[Sca-cooks] Re: Period Jewish wine additive - OT

[Susan Fox-Davis]

> > A recipe for a period Jewish wine says:
> >
> > “Take two and a half dirhems’ weight of each of the following: lichen,
> > ginger, pepper, and barley flour, and a half a dirhem of saffron.  Mix all
> > these together, pound them, and bind the mixture with the same quantity
> > [weight] of Egyptian bee honey and put it aside.  Put two and a half
> > dirhems
> > weight of this, together with one dirhem of colophony into each jar and
> > plaster it over.  Leave it in the sun for seven days, after which, it can
> > be
> > used.

> > If you wish to have vinegar, put only one and a quarter of this stuff into
> > each jar and leave it in the sun for eleven days.”
> >
> > This recipe is obviously for some additive to ordinary grape wine.

Why could it not be some sort of beer/mead-type product on its own?  See notes on
honey below.

> The
> > problem is that the translater, S.D. Goitein couldn’t determine the size of
> >
> > the jar (volume of wine) to which the mixture was to be added.  It was
> > probably such a common size that whoever wrote the recipe didn’t feel the
> > need to say.  The word “jarra,” the Arabic term from which the English
> > word
> > “jar” was taken, may even have been a government standardized measure.
> > Any
> > suggestions are welcome.

It might not be "jar" but "honey," one of the ingredients in the concoction.  One
of my name lists includes "Jarah", a Hebrew girl's name meaning "honey."  It
appears that this derives from "ya'ar" as seen at
<http://www.sacrednamebible.com/kjvstrongs/STRHEB32.htm>:

3293
 ya`ar
yah'-ar
from an unused root probably
meaning to thicken with verdure; a
copse of bushes; hence, a forest;
hence, honey in the comb (as
hived in trees):--(honey-)comb,
forest, wood.

3294
Ya`rah
yah-raw'
a form of 'ya`arah' (3295);
Jarah, an Israelite:--Jarah.

3295
ya`arah
yah-ar-aw'
feminine of 'ya`ar' (3293), and
meaning the same:--(honey-)
comb, forest.

To throw another measurement into the mix, Cariadoc notes in the Miscellany:
"Note: a dirhem, according to the introduction to al-Bagdadi, is 1/120 lb = 2/15
oz; 1 1/2 dirhem
pepper = 1/5 oz = 2 1/4 t."

All it all, I'm not at all sure about the inclusion of Lichen in such a beverage,
and unless the colophony is part of the jar's seal this could be awfully
pine-flavored.  Jewish Ouzo?

Selene Colfox