SC - rose sotelties

[Rachel Trigg]

I skimmed through Digby last night looking for Chamomile and didn't find
it in spite of the good man's fondness for garden herbs. Was Chamomile
called by another name?

Crystal of the Westermark

Wes Will wrote:
> 
> Greetings!  Just catching up on the digests from the past couple of days.....
> 
> >>From: aldyth at juno.com (Deborah J Hammons)
> Subject: Re: SC -Chamomile Mead
> 
> This past weekend at an archery event, the Archer General of the Outlands
> and I were lamenting the state of our health, and musing what would be a
> period remedy. Chamomile mead was mentioned. Probably a better question
> for the brewers list, but did anyone make mead out of Chamomile?  Is is
> possible to make mead out of chamomile?
> 
> Aldyth
> Aldyth at juno.com<<
> 
> "Mead with herbs or spices" is properly kown as Metheglin.  "Mead with
> fruit juices" is known as Melomel.  So much for pedanticism in terminology.
>  :-)
> 
> Metheglin using Chamomile is quite possible, though I cannot think of a
> period receipt using that particular herb, off the top of my head.  In any
> case, If you look in Digby's, you will find many recipes for Metheglin,
> such as "To Make a Tun of Metheglin", and various "White Metheglin"
> recipes.  If you follow the procedures there (adding in such modernities as
> strict hygiene, though Sir D. does insist that the helpers have clean hands
> and nails), you will produce a very fine Metheglin, light and flavourful.
> Substituting chamomile leaves for some of the other herbs in the Digby
> receipt would be at most "one weirdness" (to lapse into "herald-speak" for
> a moment) from the period source.  (OK, so Sir Kenelme Digby is just
> post-period, I know.  But he's close!  And he's readily available, some of
> it is even on the web.)  I might just try a batch, after the honey flow has
> gotten a good start and the price of the sticky stuff is down a bit again.
> It's time I did some metheglin or melomel again.  The cinnamon metheglin is
> running a tad low finally.  (That's the one that went sparkle-sparkle on
> me, unexpected-like - delicious stuff, just lightly carbonated in the
> bottle, and getting better every year so far!)  (The strawberry melomel,
> though, was a letdown.  Too much tannin got into it from the berry seeds, I
> think.  It is getting better, slowly.  It's drinkable now, whereas last
> year it was just short of awful.)
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