[Sca-cooks] cordials

[Stefan li Rous]

Niccolo DiFrancesco asked:
> Please help enlighten me as I am rather ignorant of this part of the
> alcoholic beverage world.  To what use would the raspberry cordial
> have been
> used?  Would it have been a  medicinal?  What sort of maladies would
> it have
> been prescribed for?  Would it have been a recreational beverage
> instead?
> What part(s) of time and region would I find it?

You might want to look through these files in the BEVERAGES section  
in the Florilegium:
bev-distilled-msg (124K) 2/17/03    Medieval distilled beverages.  
Distilling.
Clarea-d-Agua-art (12K)  1/ 7/01    "Period drinks - Spiced Wines and  
Sweet
                                        Waters" by Vicente Coenca.
cordials-msg     (110K)  7/ 2/04    Period cordials and liqueurs. SCA  
creations.

And here are a few articles on specific cordials:
Kiwi-cordial-art  (10K)  6/23/00    "Prickly Gooseberry, Mango,  
Cardamom,
                                        Cordial" by Constance de LaRose.
Peach-Brandy-art  (12K) 10/25/01    "Peach Coriander Brandy" by Lady  
Constance
                                        de LaRose.
Apricot-Crdal-art (12K)  6/30/00    "Apricot Cardamom Cordial"
                                        by Constance de LaRose.

The only cordial I've tried is Krupnik, Fire Vodka, from Poland.  
However, it went over very well with those who tasted it. I don't  
think I got any negative comments. And I was afraid some folks were  
going to drain what I had. I really have to remember to make another  
batch. I think the recipe I used was discussed here and can now be  
found in the cordials-msg file, although being me, I made a few  
changes such as using 'true' cinnamon instead of cassia, real vanilla  
bean and green peppercorns.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****