[Sca-cooks] Blueberry/ Gooseberry Wine Documentation?

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

On 19 Jan 2004, at 5:17, Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamant wrote:

> Also sprach "Christine Breakstone" <breakstone_christine at hotmail.com>:
> While Sir Kenelm Digby does make the occasional foray into non-grape 
> wines (and he's writing, or rather published posthumously, in 1669 
> CE) with things like cherry wine, also with sugar added in at least 
> the first recipe I can think of, the one that I use, I think you're 
> probably going to find that the majority of non-grape "country" wines 
> are later than the SCA period.
> 
> On the other hand, since these fruits are ideal for fermentation with 
> added sugar sources, it seems to me that meads, metheglins, pyments 
> and fruited ales would be the thing to look for.

De Nola mentions sour pomegranate wine ("vino de granadas agras" -- wine 
made from sour pomegranates).  That would certainly require added sugar to 
ferment, but sugar was much more available in Spain than in England.  
OTOH, he mentions it as an ingredient in a sauce.  I have not seen it listed 
as a beverage in either of the two Spanish dietary manuals I've read.  It may 
have been only used as a cooking wine.


Brighid ni Chiarain *** mka Robin Carroll-Mann
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
rcmann4 at earthlink.net