[Sca-cooks] Redactions for the Adalusian syrup drinks wanted

[Stefan li Rous]

  Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa commenting on redacting and standardized 
recipe measurements mentioned one of the sugar syrup beverages she had 
made:
> I have to admit that I just don't deal well with standardized 
> measuring,
> unless I have to, like when someone else will have to work from my 
> recipe.
> Instead, I find myself seasoning by taste and by eye, and mixing by
> consistency.
>
> I found this highly amusing when I was working on redacting one of the
> syrups from the Andalusian-=- the Mint syrup calls for handfuls of 
> basil,
> citron, mint, and cloves. I know from personal experience that mixing
> equal amounts is not going to make a mint syrup. However, looking at 
> it  I
> realized that when I am making potpourri and write down 'a handful' of 
> a
> spice, it's what fits in my cupped hand; when I write down 'a handful' 
> of
> a fresh herb, it's a fistful/bunch. Tried it that way and it worked.
> However, when I went to make it a syrup, I tried estimating how much 
> sugar
> to put in by eye (the original doesn't tell you), instead of measuring
> the infusion and adding appropriate amounts of sugar, and ended up with
> a syrup that was way too thick.
So, did you get down the measurements of the various ingredients needed 
to make a good batch of this syrup? The Sekanjabin recipe introduced to 
the SCA by Master Cariadoc has proven to be quite popular and a number 
of variations now exist for this beverage, varying by the type of mint 
and vinegar and sugar or honey used. However, I think there are a lot 
of other similar beverages that might also prove popular if folks had 
some useable redactions to work from.

The ingredients in this one are easily available, with the possible 
exception of the citron. The original recipe for this beverage may or 
may not already be in the Florilegium, but could you please give it and 
your redaction?

For that matter, if anyone has redactions for any similar drinks or 
wishes to work them out, I would love to have them for the Florilegium. 
If you don't have any of the original recipes, you can find a number of 
them in this file in the BEVERAGES section of the Florilegium or, I'm 
sure, on Master Cariadoc's site.
jalabs-msg        (64K)  7/22/02    Drinks with a sugar or honey-syrup 
base such
                                        as Sekanjabin (Persian Mint 
Drink).

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