[Sca-cooks] Nocino, period cordial or not?

[Christiane]

Adamantius says:

Through most of the Middle Ages, while distillation was known, you'll 
probably find that most cordials (IOW, beverages whose purpose was to 
stimulate the heart and aid digestion, etc.) were made with wine. A 
common one was hippocras. Arnold de Villanova has recipes for 
wine-based cordials, I believe.

One consideration on the more modern cordials is that they seem to 
contain a lot of sugar, and you're probably not going to see drinks 
made in that way until, I suspect, the 17th century or later.
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That was what I was suspecting, although in Italy fine white sugar, as Helewyse says, was considered almost a medicine rather than as a food and distributed by the apothecary. Still, without a reference in period literature or menus or diaries, it's hard to say if nocino was around at all or if it was made the same way that it is now. Sigh.

On another subject, who here on this list from the East Kingdom will be at Crown Tourney this weekend? I know Jadwiga is, because she's coordinating the feast service and contributing herbs for the kitchen. All I know is that I'm playing music someplace, sometime for a maypole dance. 

Gianotta