[Sca-cooks] I Tried a Medieval Diet, and also watered wine

[JIMCHEVAL at aol.com]

There is simply no evidence that medieval water in general was especially  
dangerous, given that a lot of it was rural (springs, wells, etc) and at any 
 rate the real damage done by cities (over-population, industry) was some 
ways  off. Nor is it clear that most medieval drinkers could get beer in any 
quantity.  It either cost money (which few had) or had to be made at home 
(which presumes  one had the excess grain to use for it, not guaranteed in the 
least). Sometimes  workers would be paid with basic food - cheese, bread, 
maybe bacon - and a  portion of beer. But that beer was also likely all they 
got, given that they  were paid little or no money.
 
So water was a necessary staple for many. Monks may have had more beer than 
 most people (since they often made it), but even they were limited to 
rations of  it. Between meals, they too were pretty much stuck with water.
 
Certainly, there is ample evidence that people of the time drank water and  
thought it a natural thing to do.
 
As for wine, the most serious study I read some time back says that for  
wine to have any effect on bad water, it needs to be left for something like 
24  hours, so simply mixing the two before drinking them wouldn't help very  
much.
 
Jim  Chevallier
_www.chezjim.com_ (http://www.chezjim.com/) 

FRENCH BREAD  HISTORY:Seventeenth century bread
_http://leslefts.blogspot.com/2016/02/french-food-history-seventeenth-centur
y.html_ (http://leslefts.blogspot.com/2015/08/french-bread-history.html) 









In a message dated 6/20/2016 9:31:42 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
stefanlirous at gmail.com writes:

Beer was  safer than water because you had to boil the water to make the 
beer, which  killed a lot of the possible nasties.

But how is watering wine  safe?  Is the alcoholic level of wine really high 
enough to kill off the  same possible nasties?

Like small beer, watered wine might prevent you  from getting drunk, but 
would it be safe to  drink?