[Sca-cooks] Beverages, was Royal authenticity

[Nancy Kiel]

OK, let's look at what was being drunk in the SCA period.  We have 
established that water was generally unhealthy, unless it came from a spring 
or was boiled.  Perhaps I am in error on the safety factor of milk, but in 
general it doesn't seem to be considered something to drink.  And remember 
what lasts longer, fresh milk or "processed"---cheese or butter.  Fruit 
juices IN PERIOD will not keep well.  Again, they will last longer if 
fermented.  Coffee and tea aren't available in Europe; I am not familiar 
enough with the originating cultures to know when they first became 
available. The period-ness of sekanjubin AS A BEVERAGE has been discussed, 
without evidence for or against it.  I am unfamiliar with such syrup-based 
drinks---are the syrups simply added to water, or is the water boiled or 
specified as spring water?

For ambience, at a European-style event/feast, I would recommend small beer 
(barely alcoholic) as the regular drink of EVERYONE regardless of age, 
stronger beers perhaps for meals, and wine for the feast (preferably a 
fairly harsh wine, or heavily sweetened wine, depending on your location in 
Europe).

HOWEVER, there are rules about who can legally drink alcohol, and personal 
choices about what to drink generally.  That's why I suggested offering 
modern non-alcoholic beverages, so there will be something that people can 
drink, and having people bring their own choices otherwise.

Nancy Kiel
nancy_kiel at hotmail.com
Never tease a weasel!
This is very good advice.
For the weasel will not like it
And teasing isn't nice.





>From: "Phlip" <phlip at 99main.com>

> > Fruit juices are too expensive to
> > drink, except for apple or grape, and they won't keep unless they're
> > fermented.
>
>How long are you expecting them to keep? Generally, a bag of ice will keep 
>a
>pretty good sized amount of juice cool all day, in a reasonably insulated
>cooler, particularly if yoy cover it with a wet towel and add evaporative
>cooling to the mix. I fill my 5 gallon beverage cooler with (clean) beer
>cans and ice, and it usually stays cool for a couple of days at most 
>events.
>
> > So, much like providing adequate meals for vegetarians, offering
> > non-alcoholic period drinks is tricky.  I would think the easiest thing
> > would be to have water (hot tea & coffee too) and ask the feasters to
> > BYOBeverage.
>
>Well, I suspect it depends on the ambience you're striving for. Now, I'm
>hoping Adamantius comes up with the requested recipe for small beer, 
>because
>I strongly suspect that that was the most likely "non-alcoholic" beverage 
>in
>period (depending, of course, on your when/where). I also very much enjoy
>sekanjuban, whether it's a period beverage or not. While in the mundane
>world, my preferred beverages are (not necessarily in this order ;-) 
>Coffee,
>tea, water, milk, beer, wine, and various fruit juices, I'd have no problem
>drinking anything else at events, as long as it wasn't too sweet, and was
>something to contribute to the event's ambiance. After all, we're trying to
>step out of the mundane world, aren't we?
>
>Saint Phlip,
>

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