A Boke of Gode Cookery Presents

Clarrey

PERIOD: England, 14th century | SOURCE: Forme of Cury | CLASS: Authentic

DESCRIPTION: Wine mulled with honey and spices

ORIGINAL RECEIPT:

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

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

GODE COOKERY TRANSLATION:

Claret. Take cinnamon & galingale, grains of paradise, and a little pepper, & make powder, & mix it with good white wine & the third part honey & run it through a cloth.

MODERN RECIPE:

  • 1 bottle (750 mll) of an inexpensive, sweet white wine
  • 1 -2 cups honey
  • 1 tbs. each cinnamon, galingale (or substitute ginger), & cardamom
  • 1 tsp. white pepper
  • cheesecloth
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 Clarrey aged for a year or more is exquisite!

Clarrey 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.

Metric, Celsius, & Gas Mark Equivalencies

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Clarrey © 2000 James L. Matterer

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