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A period dish

Hippocras

Red wine steeped with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, sweetened and strained through a cloth.

Serves 12

Hippocras was spiced wine, named for the filtering bag that was likened to the sleeve of Hippocrates. It was drunk at the end of a feast as a digestive and made in large batches to keep.

Ingredients

Produce

  • 1 oz ginger

Pantry / Durable

  • 1/2 cup sugar

Spices & Seasoning

  • 2 cinnamon
  • 6 cloves

Other

  • 1 bottle red wine

Method

  1. Put the wine in a clean vessel with cinnamon sticks, sliced ginger, cloves, and a few peppercorns.

  2. Stir in sugar or honey until dissolved.

  3. Cover and let it steep for a day, stirring now and then.

  4. Strain the wine through a fine cloth or a filtering bag until clear.

  5. Bottle it and serve at room temperature, in small glasses.

Served at

The first citizen's table · Florence, Italy

A solitary supper at Frombork · Frombork, Royal Prussia

A supper for the new philosophy · London, England

An evening at Bellosguardo · Florence, Italy

The method in Paris · Paris, France

Dinner at Trinity · Cambridge, England