[Sca-cooks] The Julab puzzle possibly solved

[David Friedman]

Julab is a period Islamic syrup drink of sugar, rose water, and water. 
Like the more familiar sekanjabin, it is made as a syrup and then 
diluted to taste when served. Its invention (and that of rose water) is 
credited to abu Ali Ibn Sina (Avicenna). My source for the recipe:

“in a prescription of ibn Sina, the proportions given are: 1 mana of 
sugar and 4 ounces of water are heated on a light fire and then 2 ounces 
of rose-water are added. In metric weights, this amounts to 794 g of 
sugar, 132 g of water, and 66 g or rosewater.”
(Martin Levey, in Early Arabic Pharmacology: An Introduction Based on 
Ancient and Medieval Sources)

Levey's weights give a ratio of sugar to liquid of about 4:1, twice the 
ratio for a saturated solution. The result of following them is that 
much of the sugar crystalizes out when the syrup cools, which doesn't 
make much sense.

The explanation, I think, lies in the ambiguity of the units. The 
mana/mina/mineh is a unit of weight originating in ancient Mesopotamia 
and passed down to later cultures with a range of values. According to 
one source I found, the Arabic physicians used the Attic mina with a 
value of about 436 g. The "ounce" is presumably the Arabic uqiya, which 
also varies a bit. If I combine a figure of 37g for the uqiya from one 
source with 436 g from the mana, the ratio of sugar to liquid is just 
about 2:1, consistent with the obvious guess that the recipe is supposed 
to produce a saturated but not supersaturated solution.

Hence my current recipe for Julab is:

3c sugar, 1 c water, 1/2 c rose water

Bring the water to a boil, add the sugar, when it is dissolved add the 
rose water and remove from heat.

-- 
David Friedman
www.daviddfriedman.com
http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/