[Sca-cooks] Polish Beverage was Re: general info wanted

[Stefan li Rous]

Tomasia da Collivento said:

<<< I have a recipe for a beverage that falls under this
country category. I found it in Food and Drink in
Medieval Poland by Dembinska. I served it at a
handfasting at Aethelmearc War Practice last spring
and it was very well received...What little was left
was actually taken home by a non-scadian with Polish
roots.

CZEMIGA (Polish Hydromel)Her Recipe
3 cups spring water
3 T fennel seed
1/2 t ground cassia or 1T bruised cassia buds
1 cup honey

Bring water to a boil and pour over the fennel and
cassia in a large jar. Cover and infuse until the
liquid is room temperature. Strain through a filter or
fine sieve. Dissolve the honey in the clear liquid.
Store in a stoneware jug or wine bottle in the
refrigerator until needed.

What I did:
I found that this recipe was entirely too sweet for
me, so I doubled the amount of the other three
ingredients when I made the final batch. I used whole
cinnamon stick rather than ground. Also if at all
possible serve it cold, it tasted much better to me
(but then again, fennel is not my favorite)  >>>

Thank you for posting this. I remember this recipe from the book, but  
I've never tried it.

I wonder where you would get cassia buds these days. Anyone know? Of  
course with cassia so easy to come by, and the fact that the  
redaction calls for either, cassia bark is the easiest solution.  
Anybody ever gotten cassia buds and used them in a recipe?

Tomasia, when you say you used "cinnamon stick" did you use cassia or  
true cinnamon? If you are in the U.S., unless you choose carefully,  
what you will probably get as "cinnamon" is indeed cassia. True  
cinnamon is a bit milder and not quite as "harsh" as cassia.

For those who might be new to cassia vs. true cinnamon, perhaps this  
file might be of interest:
Cinnamon-Vari-art  (9K) 12/29/99    "Cinnamon Varieties" by Francesco  
Sirene.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/PLANTS/Cinnamon-Vari-art.html

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 ****