[Sca-cooks] How old is barley water?

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On May 17, 2007, at 8:05 AM, Volker Bach wrote:

> Salvete
>
> I am trying to nudge my group into being more careful
> what they eat (too many of them still eat things
> documentable as late as 1950 or later at events). I am
> to hae the chance to do this nudging at two camp demos
> next month, and I'm going to give it some effort, with
> camp-made moretum and home-baked whole wheat bread,
> lentil stew, roast meats and fish, and fritters. But
> I'm still wondering about drinks. I know there's beer
> and wine, and grape must. I've given them vinegar
> water before. Now I'm wondering whether barley water
> makes sense. it sounds interesting and gets mentioned
> quite a bit in 'period' contexts, but is it
> documentable?

I'm almost positive there's a licorice-flavored barley-water for the  
sick in Le Menagier...

Of course, there was the time we made a completely unfermented ale  
the morning of an East Kingdom Twelfth Night, and everyone wanted to  
know if the sweet iced tea we were serving was period...

Adamantius