HERB - Vinegar Beverages

[Rauthulfr]

Greetings from Rauthulfr;
Sekanjabin is one of the more common beverages made with vinegar.   It has the
additional virtue of being appropriate for feasts at dry sites.  Here is a
modern recipe and a period notation from Duke Cariadoc's Miscellany.   The on
line Miscellany has a number of really useful recipes and redactions
available.
These recipes can be found at:
<http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/drinks.html#2>http://www.pbm.com/~lin
dahl/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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