[Sca-cooks] mead

Suey lordhunt at gmail.com
Tue Nov 2 15:47:14 PDT 2010


     A lot of you have been writing about this and I maintain that 
alcoholic drinks were permitted under the Umayyad reign in Spain 
(711-1031)- i.e the first emirs and caliphs in southern Spain as in 
Persia at that time. It was not prohibited under Muslim rule in Spain 
until their downfall.
     From your queries I have learned that mead in Spanish and English 
really is two different things, the non-alcoholic and the alcoholic. 
Perry tries to distinguish this by calling non-alcoholic mead "syrup of 
water-honey." Nay, I don't like it. My corrections to my corrections are:

AGUAMIEL, hidromiel, Eng. 1. mead, a non-alcoholic beverage formerly 
called a pellitory infusion, honey and water syrup, a non-alcoholic 
infusion made with a mixture of honey and water. The 13th C  Anon 
Andalus calls for one oz of honey and 5 lbs water boiled until all the 
water has evaporated. The honey is skimmed constantly. Then 1/2 oz. of 
pellitory root or root powder is added. The mixture is strained through 
a cloth and put in a marmite (over low heat) where the root is bruised 
until pirathrine oil and an insulin substance is released from the oil 
glands. Then it is poured into a glass jar and drunk as needed. It could 
be drunk as a cordial  or used to relieve toothaches or headaches. It 
was popular from the beginning of beekeeping and especially in the 
Muslim world for its non-alcoholic content. See /aloja/. 2. mead, an 
alcoholic drink consisting of  five parts water boiled with one part 
honey. When cool yeast is added. This is stored in a warm place for two 
to four months to ferment before drinking. This was a very popular drink 
amongst Christians in the Middle Ages. [Anón/Huici.1966:494:270-271; and 
Glasse. 1997:283]

PLEASE stay tuned to my blog: http://spanishfoodma.blogspot.com/
No one has said anything about some of my other entries. Don't you like 
my black headed pins?
Suey



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