Hippocras

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Hippocras
Hippocrates's sleeve being used to make hippocras wine
TypeWine mixed with sugar and spices
Country of origin Roman Empire
IngredientsWine, cinnamon, spices, sugar

Hippocras[1][2] sometimes spelled hipocras or hypocras, is a drink made from wine mixed with sugar and spices, usually including cinnamon, and possibly heated. After steeping the spices in the sweetened wine for a day, the spices are strained out through a conical cloth filter bag called a manicum hippocraticum or Hippocratic sleeve (originally devised by the 5th century BC Greek physician Hippocrates to filter water), from which the name of the drink is derived.[3]

History

Spiced wine was popular in the

Viandier de Taillevent in France), probably with reference and tribute to Hippocrates. In the Catalan cookbook Llibre del Coch
(1520) the recipe is given as pimentes de clareya.

The drink became extremely popular, with a reputation as having various medicinal or even aphrodisiac properties.

In the 16th century, food was classified along two axes: cold or hot, dry or wet. People at that time believed in pursuing “balance” between these, for instance by stewing dry ingredients (like root vegetables) and roasting wet foods (like suckling pig). Wine was considered to be cold and dry, and so to this warm ingredients like sugar, ginger and cinnamon were added, creating hypocras.[4]

Cookbooks and pharmacological manuals both provide recipes. This traditional recipe goes back to 1631:

Take 10 lb. best

Aframomum melegueta), 3 drams ginger. Crush the spices coarsely and steep in the wine for 3 or 4 hours. Add 1½ lb. whitest sugar. Pass through the sleeve several times, and it is ready.[3]

Since the 16th century, the word has been generally spelled hippocras or hipocras in English and hypocras in French. Original recipes for hippocras were made until the 19th century, when it fell out of favor. This wine is made with sugar and spices. Sugar then[when?] was considered to be medicine and the spices varied according to the recipes. The main spices are: cinnamon, ginger, clove, grains of paradise and long pepper. An English text specifies that sugar was uniquely for the lords and honey was for the people. Since the 17th century, spiced wines, in France, have been generally prepared with fruits (apples, oranges, almonds) and with musk or ambergris. In England, in 1723, there was a recipe for red hippocras containing milk and brandy. The drink was well liked during medieval and Elizabethan times. Moreover, doctors prescribed it to aid digestion. It was served at most banquets all over Europe.

The drink was highly prized during the high and late

jam
and fruit preserves. Hippocras fell out of fashion and was forgotten during the 18th century.

In France, hypocras is still produced in the

Haute Loire areas, though in very small quantities.[5]

Since 1996 the population of

Läggerli
(biscuits) with it.

The drink may have eventually inspired the Spaniards in their 18th-century development of sangria. While sweeter than hippocras, sangria is still often made with spices, including cinnamon, ginger, and pepper.

See also

References

  1. ^ "hippocras". Merriam-Webster.
  2. ^ "hippocras definition - Dictionary - MSN Encarta". Archived from the original on 2009-04-26.
  3. ^
    ISBN 9780199313617
    .
  4. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1206-4sp
    .
  5. ^ "Accueil boutique / NOTRE CAVE" (in French). Today, Frédéric Bayer has taken over from his father. We are based in St Germain Laprade (in Haute-Loire, 7kms from Puy en Velay) and we are always faithful to our original recipes

Further reading

External links

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