smokingboot (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
smokingboot) wrote2006-01-11 09:57 am
smokingboot) wrote2006-01-11 09:57 am
Brews and potions: rosemary wine
Ha ha, somebody likes it! That makes three to one, so there, larians!
As I recently posted tocafe_de_sorcier, I have been trying to make rosemary wine, because I love rosemary, and because its folklore associations with concentration ('rosemary for remembrance')and toasting the gods make it a perfect brew for certain kinds of pagan doodah.
Now, being a lazy wazzock, I created an infusion of rosemary in white wine rather than start from scratch, and I tested it on myself andlarians, whose wince and puckered mouth made it clear that more work was needed. So I added sugar, and left it. Do you know, I think the added sugar makes it more potent? Certainly it becomes eminently drinkable, despite larians description of it as 'that horrible booze.' Some people have no respect for the bevvies of yesteryear. My next attempt will include borage flowers, the other traditional ingredient of rosemary wine. Borage flowers have quite a reputation:
'Those of our time do use the flowers in sallads to exhilerate and make the mind glad. There be also many things made of these used everywhere for the comfort of the heart, for the driving away of sorrow and increasing the joy of the minde. The leaves and floures of Borage put into wine make men and women glad and merry and drive away all sadnesse, dulnesse and melancholy, as Corides and Pliny affirme. Syrup made of the floures of Borage comforteth the heart, purgeth melancholy and quieteth the phrenticke and lunaticke person. The leaves eaten raw ingender good bloud, especially in those that have been lately sicke.'
- The Herbal by John Gerard, 1633
Personally I think they're just included because the blue flowers are so pretty. On the whole, I am pleased with this first attempt. There's some left; I might take it with me when I go to see my accountant. After we've discussed my tax return, she may well need it.
larians!As I recently posted to
cafe_de_sorcier, I have been trying to make rosemary wine, because I love rosemary, and because its folklore associations with concentration ('rosemary for remembrance')and toasting the gods make it a perfect brew for certain kinds of pagan doodah.Now, being a lazy wazzock, I created an infusion of rosemary in white wine rather than start from scratch, and I tested it on myself and
larians, whose wince and puckered mouth made it clear that more work was needed. So I added sugar, and left it. Do you know, I think the added sugar makes it more potent? Certainly it becomes eminently drinkable, despite larians description of it as 'that horrible booze.' Some people have no respect for the bevvies of yesteryear. My next attempt will include borage flowers, the other traditional ingredient of rosemary wine. Borage flowers have quite a reputation:'Those of our time do use the flowers in sallads to exhilerate and make the mind glad. There be also many things made of these used everywhere for the comfort of the heart, for the driving away of sorrow and increasing the joy of the minde. The leaves and floures of Borage put into wine make men and women glad and merry and drive away all sadnesse, dulnesse and melancholy, as Corides and Pliny affirme. Syrup made of the floures of Borage comforteth the heart, purgeth melancholy and quieteth the phrenticke and lunaticke person. The leaves eaten raw ingender good bloud, especially in those that have been lately sicke.'
- The Herbal by John Gerard, 1633
Personally I think they're just included because the blue flowers are so pretty. On the whole, I am pleased with this first attempt. There's some left; I might take it with me when I go to see my accountant. After we've discussed my tax return, she may well need it.
no subject
no subject
at some point i will sleep
(big grin)
no subject
no subject
pah, more than enough of that to go around, just let me know the next time your down :D
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
How about trying it with a sweeter wine, like German
Or a sweet mead?
no subject
When creating it from scratch the recipes do suggest a lot of sugar in proportion to the grape concentrate; a sweet german wine might well be the answer. Re mead, I have heard of old mead recipes with added herbs called Metheglin, which I would love to try out.
Chocolate cake, old English boozes...we must have a get together sometime!
no subject
no subject
no subject
Does sound rather yum.
I am win
That leaves the single malts for me.... :)
Re: I am win
Re: I am win
Larians - if she commits such a heinous crime, I am happy to help you dispose of the body.
no subject
no subject
I know of a plethora of ways to iflict harm on the human body.
Therefore, the harms that could result from 'putting twigs in single malt whiskey' are really quite endless....
Re: I am win
You have been warned Boot!