en pudre, e colez cum devaunt est dist; si averez claree. Explicit.

28. HERE BEGIN INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING CLAREE. Take half a measure of cinnamon, ginger, and mace; a third of a measure of cloves, nutmeg, malabathrum; fennel, anise, and caraway seeds, in the same amount; cardamom and squinant, a fourth of a measure; and spikenard in the amount of half the quantity of al the other spices. Grind this into a powder, and then put the powder in a pouch, and take white or red wine and pour it over the powder, wring it through the cloth, and you will have claree; the more you repeat the process, the stronger your claree will be. If you do not have all these spices, take two measures of cinnamon, ginger, and mace, cloves and spikenard to half the quantity of all other ingredients; grind to a powder, and strain as described above, and you will have claree.

Sir Kenelm Digbie listed the following hippocras recipe:

To make Ypocrasse for lords with gynger, synamon, and graines, sugour, and turnesol:and for comyn pepul, gynger, canell, longe peper, and clarifyed hony.

As I did not have the time to make wine, and let it age, I bought wine. As this is a French recipe, I used a French wine. I could have used an English wine, but no one had anything nice to say about English wine in the 16th century. I chose a red Bordeaux (a Grand Vin de Bordeaux) from Chateau La Goutere, whose vinyards are located “near Saint Emilon in Nouvelle-Aquitaine”.[14] I chose this style of wine not only because the Bordeaux region of France has been making wine since the time of the Romam Empire, but because the English imported it.

... By the mid 13th century, three fourths of England’s royal wine came from Bordeaux, at a freight charge of 8 shillings the ton. The wine fleet convened twice a year; in October for the “vintage” shipping, and in February for the “rack” shipping of wine drawn off the lees. We have Bordeaux’s export figures for seven years of the early 14th century, averaging 83,000 tonneaux of 12 score and 12 gallons each. England took about half of this, and when the new wine arrived, last year’s was halved in price, or even just thrown away. These wines were the common drink, lower in status the Mediterranean and Rhenish wines, but they were plentiful and cheap. Bordeaux made three kinds of wines: white, red , and clairet. Until about 1600, clairet meant a light colored wine, ranging from yellow, as distinct from white, to pink. To get the desired pink color, called “partridge-eye”, red and white wines were often mixed. Red wines then would have been very light. They were only on the skins one day, and absorbed little color and tannins. After the wine was drawn off, the remainder, redder and coarser, was used for tinting wine, or sold cheaply as “vin vermeilh” or “pin pin”. This amounted to about 15%.[15]
Samuel Pegge’s The Forme of Cury states in the prefence, “Wine is common, both red, and white... This article they partly had of their own growth, and partly by importation from France and Greece. They had also Rhenish, and probably several other sorts. The “vynegreke” is among the sweet wines....”

The most popular wines in the 14th century were (in order of preference) sweet Mediterranean wines, white Rhenish wines, and Claret. The red wines of Burgundy were highly prized, and could still be drunk after two years, but were scarce and more difficult to obtain in England. Claret was definately a young wine, when a new vintage arrived from Bordeaux, the price of the previous vintage was usually cut in half (or the old wine was simply discarded).[16]
Angharad ver’ Rhuawn posted on Stefan’s Florilegium the following, “They classified wines as red, white, and sweet. There is list of wines of all three sorts in John Russell’s Boke of Nurture, There are recipes that call specifically for red, some that call for white, some that call for specific sweet sorts (wine greke, vernage, etc.). I infer from this that period wines were not all markedly sweet, or they would not make the largest distinctions in that area.” The Book of Keruynge, published in 1508, makes the following list of wine names: Reed wyne, whyte wyne, claret whyne, osey, capryke, campolet, renysshe wyne maluely, bastarde, tyerre romney, muscadell, clarrey, raspys, vernage, vernage wyne cut, pymente and Ipocras.”

... By the reign of Edward III (1327-1377) the trade in French wine had reached amazing proportions. Ships of that time were rated at the number of tonnes (252 gallon casks of wine) they could carry. To this day, we speak of ship “tonnage” when we refer to ocean freight transport. The wine fleet would sail for France in late autumn, returning before Christmas with “new wine”. They would sail again after Easter in the spring, and return with “rack wine” of the same vintage. In 1372, the wine fleet consisted of some 200 ships, with average tonnage well over 50 tonnes per ship, for a total cargo of over 3 million gallons of wine that year. The English even had their own name for much of this wine. The French used the term clairet to refer to the light red wine of Bordeaux, before it was blended with heavier, darker red wine from elsewhere in France. It was this that the English came to call Claret. ... Meanwhile, back in Europe, William Turner published the first English book on wines, “A new Boke of the natures and properties of all Wines that are commonlye used here in England”, in 1568. It was primarily a physician’s view on wines, with Turner denouncing red wines, while advocating “whyte Rhennish and whyte French” wines. In 1577, William Harrison identified 56 varieties of small, weak wines (both red and white) that were drunk by the English people, and 30 kinds of sweet wines.[17]
The recipe called for very good wine. While Bordeaux was, at the time, considered “plentiful and cheap”, my 2010 vintage Bordeaux would be a very good wine by comparison, in my opinion. No mention was made as to what kind of wine to use, or what color. I picked a red wine as I felt that the stronger flavor of the wine and its tannins, would stand up to the cloves and ginger far better than a more subtle white wine.

Distillation:


To set the matter straight: distillation is illegal within the USA, and before I started this project I examined the law carefully. Article 10, Section 153 of the Special Provisions Relating To Illicit Alcoholic Beverages And Stills states the following:

Any person who shall manufacture any illicit alcoholic beverage or who, not being duly licensed as a distiller under the provisions of the alcoholic beverage control law, shall own, operate, possesses or have under his control any still or distilling apparatus is guilty of a felony. “Still” or “distilling apparatus shall mean any apparatus designed, intended, actually used, or capable of being used for or in connection with the separating of alcoholic or spirituous vapors, or alcohol or spirituous solutions, or alcohol or spirits, from alcohol or spirituous solutions or mixtures, but shall not include stills used for laboratory purposes or stills used for distilling water, oil, alcoholic or nonalcoholic materials where the cubic capacity of such stills is one gallon or less.
As I would only be distilling a liter and a half of wine in a non-presurized stock pot, and that I would not be selling the product nor transporting it across state lines, I feel that this is a safe project.

The ginger, rosemary leaves and flowers and the cloves were left to infuse for eight days before being poured, along with the wine, into a stockpot into which there was a brick topped with a ceramic bowl. The wine was brought to 170F,[18] the lid placed on the pot and bags of ice placed on top of the lid. This method of low-pressure distillation is often used for home perfume and oil making. The instructions came from a cooking show on how to make home made rose water.[19]

At 170F the alcohol will boil off and rise to the top of the container, where it will condense when in contact with the cold lid and fall into the bowl, which is insulated from the heat by the brick. A turkey baster was used to transfer the cordial from the bowl into a waiting container and the ice was replaced as needed. After two and a half hours, a little more than a pint of clear liquid was distilled out of the wine, meaning that about 4/5th of the original volume was discarded in the production of this cordial. A better still might have reduced this ratio, but I used what I had available.

After distillation, the cordial, now clear, possessed a slightly flowery aroma, and a harsh flavor of cloves. Cloves. A strong enough flavor that my tongue started to tingle, and then, get numb. I am glad that I only used ten cloves instead of a full half ounce. I did not have enough of the cordial to blend half with sugar, so I present only the base cordial.

Aging the cordial in oak might mellow out the flavor, but I am unaware of any period recipes that called for aging cordials. This is not a beverage for casual drinking, and it was not intended to be. Cordials, at this time, were considered to be medicine rather than after-dinner drinks. With the cost involved with the wine, spices, fuel and time, not to mention how little cordial one ends up with, cordials were expensive and I believe that they were made as needed and not mass produced. For people who wished just to get a buzz, there were more cost effective alcoholic beverages. The recipe does not provide any doses for water of cloves, but we can look at other cordial recipes: “...and distyllet aghen ghyf ou wolte and vse at of euer[e]ch day a lytel spone-ful fastyng.”;[20] “...and if a man haue nede, late hym take er-of morn and euyn iiii sponful at onys.”;[21] “helps digestion if two or three or four ounces thereof be drunk, and the patient composes himself to rest.”[22]

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

DuBose Fred; Spingarn, Evan. The Ultimate Wine Lover’s Guide 2006. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2005

Felter, Harvey Wickes and Lloyd, John Uri. King’s American Dispensatory. 1898. Scanned version by Henriette Kress, 1999

FitzMaurice, Forester Nigel. A Miscellany of Early Cordials. Http://web.raex.com/~obsidian/precwat.html

FitzMaurice, Forester Nigel. A Recipe For Spiced Wines. Http://web.raex.com/~obsidian/spcwine.html

French, John. The Art of Distillation. Or, A Treatise of the Choicest Spagyrical Preparations Performed by Way o£ Distillation, Being Partly Taken Out of the Most Select Chemical Authors of the Diverse Languages and Partly Out of the Author’s Manual Experience together with, The Description of the Chiefest Furnaces and Vessels Used by Ancient and Modern Chemists also A Discourse on Diverse Spagyrical Experiments and Curiosities, and of the Anatomy of Gold and Silver, with The Chiefest Preparations and Curiosities Thereof, and Virtues of Them All. All Which Are Contained In Six Books Composed By John French, Dr. of Physick. London. Printed by Richard Cotes and are to sold by Thomas Williams at the Bible in Little-Britain without Aldersgate, 1651. Http://www.levity.com/alchemy/jfren_ar.html

Frisinger, H. Howard. Aristole’s Legacy in Meteorology. “Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society:” Vol. 54, No. 3, pp. 198–204.

Hannum, Hurst. Brandies and Liqueurs of the World. Doubleday & Company, Garden City, N.Y.

Henslow, G. Medical Works of the Fourteenth Century. Burt Franklin, N.Y., N.Y. 1972 (reprint of the 1899 edn.)

Henslow, George. Medical Works of the Fourteenth Century: Together With a List Of Plants Recorded In Contemporary Writings, With Their Identifications. London: Chapman and Hall, ld., 1899. Archive.org call number: RS125 .H46 1899.

Hieatt, Constance B. and Jones Robin F. Two Anglo-Norman Culinary Collections Edited from British Library Manuscripts Additional 32085 and Royal 12.C.xii, “Speculum”, Vol. 61, No. 4 Oct. 1986

Jeffs, Julian. Sherry. Octopus Books, 2004

Liebault, John and Stevens, Charles. Le Maison Rustique or The Convntry Farms. Translated into English by Richard Surflet. Arnold Harfield. London. 1606.

Ludington, Charles. The Politics of Wine in Britain: A New Cultural History. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

Lukacs, Paul. Inventing Wine: A New History of One of the World’s Most Ancient Pleasures: A New History of One of the World’s Most Ancient Pleasures. W. W. Norton & Company, 2013

Maison rustique, or The countrey farme· Compyled in the French tongue by Charles Steuens, and Iohn Liebault, Doctors of Physicke. And translated into English by Richard Surflet, practitioner in physicke. Now newly reuiewed, corrected, and augmented, with diuers large additions, out of the works of Serres his Agriculture, Vinet his Maison champestre, French. Albyterio in Spanish, Grilli in Italian; and other authors. And the husbandrie of France, Italie, and Spaine, reconciled and made to agree with ours here in England: by Geruase Markham. Estienne, Charles, 1504-ca. 1564., Lie´bault, Jean, ca. 1535-1596. aut, Surflet, Richard, fl. 1600-1616., Markham, Gervase, 1568?-1637. London: Printed by Adam Islip for Iohn Bill, 1616. Estienne, Charles. Maison Rustique. Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :: Text Creation Partnership, 2003-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1), n.d. Web.

Mareschal, THL Alexander. Alcoholic Drinks of the Middle Ages. “Complete Anachronist” #60. http://home.sunlitsurf.com/~mshapiro/cliqueur.html#liqueur recipes

MacMillan, Lord Alistair. Wine. “Scum” Volume 1, number 16

Mencarelli, Fabio; Tonutti, Pietro. Sweet, Reinforced and Fortified Wines: Grape Biochemistry, Technology and Vinification. John Wiley & Sons, 2013

Millon, Marc. Wine: A Global History. Reaktion Books, 2013

Plat, Sir Hugh. A Closet for Ladies and Gentlevvomen. Or, The Art of Preseruing, Conseruing, and Candying. Entered in the Stationers Registry: 1 September 1602 London: Printed [by F. Kingston] for Arthur Iohnson, dvvelling neere the great north dore of Paules, 1608. Edited and Annotated by Johnna H. Holloway. Published through www.medievalcookery.com: 2011.

Plat, Sir Hugh. Delights for ladies to adorn their persons, tables, closets, and distillatories, with beauties, banquets, perfumes, and waters. London, Printed by J. Young, 1644.

Wilson, C. Anne. Food & Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the 19th Century. Academy Chicago Pub. 1991

Wright, F. B. A Practical Handbook On The Distillation Of Alcohol From Farm Products Including The Processes Of Malting; Mashing And Mascerating; Fermenting And Distilling Alcohol From Grain, Beets, Potatoes. Molasses, Etc.. With Chapters On Alcoholometry And The De-Naturing Of Alcohol For Use In Farm Engines, Automobiles, Launch Motors, And In Heating And Lighting; With A Synopsis Of The New Free Alcohol Law And Its Amendment And The Government Regulations. 2nd Edition. Spon & Chamberlain. New York. 1907




[1] A flavored non-distilled alcohol is hippocras
[2] 1517 and 1676 respectively
[3] Frisinger
[4] Anonymous
[5] Hannum, pp. 62
[6] Ibid., pp 5, 145.
[7] Maison rustique
[8] Culpeper, Culpeper’s Complete Herbal
[9] Culpeper, The English physitian
[10] Felter and Lloyd
[11] a spiced and sweetened wine, often served steaming hot
[12] 1272-1307
[13] Hieatt and Jones, provided by FitzMaurice
[14] From the bottle’s label.
[15] MacMillan
[16] Corwin, Florilegium
[17] Corwin, Creature.
[18] Measured using a digital thermometer.
[19] Good Eats: Switched on Baklava, aired in 2008.
[20] “...and distill again if you like, and take a little spoonful every day while fasting.” Johnstone Manuscript: 1400-1450, Henslow, p73
[21] “...and if a man have need, let him take 4 spoonfuls at once, morning and evening.” Sloane Manuscript 521: 1490-1500 Henslow, p142
[22] French, no page number listed