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Author: Hextilda

It's hot.
Cordially Yours

Cordially Yours

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Two summers ago, I took a cordial-making class at my very first Pennsic. It was great — admittedly, at the time, it was basically an excuse to drink someone else’s booze. I barely knew what a cordial was but took a friend and was pleasantly surprised. The class itself was actually really interesting and I ended up way more engaged in it than I had expected to be. I have to admit, I liked the idea of a project that was, essentially, set-and-forget. Cordials are easy to make; they just take a long time for results, so you need patience.

I made some cordials with pears from my family’s ranch last year. I aged them five months (primarily by putting them in a closet and forgetting about them) and took them with me to Gulf Wars to pour for people. They were a pretty decent hit at Gulf Wars. The pears did not add much flavor themselves, but the spices I put in with them were a big hit.

I finally started making cordials this year in a more serious way, now that I’m back in a real city and have access to alcohol at bulk rates (thank you, Ye Olde Costco). My family’s garden is yielding some amazing fruits and veggies, too, so I have been putting those to good use.

Cherry, Blackberry, and Watermelon cordials

I’m using either vodka or brandy for most of my cordials. Brandy is generally the alcohol of choice for in-period recipes, but vodka is also quite popular as a vessel for flavor since it has no real flavor of its own.

Watermelon, cubed and in the jar.

Doing the cordials now means I can let them sit for months before A&S competitions or Inter-Kingdom Brewing Guild competitions. My hope is to bring most of these to either Gulf Wars 2018 or Pennsic 2018.

Fruits I’ve been using for the cordials:

  • Watermelon (20 lb watermelon from my family’s garden)
  • Blackberry
  • Strawberry
  • Black cherry
It's hot.
Cayenne Cordial

And since I reside in the stellar kingdom of Ansteorra, I decided to make a few… more dangerous cordials. These peppers all came from my family’s garden.

  • Cayenne
  • Poblano
  • Jalapeño 
Peppers galore

Unlike normal cordials that are allowed to stew for at least a month, if not more, peppers need to be strained about a week after being placed in the alcohol. I’ll be adding sugar water to these in a few days and start the next round of the aging process. It should be interesting.

I keep track of the recipes in my SCA notebook. These all get transferred over to a spreadsheet, which is being stored in the cloud. 

Cordial notes from my notebook

At the moment, I currently have more than six gallons of cordials working. It’s a lot of booze, but I trust my SCA family can help me dispose of it.

Fruit and Berry Cordials, hard at work.
Summer Sekanjabin

Summer Sekanjabin

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I have been in the SCA for just over two years now. Pennsic was the third event I ever attended and I was fortunate enough to be able to go again last year. This summer, however, I had to choose between Pennsic or seeing the eclipse (I could take two weeks off, but not a full month). I opted for the eclipse. Pennsic will be there for me next year. In any case, in the spirit of Pennsic, I decided to make up some sekanjabin.

Sekanjabin is a shelf-stable Persian drink dating back to at least the 10th century (in Fihrist of al-Nadim). While most popularly made with mint, the only real requirements are vinegar and honey/sugar. People play with the ratios and add different things to them. I opted for flavors I already had on hand in my home — but flavors which were all found in Persia in-period.

Bottled syrup on the left and prepared drink on the right

Enjoy!

Summer Sekanjabin
A refreshing traditional drink
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Prep Time
2 min
Cook Time
10 min
Total Time
15 min
Prep Time
2 min
Cook Time
10 min
Total Time
15 min
Ingredients
  1. 2 C sugar
  2. 1¼ C water
  3. ½ C vinegar (white, white wine, or red wine)
  4. 1 C pomegranate juice
  5. 1 T rose water
  6. 3 ginger candies or 1T ginger syrup
Instructions
  1. Bring the sugar, water, and vinegar to a boil. Stir for three minutes (sugar should now be fully integrated).
  2. Add ginger candy or syrup; stir until melted. Remove from heat.
  3. Add rosewater and pomegranate juice, stir.
  4. Let cool to room temperature, then bottle.
  5. To drink: add 1 part syrup to 5-10 parts water. Can be prepared hot or cold, but I think it tastes best over ice.
Notes
  1. Sekanjabin is shelf-stable and will last a very long time. Feel free to play with the flavors and proportions of the base ingredients -- other popular flavors include mint, lavender, and quince. It's also worth noting that the different vinegars will affect the flavor of the final product.
  2. Final yield is 24 oz of syrup. That's enough to make more than 3.5 gallons of final product -- ample to keep a family hydrated for a day at an event.
  3. Ginger candies and ginger syrup can be purchased online or through your local health food store. I recommend the Ginger People's hard ginger candies or their syrup. You can, of course, make your own, but I find the cost-benefit analysis to come out in favor of purchasing.
Adapted from Historic recipes
Adapted from Historic recipes
Hextilda https://hextilda.com/
Navigating by the Stars

Navigating by the Stars

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Hail and well met!

Here is a link to the PDF of the handout for this class: Navigating by the Stars.

This course has been previously taught at:

  • Festival of the Flowers — May 2016, Bjornsborg, Ansteorra
  • Pennsic 45 — July/August 2016
  • War of the Rams — November 2016, Ansteorra
  • Gulf Wars — March 2017, Glen Abhann

I love teaching this course. People take it for a variety of reasons — some wish to know what their persona would have known, some are more survival/preparedness-minded, and some simply wish to be able to find their way back to their encampment from parties at War. The handout covers the highlights of the class.