Hypocras (Medieval spiced wine with cinnamon)

Medieval European spiced wine with cinnamon, ginger and honey

Origin: Venice & Medieval Europe

From the journey of Cinnamon.

Hypocras was the defining luxury drink of medieval European courts and feasts: a spiced, sweetened wine whose recipe appears in more medieval cookery manuscripts than almost any other preparation. Named after Hippocrates (via a straining bag called the Hippocrates sleeve used to filter it), hypocras was considered both a pleasure and a medicine: warming the humours, aiding digestion, and signalling the wealth of the host through its lavish use of cinnamon, ginger, and other imported spices. Venice’s merchants, who controlled the final leg of the cinnamon trade from Alexandria to European markets through the 14th century, grew fabulously wealthy supplying the spices that made hypocras possible. At medieval feasts, hypocras was served as the final course or as the opening drink of welcome. This recipe follows the proportions given in Le Viandier de Taillevent (c. 1380), one of the most important medieval French cookery texts.

Ingredients

Base

  • 750 ml full-bodied red wine (Burgundy, Rhône, or similar)

Sweetener

  • 150 g honey (or caster sugar: honey is more historically accurate)

Spices

  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon (Ceylon)
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 0.5 tsp ground black pepper
  • 0.25 tsp ground cardamom
  • 0.25 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 pinch ground cloves

Method

  1. Combine all spices and honey or sugar in a bowl. Add the wine and stir thoroughly to dissolve the sweetener.
  2. Pour into a saucepan and warm gently over low heat until steaming: do not boil. Maintain at around 65–70°C for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Strain through a fine mesh sieve lined with muslin. Press the spice solids to extract all liquid.
  4. Serve warm in goblets, or cool to room temperature. Keeps refrigerated for up to one week.

Notes

Hypocras recipes survive in English, French, Italian, and Catalan sources from the 13th–17th centuries. The cinnamon quantity here is historically accurate: medieval spicing was far heavier than modern tastes expect.

The Gastrographer

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