SC - hypocras

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Cindy Renfrow wrote:

> When I
> made it, it had the consistency of egg nog, very thick, as expected, & very
> cloudy from the cream.  I didn't finish it, so I put the bottle in the
> fridge & forgot about it.  I just looked at it now & it is totally clear --
> not a trace of the cream is left, not even on the bottom of the bottle.
> There's only a slight film of spice at the bottom.  The flavor is very much
> improved, spicy with a rich creamy aftertaste, & very much more pleasant to
> drink.
> 
> Also, what happened to the cream?

Um, elves and fairies (the same ones who cause milk to sour, of course)
took it back to the cow?

Question: is the clear aged beverage still as thick as it was when you
first made it? Was there anything like clarifed butter floating or
suspended in lumps in the bottle?

A good deal of the thickness of cream, and the whiteness, too, has to do
with the fact that it is an emulsion. Emulsions will break into separate
phases, oil and water, etc., under various cicumstances, acidity being
one of them. I know, for example, that when you make syllabub and leave
it overnight, it will often separate into a wine phase and a thick sort
of whipped topping stuff on top. From your description the thick layer
was not so much on top as totally absent...am I getting this right? If
so, then I guess the whole emulsion thing isn't the explanation and I
have no idea what happened.

BTW, Cindy, I was pleased to see both of your books for sale at Kitchen
Arts and Letters in New York City. I've never seen physical copies being
sold by anyone outside of an SCA setting before. Congrats!
 
Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================