Reading Room

The Water of Life

By Tammera J. Karr, PhD, BCIH, CNC, CNW, CNH

The Gaelic “usquebaugh”, meaning “Water of Life”, phonetically became “usky” and then “whisky” in English. However it is known, Scotch whisky, or Scotch, Scotland has internationally protected the term “Scotch”, to be labeled as Scotch it must be produced in Scotland.

“Eight bolls of malt to Friar John Cor wherewith to make aqua vitae” This entry appeared in the Exchequer Rolls in 1494 and appears to be the earliest documented record of distilling in Scotland.

Scotland’s great Renaissance king, James IV (1488-1513) was fond of ‘ardent spirits’. When the king visited Dundee in 1506, a payment to the local barber for a supply of aqua vitae for the king’s pleasure was recorded. In 1505, the Guild of Surgeon Barbers in Edinburgh was granted a monopoly over the manufacture of aqua vitae – a fact that reflects the spirits perceived medicinal properties as well as the medicinal talents of the barbers.

In early 2010 three crates of Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt Whiskey were found under the floor of John Shackleton’s  1908 Nimrod expedition shelter in Antarctica. The original recipe for this particular breed of Scotch has been lost and master blenders the world over are waiting with great anticipation for the opportunity to take a sniff of this Scotch. At present authorities in New Zealand’s Antarctic Museum in Christchurch, plan to extract small samples for analysis and then the bottles will be returned to Antarctica for posterity.

I can hear the weeping now.

‘Water Of Life’

Legend says St. Patrick introduced distilling to Ireland in the fifth century, and it is believed Patrick acquired the knowledge in Spain and France. The distilling process was originally applied to perfume, then to wine, and finally adapted to fermented mashes of cereals in countries where grapes were not plentiful.

The spirit was universally termed aqua vitae (‘water of life’) and was commonly made in monasteries, and chiefly used for medicinal purposes, being prescribed for the preservation of health, the prolongation of life, and for the relief of colic, palsy and even smallpox.

The art of distilling is believed to have been brought to Europe through Irish missionary monks. The secrets also traveled with the Dalriadic Scots when they arrived in Kintyre Scotland around 500 _AD.   The knowledge of distilling spread through monastery communities. The oldest licensed whisky distillery in the world, Bushmills, lies in Northern Ireland and received its license by Jacob VI in 1608.

“Sine Metu”, meaning “Without Fear” appears on every bottle of Jameson whiskey. This has been Jameson’s guiding philosophy since the founding of the Dublin Distillery in 1780.  John Jameson set new standards in the distillation of whiskey. Discovering that certain strains of barley made better whiskey than others, he persuaded local farmers to grow the desired grains by providing them with seed each spring.  By 1820, John Jameson & Sons had become the second largest distilling company in Ireland.

 

A Tot if you please

Rum was not commonly available until after 1650, when it was imported from the Caribbean. The cost of rum dropped after the colonists began importing molasses and cane sugar directly and distilled their own. By 1657, a rum distillery was operating in Boston. It was highly successful and within a generation the production of rum became colonial New England’s largest and most prosperous industry. Almost every important town from Massachusetts to the Carolinas had a rum distillery to meet the local demand, which had increased dramatically. Rum was often enjoyed in mixed drinks, including flip. This was a popular winter beverage made of rum and beer sweetened with sugar and warmed by plunging a red-hot fireplace poker into the serving mug.

 

Shaken not stirred

It was also during the seventeenth century that Franciscus Sylvius (or Franz de la Boe), a professor of medicine at the University of Leyden, distilled spirits from grain. This spirit was generally flavored with juniper berries. The resulting beverage was known as junever, the Dutch word for “juniper.” The French changed the name to genievre, which the English changed to “geneva” and then modified to “gin.”

Originally used for medicinal purposes, the use of gin as a social drink did not grow rapidly at first. However, in 1690, England passed “An Act for the Encouraging of the Distillation of Brandy and Spirits from Corn” and within four years the annual production of spirits, mostly gin, reached nearly one million gallons.

South of the Border

Tequila is distilled from the sap of the agave plant indigenous to Mexico, not the mescal cactus, as many people believe. The Jaime family in Arandes, Jalisco, Mexico has been growing “all natural” Weber Blue Agave for the tequila industry for over 100 years. No pesticides, chemical weed control, hormonal fertilizers or chemicals are used to grow or speed the distillation process of Oregon’s only tequila.

Manuel Jaime was in charge of his family Agave plantation at age 15 and grew up learning the art of creating quality Blue Agave for the big brand tequila companies. Manuel has worked to refine his family’s tequila recipe to the distinctly smooth “Zircon Azul” (“Blue Gem”). He and his family currently reside in Winston, Oregon and Manuel maintains a quality Mexican and Seafood restaurant there under the name ”Carlos”.

Believe it or not

“Drink is in itself a good creature of God, and to be received with thankfulness, but the abuse of drink is from Satan; the wine is from God, but the drunkard is from the Devil.” Rev. Mather sermon on drunkenness (d. 1723)

Protestant leaders such as Luther, Calvin, Anglican Church, and even the Puritans did not differ substantially from the teachings of the Catholic Church when it came to views on alcohol: alcohol was a gift of God and created to be used in moderation for pleasure, enjoyment and health; drunkenness was viewed as a sin.

Still is – drink with moderation and care while you are enjoying the New Year festivities.

Good Cheer with Wine

By Tammera J. Karr, PhD, BCIH, CNC, CNW, CNH

During the holiday season it is common for beer, wine and spirits to be given as gifts. I wondered about the history of these beverages and what their place has been in culture and holiday cuisine.

Wine is the second or some may argue the oldest of the fermented beverages developed. This may have been an accident but not for long; water in community housing areas was far from clean or safe for consumption. The early fermented beverages were of mixed fair and alcohol content. According to an ancient Persian fable, wine was the accidental discovery of a princess seeking to end her life with what she thought was poison. Instead, she experienced the elixir’s intoxicating effects as it released her from the anxieties of royal court life.

Proof women have been self medicating with wine for a long time.

Experts agree wine probably dates to 6000 B.C. Mesopotamia where wild grape vines grew. The drink was savored by royalty and priests, while commoners drank beer, mead, and ale. The ancient Egyptians are the first culture known to document the process of wine making.

Wine making made its way to Greece, where it permeated all aspects of society: literature, mythology, medicine, leisure, and religion. The Romans took vine clippings from Greece back to Italy, and centers of viticulture soon developed in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the rest of Europe. ¹

From the Bible to ancient legends, tales of intoxication by ingesting fermented grapes abound. In addition, fossilized vines add proof to the fact that the earliest humans recognized the pleasures of this tantalizing liquid.

“Good wine is a necessity of life for me.”
– Thomas Jefferson

“Wine is a living liquid containing no preservatives. Its life cycle comprises youth, maturity, old age, and death. When not treated with reasonable respect it will sicken and die.”
– Julia Child

From honey to happy

The history of mead dates back 20,000 to 40,000 years and has its origins on the African continent.  In Africa during the dry season, wild bees would nest in tree hollows, and during the wet season the hollows would fill with water. Water, honey, osmotolerant yeast, time and viola - mead is born. As successive waves of people left Africa they took with them some knowledge of mead and mead making.  Not until the time of Louis Pasteur, in the mid 1800’s, did man become aware of yeast as the life form responsible for fermentation.

Eventually mead making became well known in Europe, India and China. But mead making died out as people became urbanized. Honey was prized throughout history; it was often available only to royalty and with time the tradition of mead was sustained in the monasteries of Europe only. ²

In medieval times Christmas was quite a pagan celebration, foods were heavily spiced if the lord of the manner was wealthy enough to purchase clove, cardamom, cinnamon and ginger from travelers and tradesmen. The “good –housewife” of the manor would combine these herbs with meats that where beginning to turn as a preservative and with wine to improve digestion and prevent food poisoning.

A Wassailing we go

The text of the carol employs noun and verb forms of “wassail,” a word derived from the Old Norse ves heil and the Old English was hál and meaning “be in good health” or “be fortunate.” The phrase found first use as a simple greeting, but the Danish-speaking inhabitants of England seem to have turned was hail, and the reply drink hail, into a drinking formula adopted widely by the population of England— the Norman conquerors who arrived in the eleventh century regarded the toast as distinctive of the English natives.

“Wassail” appears in English literature as a salute as early as the eighth-century poem Beowulf, in references such as “warriors’ wassail and words of power” ³

Wassail Recipe: ⁴

Makes 4 quarts. (approx.)

Ingredients:

4 cups good Apple Cider -freshly pressed

* 2 pints Sherry or Madeira wine and 1-cup rum are often substituted for ale and port – resulting in a sweeter flavor and lighter body.

1 C Orange Juice

1 C Cranberry Juice

2 pints heavy winter ale*

3 cups Port*

4 small tart/sweet apples -peeled and cored

1 lemon

1 lime

1 orange

1 tsp. ground cardamom

3 small or 1.5 large cinnamon sticks

15 whole cloves

6 whole allspice

1 tsp. grated fresh ginger

4 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tbsp, cold butter

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Pack 1 tbsp. of brown sugar and ¼ tbsp. of butter into the core of each apple. Place apples in a small baking dish and fill dish with ½-inch of water (to keep apples from burning or sticking to bottom).
3. When oven is pre-heated bake apples uncovered for 45min. to 1-hour or until tender and soft, but not mushy. Drain water. Quarter each baked apple (or divide into eights depending on number of guests).
4. Combine cardamom, cloves, allspice and ginger in a small piece of cheesecloth, and tie closed with twine to form a spice packet.
5. In a large stockpot or slow cooker combine apple cider, cranberry juice, orange juice, (plus Ale, Port/Rum, Wine as desired), and the juice of one lemon and one lime.
6. Place cinnamon directly into liquids and stir to infuse.
7. Submerge spice packet in stockpot.
8. Stir apples into stockpot (they’ll ultimately float on top and begin to soften, fall apart and add a creamy quality to the liquid.
9. Simmer on medium/high (never boiling) for two hours until hot spices are thoroughly infused and apples have begun to dissolve.
10. Remove spice packet and pour into “Wassail Bowl” if not using stockpot or slow cooker as your Wassail Bowl. Be prepared to reheat until the Wassail Bowl is empty.
11. Garnish the Wassail Bowl by floating thin slices of the remaining lemon, limes and oranges on top.
12. Serve in small mugs with a sizable piece of apple in each mug.

To your good health and Holidays filled with friends, laughter and good cheer.