[Sca-cooks] Sekanjabin Origins
lilinah at earthlink.net
lilinah at earthlink.net
Thu Nov 18 11:42:37 PST 2004
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
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