Role of Raspberry Cordial [Sca-cooks] Patting myself on the back

[Patrick Levesque]

Here's some of the documentation I presented with a cordial in a recent A&S
contest - hope it answers a few question

Petru

---



The French translation of Enchirid, ou Manipul des miropoles  (published by
Michel Dusseau in 1561) clearly details the procedure through which wine is
distilled into wine spirits in pp.101-102. Distillation allows one to
extract the pure liquor (in the case of spirits, the Quintessence) of any
given substance. This liquor can afterwards be used in subsequent remedies.

 

Pure liquors are especially necessary for infusions. As described again by
Dusseau beginning at p.93, infusion is to imbue [the properties] of one or
many things in a clean liquor, such as, for example, the one distilled above
(this is obviously not restricted to alcohol ­ it also includes clean water,
clean milk, etc...). He also notes that the infusion must be done on ³hot
ashes, or in the sun, depending on the time when it is made² (sur cendres
chaudes, ou au soleil, selon le temps qu¹il sera ordonné). (p.94).

 

The recipe from this cordial comes from Les Délices de la Campagne, a
cookery manual dated to 1654, redacted by Nicolas de Bonnefons.

 

The recipe for ³Eau Clairette² goes thus: ³Elle se fait en prenant deux
pintes de bonne eau de vie, une livre des plus belles cerises de
Montmorency, auxquelles vous osterez les queues, sans les écacher, une livre
de sucre, demy once de bonne canelle, demy once de cloud de girofle, vous
mettrez le tout infuser au Soleil, pendant les jours caniculaires, dans une
bouteille de verre, la bouchant bien avec la cire ou liege, et le parchemin
mouillé, vous la renverserez tous les jours, afin que le marc se mesle
bien...²

 

³It is made with two pints of good spirits, a pound of the nicest
Montmorency cherries, from which you remove the stems, without breaking the
skin; a pound of sugar, half an ounce of good cinnamon, half a pound of
cloves, let everything infuse under the sun, during the warm days, in a
glass bottle, stopping it well with wax or cork, and wet parchment, and turn
it upside down everyday so that the marc is properly mixed...²

 

The weight of the pound varied in period between 380 and 550 g, in different
areas, but since the modern value (454g) could have been used in period, I
stuck with that value. As for the pinte, I adopted the ancient value of
0,474 liter (about half a quart).

 

Clearly, between 1561 and 1654, cordial making leaves the apothecary¹s shop
to become part of the domestic sphere. This process already seems well
underway in 1572. This year marks the publication of La Maison Rustique by
Jean Liebault. This is a treatise on domestic economy which involves all
necessary aspects one must know to run an efficient rural manor. There is an
extensive segment on distillation, where the  necessary implements (still et
al) are described, as well as the procedures to follow to extract wine
spirits (pp.160a to 165b for the equipment, the description of the process
begins on p.167b, but the pages between 169b and 177a are missing from the
fac simile). Interestingly, the infusion of spices into distilled spirits
appears in this section as well (pp.166a-b). However, this is done as a
first step in the subsequent distillation process that is meant to extract
the essence of the spices. On page 168a we find a way in which distilled
waters and alcohols may be flavoured: either add the desired spices in a
cloth bag, or coat the equipment with it to imbue the flavour unto your
liquid. It is also recommended to leave them under the sun in a glass vessel
as a means to improve the quality of the end result.

 
In other areas of the world (namely, England) there are already two sources
documenting domestic consumption of alcoholic beverages in period, the
Johnstone Ms, and the Sloane 521 Ms. (both are reference on Forrester Nigel
FitzMaurice¹s website http://web.raex.com/~obsidian/precwat.html). The
formere is dated to the 15th century, the second to 1565.

> 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?
> 
> I really am trying to build my knowledge base about such products as I wane
> a little too ignorant when the conversation moves to cordials and such like.
> I have a vague understanding that in their beginning they were ostensibly
> something like tonics for maladies and health restoratives/protectives.  Not
> a lot of solid info besides what can be gleaned in the Florilegium.  I think
> the conversation could be worth redux?
> 
> Heck, even the bibliography or info from your docs could be useful to me in
> my stage of ignorance.
> 
> niccolo difrancesco
> Beer, wine, mead . . . no flavored spirits yet.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Sca-cooks mailing list
> Sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
> http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/sca-cooks