Conditum Paradoxumc

Panel Information

Brewer: Hugh of Ruantallan

Recipe Source: Originally from Apicius, Cookery And Dining in Imperial Rome by Vehiing. Copied from “A Sip Through Time”

Recipe Name: Conditum Paradoxumc

Category: Div 5 Liqueurs, Cordials and Medicinal brews, Distillation

Time/Place Paneled: 8/13/14 The Siege of Castle Theo'dOr

Panel Score: 75.5

Original Recipe

[ ] added by translator

The Composition of [this] excellent spiced wine [is as follows] . Into a copper bowl put 6 sextarii of honey and 2 sextarii of wine; heat on a slow fire, constantly stirring the mixture with a whip. At the boiling point add a dash of cold wine, retire from stove and skim. Repeat this twice or three times, let it rest till the next day, and skim again. Then add 4 oz of crushed pepper, 3 Scruples of mastich, a drachm each of [nard or laurel] leaves and saffron, 5 drachms of roasted date stones crushed and previously soaked in wine to soften them. When this is properly done add 18 sextarii of light wine. To clarify it perfectly, add [crushed] charcoal twice or as often as necessary which will draw [the residue] together [and carefully strain or filter through the charcoal]

Redaction

The book	Translation to modern measurement	Reduced for test run	Adjusted for final
6 Sextarii Honey	3.24 liters	225 ml	225mL
4 Ounces Crushed Pepper	109.6 grams	7.56 g	5 g
3 scruples Mastic	3.87 grams	0.26 g	0.5 g
20+ Sextarii Wine	10.8 Liters	750 ml	750 ml
1 dram Saffron	3.88 grams	0.26 g	0.25 g
5 Drams Roasted Date stones	19.44 grams	1.35 g	2 Date stones
1 Dram Spikenard or Bay laurel Leaves	3.88 grams	0.26g	1 Bay Leaf
Crushed Charcoal	No mesurement	about 1 cup	about 1 cup

Process and Notes

I looked up some of the ingredients because I didn’t recognise them and was able to find Mastic (Arabic gum) and Date Stones (date pits). I also looked up the most popular peppers in Rome for this time and found that Long pepper was the favored. However, I could not find any so I used Black pepper, less popular but still used during this time period.

I made charcoal on my BBQ in a metal smoker box while cooking a chicken. Made from maple wood. Crushed it and used this for the filter with some unbleached cotton.

I bought the cheapest non-descript Italian wine I could find.

Test run

• I don’t own a copper pot, I used steel.

• Because of the filtering process of modern honey, skimming is not needed in the first step. But I did still simmer and let rest 3 times.

• I took “When this is properly done” to mean there was more to it than just putting ingredients in wine so I heated the drink and let it steep for a short time to give the flavors a chance to be drawn into the wine

• Date stones are as hard as rocks and need tools to brake unless well toasted.

• 7.5 Grams of Black pepper is a lot and will overpower the drink. I will drop this to 5 Grams

• I could not taste the mastic and will increase it to 0.5 grams

Final

I made this drink and served it warm at the camping event using the finale set of measurement.