"Of a clarree maad of a certain wyn" - The Knight's Tale

Original recipe from Forme of Cury:

205. Clarrey. Take kanel & galinga, greyns de paris, and a lytel peper, & make pouder, & temper hit wyt god wyte wyne & the thrid perte honey & ryne hit thorow a cloth.

- Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. Curye on Inglish: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century (Including the Forme of Cury). New York: for The Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1985.

Clarree was wine to which honey and spices were added; the name comes from the Latin vinum claratum, which means "clarified wine." The name survives today as claret, a dry, red wine.

Modern recipe:

Bring the wine and honey to a boil; reduce heat & skim off the scum as it rises. Taste for sweetness; add honey as necessary. Remove from heat, stir in spices, and allow to sit covered for 24 hours. After sitting, the spices will create a thick residue which will settle to the bottom. Using a ladle, pass the wine into another container through a strainer lined with 2 or 3 layers of cheesecloth to remove the spices, being careful to leave as much of the spice residue in the pot as possible. Bottle. Make at least 1 month before serving. A good Clarree aged for a year or more is exquisite!

Metric, Celsius, & Gas Mark Equivalencies

More information on Clarree may be found at: Chaucer's Foods: Clarree

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© James L. Matterer

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