Feeling Fancy: Drinking Hippocras as Medieval Nobility

This is a feasting scene from the
Bayeux Tapestry where wine is being enjoyed.

     The Medieval food and drink is far too commonly stereotyped as bland and simple. In his book Daily Life in the Middle Ages, Paul Newman dedicates an entire chapter to the food and drink from this period. Within this chapter Newman discusses wine as being a staple point for many countries with plenty of rivers and which had been conquered by the Romans. Newman explains that wine was drank by itself and used in a concoction known as mulled wine or hippocras. I found Newman and web-sources' discussion about hippocras very interesting and helpful to my understanding of medieval social history. I had previously heard of mulled wine, but I had no idea what its origins were or and specifics about it. After research, I found that mulled wine, or hippocras, is commonly made using a red wine mixed with a number of spices from all over the world. One of my web-sources affirmed by Newman that even in the Middle Ages an individual could buy a packet of the spices pre-measured and mixed to put into the wine mixture (Medievalhistories.com and Newman 20). 

This image shows a woman enjoying hippocras.
The date and origin are unknown to the author.

     

     Newman explains that hippocras is named after Hippocrates, the Greek physician, who invented it (Newman 21). What is very profound about this drink of warmed wine mixed with spices, is that it is related to two important aspects of medieval society. First, hippocras was related to the humoral theory discussed in the healing section. Because red wine was considered warm and dry it was related to blood and the good humoral balance (Newman 21). Therefore, physicians are recorded as prescribing the concoction. Second, because hippocras requires many different spices not native to the Europe, a globalization aspect is revealed. Newman discusses the spices and their origin within his chapter. The recipe I found calls for cardamom, star anise, ginger, black peppercorn, cinnamon, and sugar (Medievalhistories.com). As Newman explains, spices such as these were grown in the Middle East and Asia Minor (Newman 30). Overall, this connection reminded me of Thomas Bekett's "Twelfth Century London" from 1175 in which he discusses the globalized market by the shore in London. I truly found it amazing that a simple recipe can reveal such insight about the past.  

Below are recipes for Hippocras along with a mulled apple cider:

Hippocras recipe: 

• 8 gr of cardamom 
• 6 gr of cinnamon 
• 1 gr of ginger 
• 1 gr of nutmeg 
• 1,5 gr of grain of Paradise 

Mix it with 2 dl(deciliters) wine and 100 gr of sugar and set it to boil for five minutes. When cold, strain it and mix the rest of the bottle of wine into the strained liquid. Together this mixture is then poured through the cloth with the spices. 

Mulled Apple Cider (non-alcoholic): 

• 1 L apple juice or cider 
• 1 chopped apple 
• 4 tbsp sugar 
• 1 star anis 
• 3 whole black pepper corns 
• 1 pod of cardamom 

• 1 slice of fresh ginger 
• 1 stick of cinnamon 
• 2 cloves 

As soon as it boils the mixture should be taken off the stove and set aside for 1 – 1 ½ hour. Strain the mixture and heat it. It can be mixed with a finely chopped apple, chopped almonds and/or chopped dried apricots or plums.  

Sources:

“Medieval Mulled Wine.” Medievalhistories.com. December 9, 2015.  

http://www.medievalhistories.com/medieval-mulled-wine/ 

Newman, Paul B. Daily Life in the Middle Ages. London: McFarland &Company, 2001.