[Sca-cooks] A Julab Puzzle

[Galefridus Peregrinus]

Given that sugar in other sources more or less contemporary with Ibn 
Sina (most notably al-Warraq) generally means white sugar, I would be 
inclined to agree with Cariadoc that impure sugar is unlikely. I would 
guess that modern organic white sugar, which has a very faint beige 
color, would be a close approximation to what was available in medieval 
Persia.


I would also be inclined to agree with Bear on the cause of the 
precipitated sugar crystals. In my experience, even many modern syrups 
are at least a little supersaturated: I have seen both honey and maple 
syrup crystallize, given the proper time and temperature considerations. 
I have a jar of homemade muscat grape syrup in our fridge that started 
showing a heavy precipitate within a few weeks of having prepared it.


Other contributing factors may be the acidity or ionic strength of the 
syrup. I have a jar of oxymel syrup that I prepared using instruction in 
Dioscorides. Being oxymel, it obviously contains vinegar, but it also 
contains salt. It has sat at slightly below room temperature for well 
over a year, and shows no signs of precipitate. I would guess that the 
higher acidity and ionic strength have been significant factors in 
causing all the components to remain in solution. I would have to 
consult with others with a better handle on food chemistry to be 
certain, however.


-- Galefridus

> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2014 15:40:04 -0500
> From: "Terry Decker" To: "Cooks within the SCA" Subject: Re: 
> [Sca-cooks] A Julab Puzzle
> Message-ID: <5778C02AF7E541AE8B1E775C7E261221 at Vishnu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> 	reply-type=response
>
> It is also possible that medieval julab had precipitated sugar 
> crystals in it.
>
> It may also be that you are storing the bottle where the temperature 
> differential will cause a slightly supersaturated solution of sugar to 
> precipitate.  I think you will find the less pure sugar highly 
> problematic, molasses is far more difficult to dissolve that highly 
> refined crystalline sugar.
>
> Bear
>
> -----Original Message-----
>      Julab is a medieval Islamic syrup drink made of sugar, water, and
> rose water. Ibn Sina (Avicenna) gives a recipe for it which according 
> to
> one source (Martin Levey's _Early Arabic Pharmacology_) has 1 part 
> rose
> water to 2 parts water to 12 parts sugar by weight. Nasrallah, in her
> notes to al-Warraq, says the recipe is 16:2:1 sugar to water to rose 
> water
>
> With either 6:1 or 8:1, in my experience, the concentration of sugar 
> is
> high enough so that some of the sugar crystalizes out, which seems
> pointless. One possible explanation is that both sources have
> mistranslated the units. Another is that Avicenna's sugar was much 
> less
> pure than ours, although that doesn't strike me as very likely. I may
> try it at some point with a Mexican sugar cone, on the theory that 
> that
> might be closer to what he was using, but I don't see why that would
> give a significantly different result.
>
> Suggestions?
>
> -- 
> David Friedman
> www.daviddfriedman.com
> http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/