HERB - Hot drinks

[Gaylin Walli]

Yvette wrote:
>Is this the cool mint drink which is made by mixing a syrup made
>from the mint leaves with water?

And vinegar, yes. This is the recipe that I was thinking about,
but in looking at the miscellany, it's right above the actual
hot drink recipe that I had in my head called "Syrup of Simple
Sikanjabîn." The simple syrup recipe does not have mint in it
and appears to be two recipes, one served cold and the other hot,
though it's a little confusing.

>If so, I would love to get a hold of a copy of this recipe.  I
>had it once, but have since misplaced it.  Can anyone post the recipe?

Drinks, both hot and cold are available in the Miscellany at this
URL, if you'd like to look them any of the others (i.e. hot lemon
and hot pomegranates):

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/drinks.html#2

Let me just say that I've made this Sikanjabîn with success over the
last few years (actually, perhaps the last 8 years or so) and it
has always been well recieved. I still have one or two of the original
bottles I made over a  fire in the middle of winter in the
Upper Penninsula of Michigan during a blizzard. :) Can't give
that stuff up for just any old feast, but we dole it out occasionally
for friends and it still tastes as good and strong today as it did
then. -- Jasmine, jasmine at infoengine.com or g.walli at infoengine.com

-----

[This is an article from Cariadoc's Miscellany. The Miscellany is
Copyright (c) by David Friedman and Elizabeth Cook, 1988, 1990,
1992. I retrieved it on 11/19/98 from the electronic webbed
edition at http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/drinks.html#2]

Sekanjabin

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

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

Syrup of Simple Sikanjabîn

(Oxymel)

Andalusian p. A-74

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

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