[Sca-cooks] Sekanjabin Origins

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Sue Clemenger wrote:
>There's a whole darned chapter of the Anon. Andalusian with some very
>odd flavorings for sekanjabin or oxymel (like carrot), so it's not
>really an SCAism, although specific occurences might be.

Nope. Wrong. They are beverage syrups,but they are NOT oxymels - no 
vinegar. And they are not Sekanjabin.

There's only ONE Sekanjabin recipe in there, which is "Simple 
Sekanjabin" made only of vinegar and honey.

The others are NOT oxymels - and therefore not Sekanjabin - as they 
contain NO vinegar - since oxymel is a Greek word - "oxy" referring 
to vinegar, and "mel" referring to honey (although some syrups made 
of vinegar and sugar are considered oxymels)

And frankly, what's wrong with the carrot syrup - carrot, honey, 
ginger, cubeb, long pepper, cloves, cinnamon?

>I can't, personally, imagine wanting to put any of the varieties in milk
><<huge shudder>>,

Hmmm... do you put chocolate syrup or, um, say, strawberry Quik, into 
milk? Do you drink masala chai (redundantly called "Chai Tea" in 
American commerce. Shudder)? Know anyone who does?

Well, then what would be so different about putting some other spicy 
or fruity syrup (which contains no vinegar) into milk?

Since NONE of the recipes contains vinegar except the "Simple 
Sekanjabin", what's the problem with mixing fruit syrup into milk or 
spices into milk? Not that different from strawberry Quik or masala 
chai...

Not that any of the recipes suggest putting it into milk. That was 
what some SCAdian suggested. Not a "period" practice as far as i can 
tell.

>or use as a dip--wrong flavors!

Wrong for what? ONLY MODERN Persian Sekanjabin - honey, vinegar, and 
mint - is used as a vegetable dip, and i'm sure we all know of plenty 
of salad dressings that contain a massive quantity of sweeteners (one 
reason i don't buy standard commercial supermarket brands of salad 
dressing) - they are sweet syrups with herbs and a little vinegar in 
them - kinda like modern Persian Sekanjabin.

There is ONLY ONE period Sekanjabin recipe and it has no mint in it, 
being a pure oxymel, made only of vinegar and honey.

NONE of the other beverage syrup recipes in the Andalusian cookbook 
contains vinegar, so NONE of the others is oxymel, and NONE of the 
others is Sekanjabin, and NONE is suggested as a dip.

I searched through ALL the beverage recipes in the section in which 
Sekanjabin is found and it is THE ONLY ONE  that contains vinegar, 
therefore it is the only oxymel, since to be an oxymel the item must 
be made with vinegar and honey (or other sweetener).

Anahita