The Middle Ages and the Renaissance are still very much present in Spain. In this age, which was not so dark as we are told, many towns and cities were founded in the country, which still survive; This means that each of them has centuries-old traditions (in addition to the medieval markets that were once established). in some municipalities they are held twice a year). And what these festivals have in common is enjoying characteristic people, seeing craft stalls and enjoying gastronomy.

In terms of gastronomy, the preparations have little to do with the dishes of that period, but things change when we talk about the popular festivals of each region. There the tradition is generally a bit more faithful to those of a few centuries ago, with drink and food taking center stage. There is even a calendar prepared by the Spanish Association of Historical Festivals and Amusements to enjoy these trips to the past, and one of the latest festivals was that of Albaladejo.

And at these parties, Coca-Cola from the Golden Age was recreated.

Coca-Cola of the Golden Age

Our history is linked to gastronomy. We have a lot of information about centuries-old recipes, but from time to time we encounter surprises, such as Neanderthals knowing how to make bread. More precisely, a type of bread. There are many myths surrounding the drinks, and some of them we can still enjoy today.

On their return to Albaladejo, they celebrated an edition of the festivities a few days earlier, when the municipality had dressed up as 1570. Along with crafts and food stalls, soldiers of the Spanish Tercios were among those seen. The ‘Tercio’ was a military unit of the Spanish Army, but unlike other units it consisted of officers and volunteer soldiers appointed by the king.

They were professional, very united, and their experience throughout the campaigns made them effective and the backbone of the Spanish forces for over a century. AND These Tercios had their favorite drink: As Rocío Martín Sánchez from the association ‘Albaladejo Siglo de Oro’ told the ABC newspaper, “the Coca-Cola of the time, the most demanded Coca-Cola”.

In 1500, beer was already very popular in Spain. In fact, this ancient beverage was consumed in many parts of the world due to its calorie content. It didn’t have as strong an alcohol component as it does today, but it did provide some much-needed calories. In fact, it was so vital that even the Romans switched from wine to beer production during their campaigns in Britain.

Hippocras

But we cannot satiate ourselves with beer alone, and as Rocío Martín explains, there were other drinks that were very popular at the time: hypocrites, pure and houses. The latter was the ‘Coca-Cola of the Golden Age’ and each local producer had its own recipe with secret elements or personalized to taste. So… how were these drinks?

Starting with Hypocras, we have a drink whose main ingredients are wine and honey. Yes, it was a sweet wine and was drunk hot as a comforting drink on cold days. Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger or cloves can be added as spices.

The clearance was very similar. It was made with clear wine and honey, but spices such as cinnamon and citrus, peach, orange or apple peels were also added as a sauce. Of course, the latter depended on whether the fruit was available and whether the innkeeper could afford it, as it was expensive. And this exchange remains popular in some Spanish towns on certain dates.

For Holy Week in Peñaranda de Bracamonte (Salamanca), for example, a clarea is prepared consisting of white wine, an apple from El Bierzo, sugar and cinnamon, based on a 1922 recipe inherited from the Brotherhood of Santísimo Cristo de la Cama. stick and orange peel.

This is Mead. If the yeast in the lodging is allowed to ferment, something similar to honey will result.

But let’s move on to the topic of accommodation. As Martín noted, this was the most popular drink among the Tercio, and again each tenant had his own recipe. In fact, it was something they took very seriously (like Neapolitans’ pizza), because to become an official homeowner you had to register with a guild. Things were not that simple.: The guild’s patrons would test your recipe, and if they liked it and approved it, they would record it in a registry that included permission for you to open a shop and serve liquor.

And this house was a very sweet and fermented drink; mixture of water, yeast, honey, lemon, ginger and spices according to the taste of the homeowner. Everything was cooked for about ten hours and served very cold. In fact, they had priority in using water from snow wells to cool drinks.

This drink was first and foremost served in comedy corrals, and although it is not an alcoholic beverage in principle, wine may have been added at some point. Come on, it’s like Coca-Cola with wine for the famous kalimotxo, which is even sold in some American bars.

Spanish accompaniment recipe

After talking this much about accommodation, the truth is that I’m starting to wonder. I wanted to replicate this with updated ingredients, but I found a recipe on YouTube that uses a very special yeast: sourdough. Yes, preparing to bake bread. Statement? At that time, dry and fresh yeast were not so common, so sourdough (or pool yeast if we prefer) is a good yeast.

For this one liter recipe we need:

• Sourdough, stale dough or pool consistency.
• 150 grams of honey (the recipe says 100 but I preferred more)
• Two or three nails.
• One gram of pepper.
• One gram of ginger (I didn’t use it because I didn’t like it)
• A pinch of cinnamon.
• A pinch of coconut.
• Lemon slice.

To prepare it, we add the ingredients to a liter of water, boil it and cook it on low heat for a maximum of one hour. After brewing, we keep it in the refrigerator and it is important to strain it very well before serving. Better with a cloth or muslin to avoid residue.

Conclusion? Meh. So it’s not bad because it’s a sweet drink with interesting touches of cinnamon or clove, but this infusion is not among my favorites. I understand that this flavor was much sweeter back then, when sugar was at its peak and there was more honey, but in today’s taste, well… not that much.

The accommodation was not just Spanish

Such a sweet drink was supposed to both soothe the palate and soothe the soul of the people and the soldiers, but the interesting thing is that There are many places to stay. And no, I’m not talking about every artisan’s alloja recipe, but some Latin American countries also have a drink of the same name, but it’s not the same as Spanish alogero.

In fact, each country has its own recipe, which varies greatly from country to country:

• It comes from Paraguay: A very sweet drink made with 300 milliliters of water, 50 milliliters of cane honey and the juice of one lemon. You can replace the lemon with grapefruit, lime, orange or tangerine, and also add herbs such as parsley.
• Aloja argentina: It is an alcoholic beverage as it is a carob-based fermented drink. You need to break the carob and mix its pieces with water. The mixture is left to ferment in the refrigerator for (at least) four days, and when we think it has fermented sufficiently, remove the solid residues and drink it. Besides honey or sugar, you can also add fruits such as lemon slices.
• Chilean avocado: It is a soft drink prepared by boiling Culén flower, cinchona bark, water, pepper, cloves, cinnamon and toasted corn grains in pumpkin and will extract its sweet notes.
• It comes from Bolivia: peanuts are the main ingredient. While a glass of peanuts is roasting, we boil 4 liters of water, orange peel, cinnamon and cloves separately. This mixture is allowed to cool to room temperature, and when we fry the peanuts, we peel and grind them to release the oil. We cook these powdered peanuts with water to form a paste, and when the paste cools down, we mix it with 4 liters of previously boiled water. Sugar is added… and drank the next day when it gets very cold.

As always in gastronomy, it’s fascinating how something with the same name can differ so much depending on the country we’re in.

Pictures | Patafisik, Rosser1954

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