[Sca-cooks] Another recipe interpretation question

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

I'm looking at the syrup of mint in the Al-Andalus:

Take mint and basil, citron and cloves, a handful of each, and cook all
this in water to cover, until its substance comes out, and add the clear
part of it to a ratl of sugar. The bag: an ûqiya of flower of cloves, and
cook all this until a syrup is made. Its benefits: it frees bodies that
suffer from phlegm, and cuts phlegmatic urine, fortifies the liver and the
stomach and cheers it a great deal; in this it is admirable.

Do you think I could substitute lemon or bitter orange for the citron? Or
are citron leaves meant? Would it be ok to omit them entirely?

What about the flower of cloves? Ground cloves? I'm confused. Any ideas?

-- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
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