SC - Metal drinkware (was With a Curtsey to Their Majesties: An Introduction)

[Lee-Gwen Booth]

Ximena asked about the recipe for "Alojas" which she translated from 
the _Manual de Mugeres_.  I have some additional info to share, but first 
here's the original and her translation:

> 131 Receta para hacer conserva de alojas
> 
>      Para seis onzas de almidón dos libras de azúcar. Echar
> el almidón en una escudilla de agua rosada y derretir el
> azúcar en otra escudilla de agua rosada. Y en dando tres o
> cuatro hervores, echarle una clara de huevo batido. Y en
> tornando a hervir, colarla por un paño espeso. Y colar el
> almidón. Y junto con el azúcar, ponedlo al fuego. Y esté al
> fuego hasta que se ponga espeso, meneándolo siempre. Y como
> esté espeso, echadlo en sus cajas.
> 
> Recipe for lark/spiced honey drink preserves
>      For six ounces of starch two pounds of sugar.  Put the
> starch in a bowl of rose water and melt the sugar in
> another bowl of rose water.  And while it boils two or
> three times, put in a beaten egg white.  And returning it
> to a boil, strain/filter it through a thick cloth.  And
> strain/filter the starch.  And together with the sugar, put
> it on the fire.  And it should be on the fire until it
> becomes thick, always stirring it.  And when it is thick,
> put it in its boxes.

(Ximena, forgive me if I go over some ground that you have already 
covered.)

The modern editor's note to this recipe says that it is curious, since all 
known definitions of "aloja" refer to a beverage made with water, honey 
and spices.  (My medieval Spanish dictionary confirms this.)  The recipe 
above is a confection, not a drink, and contains no honey.  She 
suggests that perhaps it might possibly be intended to be dissolved in 
water, then drunk.

There is a parallel recipe in the _Libre de Totes Maneres de Confits_.  
(!4th century Catalan confectionary manuscript, reprinted in a 1947 
Spansih journal.)  I will give the original Catalan, then my crude 
paraphrase of the recipe, then the modern Castilian editor's linguistic 
notes.

CAPITOL XXVII PER FER ALOSSES

Per fer alosses tu veuras entorn quina quenditat ne volrets fer, ho iiii o v 
llr. he en una liura de sucre he prendras i liura d ayguo entre ayguo ros 
he ayguo de font, tant de la un con de l altrem e couras ho tant fins que 
comens a fer fills.  E lavors auras aperrellat ii pans de mido mes en 
remuyll ab a poc d aygua ros, e, com sera remullat e destrempat, 
metras ho dins lo sucre bulent, menant menant, e lexar ho en tant 
coura fins que sia axi con a sebo.  E aso es per i ll de sucre, he apres 
auras mersepans que s fan ya per de mige liure, he metras ne la 
maytat en la una capsa e l altre maytat en l autre.  E en aquesta 
manera ne feras tantes con ne volras fer moltiplicant ho, e si per ventura 
per nessecitat ho volras pers mals de pits o altre achsident, metras hi i 
diner d oli de metles dolse per liura.


(Rough paraphrase follows.  Warning! -- I have not studied Catalan, and 
am relying on dictionaries and similarities to Spanish and French)

To make alosses in the quantity you wish to make, (have?) 4 or 5 
pounds, and in a pound of sugar you will take and put a pound of water 
between rosewater and well water, as much of the one as of the other, 
and cook it until it begins to make threads.  And then you will have 
ready 2 loaves (?) of starch set to soak in a little rosewater, and when it 
is soaked and dissolved, cast it in the boiling sugar, little by little, and 
let it cook until it is like barley.  And thus it is for 1 pound of sugar, you 
will have ready marzipans that are thus made in a half pound, and cast 
one half in one box and the other half in the other.  In in this manner you 
will make as much as you wish, multiplying it, and if by chance or 
necessity you wish it for illnesses of the chest or other accident, cast in 
1 dinar (?) of the oil of sweet almonds per pound.

note: as far as I can tell, this is some kind of sugar confection which is 
poured into boxes that are lined with a marzipan crust.  If I understand 
the directions correctly, the syrup is heated to the thread stage, then 
cooked with starch until it has the consistency of (presumably cooked) 
barley.  I do not know how it would act when cooled, though I doubt it 
would be any stiffer than fudge.  In any case, this is also not a 
beverage, despite the name.  The part about "illnesses of the chest" 
becomes clearer when we remember that sugar was often used as a 
medicine.

Now, on to the editor's notes.  Fortunately, these are in modern 
Spanish, not Catalan (except for the parts that are in Latin.)

ALOSA. s. f. -- Vocablo de etimologia incierta.  En ant. cast. 'aloxa' y 
mod. 'aloja': bebida compuesta de agua, miel, y especias.  De la baja 
latinidad acogio Du-Cange las voces sinonimas alosanthium y 
aloxinium, "potione ex melle et vino diversis speciebus confecti suavi et 
odorifera", que mas bien parece la composicion del hipocras, el cual en 
realidad no era sino una aloja con vino en lugar de agua.  La voz 
'aloxinium' se ha supuesto formada del ar. 'al' y del griego  'oxys', acido; 
con todo, la forma 'alosanthium' aparece mas aproximada a la 'alosa' 
cat. y a las ant. franc. 'aloysie', 'aloine' y en lat. med. 'alonia' "potus 
species ex vino et absinthio".  La siguiente delicadisima receta oficinal 
de la 'alosa pectoral' identica a la de nuestro texto(cap. XXVII), se 
encuentra inserta en la pagina 85 de la 'Concordia pharmacopolarum 
Barcinonensium' (ed. 1587), seguida de otra, la 'alosa secunda 
secundum usum', mucho mas complicada.

"ALOSA COMMUNIS PECTORALIS USUALIS.

Rx 
Sacchari albissimi -- uncias quinque
Aquae Rosarum -- uncias quator
Amyli recentissimi -- unciam unam
Olei Amygdalorum    | 
dulcium recentissimi | -- unciam semissem
Misce & coque in diplomate ad justam crassitiem."

Las alojas, asi como otras bebidas aromatizadas, melifluas or 
azucaradas, y los vinos compuestos con especias y esencias 
orientales ('brocas', 'piment', etcetera), servian, desde muy antiguo, de 
estimulantes digestonicos a continuacion del postre en los banquetes 
pantagruelicos de la epoca y tambien en el yantar ordinario de la gente 
que comia 'usque ad satietatem', a la manera del clerigo sibarita que, 
en 'Lo Terz del Crestia', refiere fray Eiximenic:
"a les colacions prench de mos letovaris segons lo temps: o ALOSES 
enzucrades per refrescar lo fetge.. o endiana fina ab qualque gingebrada 
per fer digestio."
[The editor then goes on to quote a Catalan doctor's list of medicines, 
which includes ALOSES.]

Translation of editor's notes:

ALOSA. feminine noun -- Word of uncertain etymology.  In old Spanish 
'aloxa' and modern Spanish 'aloja': a drink composed of water, honey, 
and spices.  From the low Latin, Du-Cange took the synonymous words 
'alosanthium' and 'aloxinium', "potione ex melle et vino diversis 
speciebus confecti suavi et odorifera", which rather resembles the 
mixture of hypocras, which in reality is nothing but a alosa made with 
wine in place of water.  The word 'aloxinium' is supposed to be formed 
from the Arabic 'al' and from the Greek 'oxys', acidic; nevertheless, the 
form 'alosanthium' seems closer to the Catalan 'alosa' and the old 
French 'aloysie', 'aloine', and in medieval Latin 'alonia', "potus species 
ex vino et absinthio".  The following very delicate officinal [ie., 
pharmaceutical] recipe, identical to the one in our text (Chap. XXVII), 
was found inserted on page 85 of the 'Concordia pharmacopolarum 
Barcinonensium' (1587 ed.), followed by another, the much more 
complicated 'alosa secunda secundum usum'.
"ALOSA COMMUNIS PECTORALIS USUALIS.

Rx 
Sacchari albissimi -- uncias quinque
Aquae Rosarum -- uncias quator
Amyli recentissimi -- unciam unam
Olei Amygdalorum    | 
dulcium recentissimi | -- unciam semissem
Misce & coque in diplomate ad justam crassitiem."

The alojas, just like other aromatic, honeyed or sugared beverages, and 
the wines compounded with eastern spices and essences ('brozas', 
'piment', etc.), served, from antiguity, as digestive stimulants in a 
continuation of the dessert in the Pantagruelian[1] banquets of the 
epoch and also in the ordinary fare of the people who ate 'usque ad 
satietatem', in the manner of the sybaritic cleric, who, in "Lo Terz del 
Cresia", refers Friar Eixemenic, "a les colacions prench de mos 
letovaris segons lo temps: o ALOSES enzucrades per refrescar lo 
fetge.. o endiana fina ab qualque gingebrada per fer digestio."
[Roughly, he's recommending various remedies: sugared aloses to 
"refresh the liver" and gingerbread for the digestion.]
[The editor then goes on to quote a Catalan doctor's list of medicines, 
which includes ALOSES.]

By the time of the _Manual de Mugeres_, the aloja may have lost some 
of its medicinal associations, but this is apparently its origin.

If someone (Thomas?) would care to translate the Latin here, I'd be 
grateful.  I can get the sense of it, but I won't venture even to paraphrase 
it.



Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net