[Sca-cooks] re: Lemon Syrup

[Stefan li Rous]

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa replied to me with:
> > 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.

I understand. This coffee example was meant more as an example than
being directed at anyone specifically.

> 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.)

But a lot of those are things we can't do simply do without or work
around. However serving coffee is something we introduce, not something
forced upon us.

> > 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?

Correct. I wasn't claiming it was. It's another of those items that
is sometimes difficult to omit without causing an uproar. As to
infusions as drinks, what about barley tea?

For a bit more info on infusions, check this file in the BEVERAGES
section of the Florilegium:
infusions-msg     (19K) 11/27/00    Period infusions. Herbal "teas".
Barley tea.

Why do you differentiate between cold infusions and hot infusions? Or
do you actually mean either a cold or hot infusion served cool? "cool"
as opposed to "cold" as in "iced".

> > 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.

Okay, that is partly what I had in mind, a sugar syrup. "texture" was
the best descriptive name I could come up with.

> 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 bought some of the Splenda syrups, plain and mint, with doing
some experimenting in mind. I believe others have as well. So far, I've
not tried it. The other various flavored syrups I ordered are quickly
disappearing as they get used to make "shaved ice snow cones".
>
> 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?

Correct. I remember my dad used a liquid artifical sweetener (Sweeta?)
in his ice tea, because he didn't like the way granulated sugar disolved
(or didn't) in the ice tea. I suspect the best way is to mix it in
while the beverage is hot, then cool the beverage down before you serve
it, much as you do for sugar syrups.

--
THLord  Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas         stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****