SC - Cippits

[ALexandria Doyle]

Balthazar of Blackmoor wrote:

> Do we have any period recipes, or 
> other suggestions that healthy people used them? 
>

Suggestions are about all I've been able to find.  This excerpt
includes most of the hints that I've pieced together.  

Temair 


Aqua Vitae was first made by alchemists, physicians, monks and
apothecaries...The professional secret started to spread as early as
the 14th century as the technique was disseminated...The Forme of
Curye, a collection of recipes from about 1390, includes a sotiltee
called Chastletes - pastry castles filled with farced meats and cremes.
The recipe stipulates that one "serve it forth with ew ardaunt", that
is flaming, by putting "thereon a litel aqua vite and quen hit is
dresset in dysshes…light hit with a wax candel and serve it forthe
brennynge".  Maitre Chiquart, head cook to the Duke of Savoy, wrote of
fire-breathing animal entremets.  This was accomplished by soaking
cotton in aqua ardens, placing it in the mouth of the boar, piglet or
swan, and lighting it just before presenting it.  This contradicts the
common belief that early distillation was primitive and inefficient,
producing only low-proof waters, since the aqua ardans would have to be
at least 100 proof to produce the desired special effect    

A group of late fourteenth-century manuscripts collectively known as
Gode Kokery includes a recipe for aqua vite, with simple distillation
directions  "sette thi glas on the fier, sett on the houel, & kepe it
wel that the hete come not o it; & sette thervndir a viol, & kepe  the
watir". It comes from a medical collection which also includes recipes
for ypocras (spiced wine with sugar), clarrey (spiced wine with honey),
brakott (spiced ale with honey), mede and poynaunt, as well as clarreti
(spiced wine fortified with aqua ardaunt).  These were the drinks of
the day.  They encompassed good health (wine and spices being good for
you), conspicuous consumption (imported luxury goods) and good taste.  

Though there is no definitive written record of recreational use of
medicinal alcohols, there are hints.  Legal documents from 1411
indicate that brandy was distilled at that time in the Armagnac region
of France.  In 1494, the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland show that a friar
was granted 8 bolls of malt to produce uisge beatha (whiskey) for King
James IV - enough for 1500 bottles, surely more than would be needed
for medicinal purposes. 

In Germany, Hausbrand (homebrew) was sold by vintners and inn-keepers. 
Apothecaries maintained a stall in the marketplace, distributing
distilled brandies known as gebrannter wein, bernewein or brandwein to
their patrons, sick or not.  In 1493 a doctor wrote;  "In view of the
fact that everyone at present has got into the habit of drinking aqua
vitae it is necessary to remember the quantity that one can permit
oneself to drink and learn to drink it according to one's capacities,
if one wishes to behave like a gentlemen."  There were complaints in
some European towns of people visiting the apothecary in the morning
for a spirit and emerging more than a little tipsy.  By 1496, the town
of Nuremberg had blue laws outlawing the sale of alcohol on Sundays and
feast days; "As many persons in this town have appreciably abused
drinking aqauvit, the town council warns earnestly and with emphasis
that from now on, on Sundays and other official holidays, no spirit
shall be kept in the houses, booths, shops or market and even the
streets of this town for the purpose of sale or paid consumption".

Henry the VIII licensed, but didn't tax, distilleries. Laws were passed
in France in 1506 to license, track and control the production and
distribution of distilled products.  Louis XII granted the privilege of
distilling brandy to the guild of vinegar-makers in 1514.  They didn't
enjoy it long.  In 1537 Francis I divided the privilege between the
vinegar-makers and the victuallers, leading to quarrels over the
profits.  By 1575, the London Apothicary's Company held exclusive
license for distilled products for external use, but had lost their
right to the distillation of beverages.  Those were restricted to a
select few, and in 1638 these distillers filed a charter as a separate
company.  The growth of these guilds and the attempts to control and
track the production of aqua vitae reflect the generous profits
involved in a fast growing industry.  That growth along with complaints
and limits on distribution and consumption are evidence that it was
being used and abused as an intoxicant.  

By 1559 there were a number of professional distillers in London in
addition to those with home distillatories.  A Jewell House of Art and
Nature by Sir Hugh Plat mentions "the aqua vitae men" in his complaint
that the wine lees that should go to them are being used to adulterate
good wine.  A tavern in London called Le Aqua Vitae Howse was open by
1572.  One hundred years later, by 1673, a petition to the English
Parliament stated "Before brandy, which is now become common and sold
in every little ale-house...we drank good strong beer and ale...and
[it] did them no great prejudice; it hindereth not their work, neither
did it take away their senses, nor cost them much money, whereas the
prohibition of brandy would...prevent the destruction of His Majesty's
subjects many of whom have been killed by drinking thereof, it not
agreeing with their constitution

Sources
An Encyclopedia of Drinks & Drinking, Frederick Martin, Toronto, Coles
Press, 1980.

The Art of Cookery In the Middle Ages, Terence Scully, Boydell Press,
1995.

Curye on Inglysch, Edited by Constance Hieatt and Sharon Butler, Oxford
University Press, 1985.

Food and Feast in Tudor England, Alison Sim, St. Martin's Press, 1997.

Tastes of Paradise, A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and
Intoxicants, Wolfgang Schivelbusch, Translated by David Jacobson,
Vintage Books, 1992.

The Scots Cellar, F. Marian MacNeill, Edinburgh, MacDonald Printers,
1956.

The Apothicary's Shop Opened, Volumes I & II, Hugh Petrie, Stuart
Press, 1998.






__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/