[Sca-cooks] "Middle eastern" drinks for pregnant people

[Jim and Andi Houston]

And don't even think about using low fat yogurt. It's vile. Use the best
quality whole-milk yogurt you can afford, preferably organic.

 

The cucumber juice sounds woooooonderful!

 

Madhavi

 

From: sca-cooks-bounces+jimandandi=cox.net at lists.ansteorra.org
[mailto:sca-cooks-bounces+jimandandi=cox.net at lists.ansteorra.org] On Behalf
Of lilinah at earthlink.net
Sent: Monday, January 17, 2011 6:20 PM
To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] "Middle eastern" drinks for pregnant people

 

Aldyth wrote:
>I have just been asked to do vigil food for a wonderful lady. She is
>"Norman" but wants Middle Eastern food and drink. I am OK on the food
>aspect. She is a very high risk pregnancy and will be 6 months along at her
>elevation. She would like teas.

Tea, i.e., camellia sinensis, is something i have seen no evidence
for in the Middle East within SCA period. Warm beverages of various
sorts, on the other hand, are :)

>And was interested in the mint and yogurt over ice.

Mmm.mmm.mmm, ayran (Turkish)/doogh (Persian) (pronounced dew/doo). I
will have to double check, but i may have seen a period reference for
this.

* Beat until smooth good quality yogurt - works and tastes best if
yogurt is without added stabilizers and thickeners.
* Beat in cold water or cold milk or cold cucumber juice or
carbonated water until the consistency of whole milk.
* It can have mint added, and/or a pinch of salt
* This can be left for a couple days until lactic fermentation make
it fizzy. (although perhaps not for this lady)

>Does anyone have ideas?

* Sharab/sherbet *

A common beverage is sharab (from which we get the word shrub for a
cool beverage; the plural of the Arabic word sharab is sharbat).
Sharbat are syrups made of sugar and fruit juice or various herbs and
spices. While we tend to think of serving this cold, they were
actually often served warm in Arabic speaking lands. Wealthy
Ottomans, on the other hand, often served them, which they called
sherbet, cold, over snow or ice collected from the mountains or saved
from the winter.

In the Ottoman world, sherbet could be made of:
- Apple: Sour Apple
- Apple: Sweet Apple
- Bitter (Seville) Orange
- Citron
- Date
- French Lavender
- Grape (i don't know if fresh grape juice or pekmez/grape molasses)
- Honey (probably honey and sugar mixed)
- Jujube (Ziziphus zizyphus, sometimes called Chinese date or red date)
- Lemon
- Mint
- Mulberry
- Peach
- Pear
- Pomegranate: Sour Pomegranate
- Pomegranate: Sweet Pomegranate
- Quince
- Rhubarb
- Red Rose (made with fresh red roses)
- Rose and Lemon
- Rose Water (made with rose (gul) water (ab), aka juleb, whence julep)
- Sour (Morello) Cherry
- Sugar (i.e., without flavoring, aka simple syrup)
- Tamarind
or
- Violet

So you could make any of these and have an historical beverage. As
far as how to, there are also number of sharbat recipes in the
Anonymous Andalusian cookbook. Since she is high risk, i would skip
most of the herb and spice blends, since i don't know how she would
react to them. But there also are recipes for lemon and pomegranate
syrups. Because pomegranates are not always in season, i buy 100%
pure pomegranate juice (and some other 100% pure juices) you may have
to check a health food store, since normal supermarkets often have
100% fruit juices, but made with apple and/or grape juice along with
whatever the main flavor it.

* Khoshaf/hoshaf/hoshab *

Another refreshing Ottoman beverage is hoshab/hoshaf, (from Persian,
meaning, pleasant (khosh) water (ab)) which is made with fruits
and/or nuts cooked with sugar and water. It served in a small bowl
and was eaten with a small ladle-like spoon, drinking the liquid from
the spoon, then eating the solids. In the 16th and 17th centuries it
was made with only one fruit at a time:
- Apricots
- Cornelians (aka cornel cherries)
- Figs
- Grapes (or possibly raisins)
- Peaches
or
- Pears

In more recent times, however, it is often made with a combinations
of dried fruits and nuts such as almonds, walnuts, pistachios, and/or
pine nuts. One modern recipe i have uses dried apricots, prunes,
raisins, halved almonds, pistachios, pine nuts, water, granulated
white sugar, rose water, and orange blossom water, and doesn't
require cooking, just soaking together for a couple days.

This can be soothing, refreshing, and rejuvenating.

>Pomegranate tea sounds good,

Not sure what pomegranate tea would be. Please describe.

>but hibiscus doesn't.

Just curious, why not hibiscus (aka jamaica, pronounced ha.my.ka)? It
is rich in nutrients and has a pleasant tangy flavor, not as sharp as
lemon, but similarly refreshing.

Sekanjubin has been suggested. It is not a personal favorite, and i
find it especially unpleasant if made with cider vinegar. Before
serving your lady nothing but sekanjubin, i suggest letting her taste
some to see if it agrees with her in her current state. Unless, of
course, you find she is already enjoying it.
--
Urtatim [that's err-tah-TEEM]
the persona formerly known as Anahita
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