[Sca-cooks] Blueberry/ Gooseberry Wine Documentation?

[david friedman]

...

>This is not to say that it would not be used in making a cordial or 
>other beverage, but for fermented or even distilled beverages it's 
>use as a fermentable sugar would have been quite exceptional. I can 
>think of none of these from period, excepting a mention of a 
>beverage distilled form fermented white sugar, and drunk by the 
>muslim rulers of AAchen (not the German town, but the Indonesian 
>kingdom famous for exporting pepper). This was considered allowed by 
>the Quran as it was not "of the grape". It was, however restricted, 
>by law, to the Kings table.

The _Ain i Akbari_, which is late period Mughal, has instructions for 
making arrack, a distilled liquor based on sugar cane.

Incidentally, while the different schools of Muslim law disagree on 
the exact interpretation of the Koranic prohibition on alcohol, I 
don't think any of them limit it strictly to fermented grapes. My 
understanding is that the loosest interpretation forbids drinking 
wine strictu sensu, or getting seriously drunk on anything else.
-- 
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/