Convivencia, February 21, 2004

Pomegranate Drink

Anonymous Andalusian manuscript, trans. by Charles Perry; interpretation by Brighid ni Charain

Take a ratl of sour pomegranates and another of sweet pomegranates, and add their juice to two ratls of sugar, cook all this until it takes the consistency of syrup, and keep until needed. Its benefits: it is useful for fevers, and cuts the thirst, it benefits bilious fevers and lightens the body gently.

• 2 bottles of pomegranate syrup
• 8 cups sugar
• 4 cups water (for syrup)
• Extra water for making up the drink

1. Make a simple syrup of 2 parts sugar to 1 part water

2. Mix 6 tablespoons of pomegranate syrup with 1 cup of simple syrup, and add enough water to bring the total to 2 quarts. Stir well. Taste and adjust as necessary.

Brighid ni Charain's notes:

That calls for pomegranate juice to be cooked down with sugar into a syrup, which is presumably later diluted into a
drink. Since pomegranate juice is expensive around here (and is not always available), I used pomegranate syrup (aka pomegranate molasses) and a sugar syrup.

From the files of Jadwiga Zajaczkowa (Jenne Heise), 2004