barley-water-msg - 3/4/08
Period barley water.
NOTE: See also the files: tea-msg, wine-msg, spiced-wine-msg, jalabs-msg, beer-msg, herbs-msg, rice-msg, grains-msg, infusions-msg.
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Date: Sun, 01 Feb 1998 17:00:15 -0800
From: "Crystal A. Isaac" <crystal at pdr-is.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Herbal infusions
LrdRas at aol.com wrote:
> You may be right here but the drinking of such infusions were almost if not
> entirely for medicinal purposes. It does not surprise me that there is no
> mention of this in period cookery sourses. To research this information, IMHO,
> you would have to turn to herbals and medicinal manuals.
>
> Ras
The following are some medieval sources for tisane. I thought tisane
meant "barley water" so perhaps if I go look again I'll find more
tisanes that are "herb water." Please remember nearly all of these are
translations perhaps the word tisance was used for convenience.
What does "stampe" mean in 14th century english/context of making violet
water?
Thanks,
Crystal of the Westermark
Anthimus. De Observatio Ciborum. circa 526CE. Translated by Weber,
Shirley Howard. _Anthimus, De Observatio Ciborum: Text, Commentary and
Glossary with a Study of the Latinity. Dissertation_. Published by E.J.
Brill Ltd., Leiden 1924.
LXIIII Of Tisane
Tisane which is made of barley, if anyone knows how to make it, is good
for well people and for those with a fever. Diluted with warm wine, a
teaspoon of it well mixed should be sipped slowly on a empty stomach.
We usually give this to those with a fever, not thick, but diluted with
clear warm water. It is agreeable also during periods of fasting, in
Lent, to take this with hot water by all means.
Maimonides, Moses (1135-1204 CE). _Maqalah Fi Bayan Ba'D Al-A'Rad
Wa-A;-Jawab 'Anha Ma'Amar Ha-Hakra'Ah_. edited and translated by
Leibowitz, JO and Marcus, S. _Moses Maimonides on the Causes and
Symptoms (Maqalah Fi Bayan Ba'D Al-A'Rad Wa-A;-Jawab 'Anha Ma'Amar
Ha-Hakra'Ah [and] De Causis Accidentium)_ Published by University of
California Press, Berkeley, CA. 1974. ISBN 0-520-02224-6 LCCCN 71-187873
page 147
...barley kashk, prepared every day.... Its description in accordance
with the needs of our master is as follows: Take polished barley, six
months after it is harvested, forty drams; chopped seeds of fumitory,
chopped seeds of Iraqi poppy, two drams; chopped moistened white
sandalwood, one dram; nard, a fourth of a dram; dill flowers, half a
dram; olive oil from the Magrib or Syria, yellow of color and free from
bitter taste, three drams. The whole of these should be put together in
an earthen pot. Pour into this pot one thousand drams of water, and heat
it over a charcoal fire until half the water evaporates. Then pour into
it six drams of wine vinegar. Its cooking is completed when less than a
fourth of it remains, and its color appears red. Then filter it, and add
to the filtrate half a dram of salt....
Henslow, G. Rev. Professor. editor. _Medical Works of the Fourteenth
Century Together with a List of Plants Recorded in Contemporary Writing
with the Identifications_. Published by Burt Franklin, New York, NY,
1972. ISBN 0-8337-1666-2.
Page 28 MS. [A]
If a man-ys bon ys broke. - Take violet and stampe hit with water and
drynke hit and his schal caste out the brokyn bon.
Page 46 MS. [A]
For the quinsie. - Take colymbyn and fetherouyghe and the leuys of
confery and stampe hem to-gedre and drynke the ius with stale ale.
Ratti, Oscar. and Westbrook, Adele. Translators and adaptors. _The
Medieval Health Handbook_. Orginal Italian edition, _Tacinum Sanitatis_.
Lusia Arano, editor. Publsihed by George Braziller, Inc. New York. 1976
ISBN 0-8076-0808-4
>From the Tacuinum of Liege:
106. Barley Water (Aqua Ordey)
Nature: Cold and dry in the second degree. Optimum: That which has been
thoroughly boiled and is mild. Usefulness: For the inflamed stomach.
Dangers: It is harmful for cold intestines. Neutralization of the
dangers: With sugar. Effects: Temperate blood. It is suitable for warm
temperaments, for young people, in Summer and in Southerly regions.
(Vienna, f. 45)
_Le Menagier de Paris_. (The Goodman of Paris, c. 1395) Translated by
Janet Hinson. Reprinted in _A Collection of Medieval and Renaissance
Cookbooks: First Compiled by Duke Cariadoc of the Bow and The Duchess
Diana Alena_. Fifth Edition (1992) Volume Two, published privately. Page
M38-39 Beverages for Invalids
Sweet Tisane
Take water and boil it, then add for each sixth of a gallon of water one
good bowl of barley, and it does not (or it does not matter? - Trans) if
it (p. 238) still has its hulls, and get two parisis' worth of licorice,
item, or figs, and boil it all until the barley bubbles; then let it be
strained in two or three cloths, and put in each goblet a large amount
of rock-sugar. This barley is good to feed to poultry to fatten them.
Note that good licorice is the youngest, and when cut is a lively
greenish colour, and if it is old it is more insipid and dead, and dry.
Eberhards. _Das Kochbuch Meister Eberhards_ circa 1500 CE. Translated by
Alia Atlas. Published on-line akatlas at csbu.edu
#27 Barley swells and cools and does not feed well and hurts all those
who have the affliction, and who become cold nature or who have colic in
the body. But for hot people and those who would be smaller, it is good.
And one eats or drinks it with fennel seeds, so it is good for many
afflictions in the breast, and Avincenna says that barley water harms
the stomach which is cold. It is also very good for feverish people.
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 12:26:24 -0500
From: "Michael Newton" <melcnewt at netins.net>
Subject: SC - Sweet Tisane
Looking at the recipe for Sweet Tisane in Le Menagier, I have come across a
few questions.
the recipe is:
Sweet Tisane. Take water and boil it, then add for each sixth of a gallon of
water one good bowl of barley, and it does not (or it does matter?-Trans)if
it still has its hulls, and get two parisis'worth of licorice, item, or
figs, and boil it all until the barley bubbles; then let it be strained in
two or three cloths, and put in each goblet a large amount of rock-sugar.
This barley is good to feed to poultry to fatten them.
I redact this so far as
boil 1 cup of whole barley (with or without hulls) in 1/6th of a gallon of
water with 3 or 4 licorice sticks or 1 or 2 figs (just a guess) until it
becomes barley portage. Then strain out the portage part, and drink the
resulting liquid with a sugar lump in the bottom. (I don't have room in the
upstairs apt. I live in for the poultry so I'm going to skip that part of
the recipe :) )
Now I guessed on the figs and licorice, because I have no idea how much a
parisis' worth is, much less 2 of them. Can anyone enlighten me on this?
also, would this had been drunk hot, cold or lukewarm? While it says rock
sugar, I could see it mean either rock candy, which means it needs to be hot
to let the candy sweeten the drink, or a sugar cube, which could sweeten a
lukewarm drink.
Beatrix of Tanet
Geisterhugel, Calontir
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2000 17:23:59 -0500 (EST)
From: Jenne Heise <jenne at mail.browser.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Question on tea
Bear said:
> Also try the words tisane and ptisan, which cover all kinds of infusions
> including sweetened barley water.
OED says ptisan specifically refers to barley water and tisane is a
postperiod usage[... however tisane is a term used by people trying to
sound old-tymey, so it's another way to search.] It's also a french usage,
says the OED.
Bit embarrassing for us, as we named our herb guild newsletter _Tisane_.
- --
Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise jenne at tulgey.browser.net
Date: Thu, 09 Nov 2000 18:10:46 -0600
From: "Michael F. Gunter" <michael.gunter at fnc.fujitsu.com>
Subject: non-member submission - Re: SC - OED?
> OED says ptisan specifically refers to barley water and tisane is a
> postperiod usage[... however tisane is a term used by people trying to
> sound old-tymey, so it's another way to search.] It's also a french usage,
> says the OED.
How did you come by the idea that "tisane" is a post period usage? In
fact, it appears to be a variant of the early form of the word. The OED
cites:
1398 "...{TH}at phisicians clepen Thisan
c1400 "the {TH}e v. day he took {TH}ikke tizanne
c1440 "Tysane, drynke, ptizana"
c1567 "They will refuse the Tysants taste"
c1596 "A little of the tysan the Earle had drunke of"
The first citation with a form of "ptisan" starting with a P is in 1533.
Under "Tisane" the OED says only that it's a variant form of "ptisan"
and gives a definition for a tea that it's been applied to since around
1930.
Finally, what the OED says is that it probably is derived from a French
word not that the usage is French instead of English. Ultimately, it
derives from a Greek word meaning peeled or pearl barley, also a drink
made from this.
toodles, margaret
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2001 19:15:34 -0800
From: "E. Rain" <raghead at liripipe.com>
Subject: SC - Ordiate
a few weeks back Brighid posted the following info re the Sent Sovi Oridate
recipes.
> I don't know how much you were able to figure, and as I said
> before, I don't actually *read* Catalan, and therefore can't
> *translate* it, but here are paraphrases...
>
> Recipe #97 is made of barley flour. Strain it through a thin napkin
> with thin almond milk, then set it to cook. When it is cooked and
> thickened, taste it for salt. If the person for whom it is being
> cooked does not have a fever, you can add white sugar (ordiat is
> generally an invalid dish). If it's being served to someone who is
> not sick, and you don't want to add sugar, you can add honey if
> you wish.
>
> Recipe #98 is made of pearled barley cooked in a thin almond milk.
> When the grains have cooked enough that they have burst, press
> them between two chopping boards, and then put them back in the
> almond milk to cook as in the other recipe. And add sugar as
> previously said.
>
> Recipe 30 from fragment V: the pearled barley is boiled
> (presumably in water), then chopped in a morter. Then it's thinned
> with with almond milk, strained through a thick napkin, and set to
> cook as said above. All ordiat should have white sugar put in it.
I went ahead & played with the third recipe(#30 from Fragment V) based on
Brighid's paraphrasing which matched my own gleanings.
Here's what I came up with:
Eden's Ordiate:
1/4 c. barley
3. c. boiling water
1 pinch salt
1 c. ground almonds
4 c. boiling water
1/8 c. sugar
Cook barley in 3. c. boiling water w/pinch of salt for 1 hour (till soft)
drain off water mash barley in food processor.
Make almond milk: combine almonds with 4 c. boiling water stir & let sit for
5 mins or so.
Add to pureed barley. Shmoosh around a bit, then strain in fine wire
strainer.
Add 1/8 c. sugar
Heat to a boil, let boil about 5 mins till it thickens slightly.
Restrained through wire strainer plus cheesecloth to remove slight
grainyness
Serve
Very tasty warm milky beverage. Good for breakfast, right before bedtime,
or indeed if you were feeling ooky as it was originally intended ;-> but
not something to serve at a feast. even better when sprinkled with a pinch
of cinnamon, which is a standard instruction with medieval spanish dishes.
The glop that I strained out (mooshed barley with the ground almonds from
the almond milk) is probably closer to recipe #98 and tasted exactly like
oatmeal :->
so either way - as a drink or a glop it's quite yummy
Eden
Eden Rain
raghead at liripipe.com
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2004 23:49:38 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius"
<adamantius.magister at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] barley water recipe?
To: jenne at fiedlerfamily.net, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Also sprach Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise:
> I lost the handout that had a recipe for barley water on it. Should I
> just make a tea of barley, do you think? Or toast the barley first?
SWEET TISANE. Take water and boil it, then add for each sixth of a
gallon of water one good bowl of barley, and it does not (or it does
matter? - Trans.) if it still has its hulls, and get two parisis'
worth of licorice, item, or figs, and boil it all until the barley
bubbles; then let it be strained in two or three cloths, and put in
each goblet a large amount of rock-sugar. This barley is good to
feed to poultry to fatten them.
-- Le Menagier de Paris, Hinson translation
Seems to me this would have been a fever and sore throat remedy, both
for its soothing, mucilaginous qualities, and, I suspect, cooling
properties (although I haven't checked this last). I assume the
reference to the barley is for the strained barley solids.
Adamantius
Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 10:09:08 -0400
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius" <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] How old is barley water?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
On May 17, 2007, at 8:05 AM, Volker Bach wrote:
> I'm still wondering about drinks. I know there's beer
> and wine, and grape must. I've given them vinegar
> water before. Now I'm wondering whether barley water
> makes sense. it sounds interesting and gets mentioned
> quite a bit in 'period' contexts, but is it documentable?
I'm almost positive there's a licorice-flavored barley-water for the
sick in Le Menagier...
Of course, there was the time we made a completely unfermented ale
the morning of an East Kingdom Twelfth Night, and everyone wanted to
know if the sweet iced tea we were serving was period...
Adamantius
Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 10:19:35 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] How old is barley water?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
That combination turns up in the 17th century in books on cures for the
plague.
And for his drink, the decocted water of barley,
boyled with a little licorice is best, being mixed with the juice of a
Lemon, Citron, Pomegranate, or Rybes: which the sick best liketh, for
either of them is very good.
And for his diet, he must refrain from all salt, fat, thick and sharp
meats: and from all sweet things either in meat or drink, his meat must
be of a facile and easie digestion, and that hath a cooling property in
it, as broth wherein burrage, bugloss, sorrell, and such like are
boyled, and for ordinary drink, small beer or ale is best. page 56
from A treatise concerning the plague and the pox by Edwards. 1652.
Johnnae
> On May 17, 2007, at 8:05 AM, Volker Bach wrote:snipped
>> Now I'm wondering whether barley water
>> makes sense. it sounds interesting and gets mentioned
>> quite a bit in 'period' contexts, but is it documentable?
>
> I'm almost positive there's a licorice-flavored barley-water for the
> sick in Le Menagier...
>
> Of course, there was the time we made a completely unfermented ale
> the morning of an East Kingdom Twelfth Night, and everyone wanted to
> know if the sweet iced tea we were serving was period...
>
> Adamantius
Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 10:34:18 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] How old is barley water?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Here's another recipe
86. To make BarleyWater,
Take a penny-worth of Barley, a penny-worth of Raisins of the Sun, a
penny-worth of Anniseeds, a half penny-worth of Liquorish, about two
quarts of water, boil all together till half be consumed, then strain
it, and when it is cold drink it, your Liquorish must be sliced into
small pieces.
The Accomplish'd lady's delight in preserving, physick, beautifying, and
cookery. 1675
Johnnae
Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 10:41:30 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] How old is barley water?
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
I was going to do this soon anyway.
I ran this through EEBO-TCP this am.
Barley water as the search terms in a proximity search.
Looking at the printed record, early on there are a number of references
that read ?barley Brede / and Water.?
There are early 16^th century medicinal or remedies that mention barley
water, minus the bread.
From The noble experyence of the vertuous handy warke of surgery by
Brunschwig, Hieronymus, (ca. 1450-ca. 1512.) printed 1525.
"his drynke shall be made with barleywater sodden with parseley ro+tes"
Brunschwig, Hieronymus, (ca. 1450-ca. 1512.) is also credited with The
vertuose boke of distyllacyon of the waters of all maner of herbes 1527
or1528
"Water of batley Ca .ci.
ORdeum in latyn. The best tyme of his dystyllacyon is in the ende of the
Maye A The water dystylled of the herbe barley is good to be put in the
iyen against all euyll i?..for it clenseth them and ?. them."
The 1534 edition The castel of helth gathered and made by Syr Thomas
Elyot knyghte mentions it at least 3 times.
Such as: "onely wasshe his mouthe, and his throote with barleywater, or