Sekanjabin - Persian Mint Drink

Sekanjabin is another popular drink that can be found at events. It is simple and easy to make. This is another recipe from "An Anonymous Andalusian cookbook of the 13th Century" as translated by David Friedman.

Syrup of Simple Sikanjabîn (Oxymel)

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

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... and a ratl of sugar; cook all this until it takes the consistency of syrup. Its benefit is to relax the bowels and cut the thirst and vomiting, and it is beneficial in bilious fevers (Friedman, 2000).

Sekanjabin Recipe (Courtesy of David Friedman)

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

Sekanjabin refers to the "family" of drinks made with vinegar, sugar and water (Meade, 2002).  I prefer to use red wine vinegar as the base of my drink.  I have also used flavored vinegars and omitted the mint.  I prefer a stronger drink, so I usually dilute 5:1 ratio of water to syrup.  

Works Cited 

Friedman, D. (2000, September 4). Chapter One: On Drinks. Retrieved 14 2015, September, from An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century: http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Andalusian/andalusian10.htm#Heading506

Meade, R. H. (2002, October 25). Non-Alcoholic Beverages of the Middle Ages. Retrieved September 14, 2015, from Medieval Brewers Homepage: http://mbhp.forgottensea.org/noalcohol.html#_ftnref5

Spiced Pomegranite Drink - Spiced Pomegranate Syrup

Ale, beer, mead and wine were very popular beverages in the middle ages, but most sites are dry or semi dry, or for personal reasons, folks will choose not to drink alcoholic beverages. There are several different drinks that I turn to that are documentable to within period in the SCA. These have gone over very well at banquets I have served in the past.

I will start with one of the more popular beverages, spiced pomegranate drink. This drink is easy to make and very refreshing. This is very similar to Grenadine syrup, but please don't buy the commercial product when this drink is so easy to make.

Syrup of Pomegranates 

Take a ratl of sour pomegranates and another of sweet pomegranates, and add their juice to two ratles of sugar, cook all this until it takes the consistency of syrup, and keep until needed. Its benefits: it is useful for fevers, and cuts the thirst, it benefits bilious fevers and lightens the body gently (Friedman, 2000).

Recipe

1 quart pomegranate juice
4 cups of sugar
1-2 cinnamon sticks*
Up to a tablespoon of cloves*

**One of the recipes I located while researching (Non Alcoholic Beverages of the Middle Ages by HL Ronan Meade) suggested the addition of cinnamon and or clove as well as other "warmed spices". 

As the recipe from Al-Andulus suggests, equal parts of juice to sugar, heated until it boils and then lower the heat and cook until it becomes thick syrup. I dilute my syrup with a 4:1 ratio of water to syrup.

 This syrup can be kept nonrefridgerated and prepared in advanced. 

Works Cited

Friedman, D. (2000, September 4). Chapter One: On Drinks. Retrieved 14 2015, September, from An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century: http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Andalusian/andalusian10.htm#Heading506

Meade, R. H. (2002, October 25). Non-Alcoholic Beverages of the Middle Ages. Retrieved September 14, 2015, from Medieval Brewers Homepage: http://mbhp.forgottensea.org/noalcohol.html#_ftnref5

To Make Callishones - Marzipan flavored with Coriander

Callishones dryiing on the stove top

Baronial 12th Night 

I am working on putting together an Elizabethan Banqueting Course this week. I have candied fruits, roots and flowers, made comfits of anise seed, fennel, caraway and cinnamon and fruit paste of peaches, quince and berries. Today I started working on other items that you might have found laid out for the banqueting course.

What is the banqueting course? It is the culmination of a feast, and it usually consisted of an assortment of sweetmeats and other delicacies served with a spiced wine known as hypocras. Sugar and spices were very expensive to purchase. Sugar was thought to be medicinal. To close a meal with a banqueting course served a three-fold purpose. First, it was an indication of the host's wealth, secondly, it also was a display of status and lastly, it showed off the artistic skills of the lady of the house.
Now you know, I'm not artistic. I'm very good with molds and cutters!

To Make Callishones

Take halfe a pound of Marchpane paste, a thimble-full of coriander seeds beaten to a powder, with a graine of Muske, beat all to a perfect paste, print it and drie it.

John Murrell, A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen, 1621

Recipe

10 ounces almond paste
1 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
up to 1/2 cup confectioner sugar
1 tsp. rosewater

This works best if the almond paste is cold, so I put mine in the refrigerator overnight. I grated it into a bowl and added 1/2 tsp. ground coriander to the grated paste. I then added the remainder of the coriander to the sugar, and put a small handful of it onto a piece of wax paper. I took 1/3 of my almond paste and pressed it on both sides into the sugar/coriander mixture. I rolled it out to approximately 1/4" thick and cut it out with cookie cutters. I got about 80 pieces of candy from this.

To finish, I mixed gold luster dust with ground coriander and painted the edges of the callishones with rosewater before running the edges through the coriander/luster dust mix, before setting it out to dry.

To make the almond paste I used a mix of equal parts almond flour to confectioner sugar and then add 1-2 tsp. almond extract, a tsp. of orange flower or rose-water plus an egg white. I know, I should be worried about salmonella, but these were super fresh eggs purchased at the market that morning.

To Candy any Root, Fruits, or Flowers

Sugared Plums

Baronial 12th Night 

In preparation for serving the dessert course at an upcoming SCA event I have been working with preserving a variety of roots, fruits and yes...earlier this year I preserved flowers (see: To Candy Flowers). So the method I am using is based on the method below:

Dissolve sugar, or sugar-candy in Rose-water, boyl it to an height, put in your roots, fruits or flowers, the syrup being cold, then rest a little; after take them out, and boyl the sirrup again, then put in more roots, &c. then boyl the syrup a third time to an hardness, putting in more Sugar, but not Rose-water put in the roots &c the syrup being cold, and let them stand till they candy (Markham).

I am not using rose water in my candying. I personally enjoy the taste of roses, and I also enjoy the scent that the rosewater gives to food when you use it. However, rose water is not a taste most people are familiar with and it is very much one of those like it/hate it tastes. I am cooking for a wide audience, which is the reason I am not using rosewater. I am also not boiling three times. I did use a very similar method last year to glace cherries. The entire process took nine days and the flavor of the fruit was very deep with a honey like flavor. If you can go this route, please do. Here is the method I am using.

To candy any roote, fruite or flower.

Dissolue Sugar, or sugar candy in Rose-water, boile it to an height, put in your rootes, fruits or flowers, the sirrop being cold, then rest a little, after take them out and boyle the sirrop againe, then put in more roots, &c. then boile the sirrop the third time to an hardnesse, put∣ting in more sugar but not Rose-water, put in the roots, &c. the sirrop being cold and let them stand till they candie. The English house-vvife Containing the inward and outward vertues which ought to be in a compleate woman. As her skill in physicke, surgery, cookery, extraction of oyles, banqueting-stuffe, ordering of great feasts, preseruing of all sorts of wines, conceited secrets, distillations, perfumes, ordering of wooll, hempe, flax, making cloth, and dying, the knowledge of dayries, office of malting, of oates, their excellent vses in a family, of brewing, baking, and all other things belonging to an houshold. A worke generally approued, and now the fourth time much augmented, purged and made most profitable and necessary for all men, and the generall good of this kingdome. By G.M. Markham, Gervase, 1568?-1637.

Interpreted Recipe

1-2 pounds of peeled, cored and sliced fruit or roots (I have candied plums, apples, pears, cantaloupe, ginger, orange and lemon peels, dried figs, cherries, beets, parsnips, yellow and orange carrots)
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup honey or corn syrup
1 cup water

Heat your sugar, honey (or corn syrup) and water to 235 degrees. Add your fruit and cook for 20 minutes. Most fruits will become transparent in the process. Do NOT let your temperature rise above 235 degrees. After fruit has cooked for 20 minutes, remove from syrup and place on a screen to dry.


Candied Figs, Ginger and Red Anise Seed Comfits

When I start the process of boiling the sugar I preheat my oven to the lowest temperature available and then turn it off when it is heated. After the fruit has been removed to the screen, I place the fruit in the heated oven and leave it overnight. Your fruit should be dry to the touch, if not, flip the fruit over on the screen and allow for continued drying. 

Some observations on the things that I have recently candied: 

Cantaloupe took four days to completely dry, pears and plums took three days.
If you are using dried fruit (like figs or apricots) you must first rehydrate them in warm water.
Make sure the fruit is dry when you add it to the sugar syrup.
A dip in temperature after fruit is added is normal.
The more humid it is, the less likely fruit will dry as expected-don't worry-it will get there.

Works Cited

Markham, G. (n.d.). Countrey Contentments, or the English Huswife: containing the Inward and Outward Vertues which ought to be in a Compleate Woman, 1623 London. Retrieved August 30, 2015, from LSE Library: http://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/objects/lse:heh898zor