Hippocras"To make powdered hippocras, take a quarter of very fine cinnamon, an ounce of grain of paradise, a sixth of nutmegs and gilingale together, and bray them all together. And when you would make your hippocras, take a good half ounce of this powder and two quarters of sugar and mix them with a quart of wine, by Paris measure. And note that the powder and the sugar mixed together is the Duke’s powder."

Redaction:

 Grind them all together. To make hippocras add half an ounce of the powder and half a pound of sugar to two quarts of boiling wine. Strain.

"Take lemon, after peeling its outer skin, press it and take a ratl of juice, and add as much of sugar. Cook it until it takes the form of a syrup. Its advantages are for the heat of bile; it cuts the thirst and binds the bowels."

Redaction:

Add a project. Take nine pints of warm fountain water, and dissolve in it one pint of pure white-honey, by laving it therein, till it be dissolved. Then boil it gently, skimming it all the while, till all the scum be perfectly scummed off; and after that boil it a little longer, peradventrue a quarter of an hour. In all it will require twq or three hours of boiling, so that at last one third part may be consumed. About a quarter of an hour before you cease boiling, and take it from the fire, put to it a little spoonful of cleansed and sliced ginger; and almost half as much of the thin yellow rind of orange, when you are even ready to take it from the fire, so as the orange boil only one walm init. Then pour it into a well glased strong deep great Gally-pot, and ley it stand so , till it be almost cold, that it be scarce luke-warm. Then put to it a little silver spoonful of pure ale-yeast, and work it together with a Ladle to make it ferment: as soon as it begginneth to do so, cover it close with a fit cover, and put a thick dubbled woollen cloth about it. Cast all things so that this may be done when you are going to bed. Next morning when you rise, you will find the barm gathered all together in the middle; scum it clean off with a silver-spoon and a feather, and bottle up the liqour, stopping it very close. It will be ready to drink in two or three days; But it will keep well a month or two. It will be from the first very quick and pleasant.

Redaction:

Dissolve the honey in the watter in a large pot and bring to a boil. Let it boil down to 2/3 the original volume (8 pints) skimming periodically. This will take about 2 ½ to 3 hours; by the end it should be clear. About 15 min before it is done, add the ginger. At the end add the orange peel should be the yellow part only, not the white; a potato peeler works well to get the peel off. Let the mead cool to luke warm, then add the yeast. The original recipe appears to use a top fermenting ale yeast, but dried bread yeast works. Cover and let sit 24-36 hrs. Bottle it, using sturdy bottles; the fermentation builds up considerable presure. Refrigerate after 3-4 days. Beware of exploding bottles. The mead will be drinkable in a week, but better if you leave it longer.

This recipe is modified from the original by reducing the proportion of honey and lengthening the time of fermentation before bottling. Both changes are to reduce the risk of broken bottles. Using 2 liter plastic soda bottles is unaesthetic, but they are safer than glass.

You will need:

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Step 12

In summary-

1. Clean everything
2. Boil water
3. Add honey and dissolve
4. Add tea, juice, and spices
5. Boil and skim.
6. Remove from heat and let cool, Siphon into carboy.
7. Add yeast
8. Rack after 2-4 weeks
9. Add clarifier

11. Bottle

12. Drink