SC - rose sekanjabin/was coffee and tea

[Crystal A. Isaac]

Just my two cents.

I use the term "sekanjabin" to mean favored syrups with vinegar. I use
the term "syrup" or sometimes by the translated name, for example,
"syrup of carrots" to denote drinks with NO vinegar. This seems
consistent with the majority usage in the translated arabic cookbooks
and health manuals I have read.

I will stick with my previously stated agreement with Professor Martin
Levey, [Sakanjubin is Arabicized from Pers. sirka-anjubin, "vinegar and
honey."] and continue to refer to drinks containg vinegar as
sekanjabins.

I think refering to something as "the sekanjabin of dishes" might have
ment that is was tasty and well liked by everyone. In spite of the
expensive sugar, references to the drink are frequent (although not as
frequent as wine <smile>) enough to make me belive it was a very common
drink among the upper-class people we are trying to emulate.

I made an error in last night's post in not explaining why I included
the Syrup of roses and Syrup of mint recipes in with the sekanjabins. I
was merely trying to show that those ingredients were included in the
same cookbook, in another beverage recipe. This is not the best
documentation to show only that "they could have done it" but it seems
reasonable they would have used other beverage ingredients in the
"simple sekanjabins." I did not intend to confuse anyone into thinking
that all syrups are sekanjabins.

Incidentatly, the syrup of carrots is quite tasty and documents the use
of ginger in beverages. I should have inculded it last night, I
apologise for the oversight. Syrup of carrots is also from the
Andelthusian Cookbook.

<quote>Syrup of Carrots
Take four ratls of carrots, after removing the fibers [lit. "nerves"]
that are in the centers, and cook them in water until their substance
comes out. Then take the clear part of it and add it to three ratls of
honey, cleaned of its foam. The bag: ...[about three words missing]...
an uqiya of cubebs, two uqiyas each of ginger and long pepper, and half
an uqiya of cinnamon and flower of cloves. Cook until it takes the form
of a syrup. Drink an uqiya of this with three of hot water....<end
quote>

Thank you for listening to me geek,
Crystal of the Westermark

david friedman (Master Sir Cariadoc) wrote:
> 
> Both Crystal and Kat seem to be using "sekanjabin" at least part of the
> time as a generic term for a family of syrup drinks. As Crystal points out,
> the recipe in _Manuscrito Anonimo_ is titled "Simple Sekanjabin." On the
> other hand, the chapter it is in contains lots and lots of recipes for
> drinks of the same general sort (make a syrup of sugar or honey or
> something similar, immerse some source of flavor in it, let it cool, dilute
> in hot or cold water), and none of the others is called "sekanjabin."
> 
> The only uses of the term I have evidence for are sugar+vinegar and
> honey+vinegar (_Manuscrito Anonimo_) and sugar+vinegar+mint (modern
> Persian). So while I don't know exactly where the line is drawn between
> "sekanjabin" and other drinks in the family, I don't think the term applies
> to all of them. It seems to have been a very familiar drink in period--one
> of the period recipes refers to something as "the sekanjabin of dishes."
> 
> If anyone has more information on the terminological issue, please provide.
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