[Sca-cooks] re: Lemon Syrup

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

> Personally, I find using an artifical sweetener in such a drink to
> be much less glaringly modern than providing coffee, whose use at a
> medieval or even period feast is questionable and quite obvious due to
> its color and aroma.

Well, I've shuffled off all responsibility for the coffee, 'cos I don't
drink it. It's not my bailiwick or decision. However, for the event I'm
autocratting in December, there will be coffee, because I pick my battles:
and not providing coffee is not a battle I choose to fight with my shire.

Thankfully, it's not part of the feast or anything like that: just a site
amenity, like the Gatorade, the portapotties, the bar, and the pool. (ok,
the winter event won't have a pool and bar.)

> Even with things like tea, it is nice to offer a non-sweetened version
> and let folks add their sweetener of choice. This also alows those
> who find most pre-sweetened teas to be too sweet to still enjoy drinking
> it.

Iced tea is not period. Cold infusions of herbs might be but I don't have
evidence of them being served as a beverage. Anyone?

> I do think that if leaving out the sugar impacts the texture of the
> drink, such as perhaps some sugar syrup drinks,

Trouble is, leaving out the sugar in sekanjabin or ginger syrup doesn't
just affect the texture: it makes it not a syrup. The pre-made aspect is
completely gone.  I know the older sweetener substitutes are NOT supposed
to be used to make syrups: what about the new stuff marketed as Splenda?

I've found that trying to add sugar to a drink once it's cold works very
poorly for me. Perhaps if I ran it through a blender or something?

-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net OR jenne at tulgey.browser.net OR jahb at lehigh.edu
"Are you finished? If you're finished, you'll have to put down the spoon."