Have you ever found yourself on a hot
summer day, you've worked hard, you
played really hard, and you're rung out.
You really need something to drink, well
today, we're going to be making a
thousand-year-old energy drink that was
popular in the 18th century. Thanks
for joining us today on 18th century
cooking with Jas Townsend & Son.
So, you know, we really don't do drinks
very frequently here on the show but we
do plan on doing a series on drinks here
in the future.
Today the drink we will be making is
called switchel. According to the
oxford companion for american food and
drink,
switchel is a new england invention;
but others say that switchel actually
came from the Caribbean to North
America.
Well, it probably more likely, it turns
out, that switchel's just related to a
number of very similar drinks that have
been used or made for a thousand
years in various cultures around the
globe.
Switchel also goes by the name of
Sitchel, aqua forte,
ginger punch, Yankee beverage, and swizzle.
This drink is high in potassium, that's
an electrolyte the body needs especially
when you've perspired a lot, and this drink
was used for exhausted field hands and
sailors alike.
Most recipes for switchel are found in
mid 19th century cookbooks, but it's
firmly rooted in eighteenth-century
references also. You can even find very
similar drinks used by Roman soldiers to
refresh themselves and the ancient
Greeks had a very similar drink that was
called oxemel. This invigorating tonic can
be made in several different ways and
it's very easy to put together. The
recipe we're using today is from a mid
19th century cookbook called
"The Skillful Housewife".
I'll start with a half a gallon of clean
drinking water, to this I'll add a half a
cup of unsulphured molasses, a quarter cup
of apple cider vinegar and a heaping
tablespoon full of powdered ginger.
Now stir this really well,
be sure to use barbados molasses or
light molasses and definitely not a
blackstrap molasses
that will be much too bitter. Some
of the recipes actually call for the use
of maple sugar or maple syrup instead
and some of those references to molasses
actually mean
maple syrup. Honey makes another great
alternative.
That Roman drink, that was
made with honey instead of molasses.
Instead of or in addition to the vinegar,
you could use lemon juice or lime juice
and that will make a very interesting
variation.
Instead of the powdered ginger you could
use a fresh ginger
that's finely minced, but powdered ginger
was a much more common way to find
ginger in the 18th century. Ginger was
one of the most common and one of the
most inexpensive spices available at the
time.
Another great variation to this, would be
to add your daily rum ration right to
this drink, that would make a great
version of this! A closely related drink is
a popular concoction called shrub,was
various fruit juices, something like that
of raspberries or blackberries. sweetened
how you pleased and added to vinegar.
We offer a book at Jas Townsend and
son called "Libations of the 18th century".
This does have recipes for switchel, as
well as many other popular drinks at the
time. You'll find a link to this book in
the description below. So many times this
drink was placed in a jug and
suspended down into a well or placed in
a running stream of water to cool it off
but we've all found that when we drink
cool things on a hot day can upset our
stomachs,
that's one of the reasons why we believe
that they had added ginger to this drink.
Let's give this a try.
Looks good...
...you know, it still has the smell of
vinegar, but not very strongly,
you know, vinegar's about the last thing I
ever want to eat or drink but this
actually it reminds me a lot of a good
apple cider!
It's very good. I can see why this would
be a very very popular drink especially
in hot weather.
If you're new to our youtube channel I
really want to welcome you and don't
forget to subscribe by pressing this
button right up here. If you'd like to
visit our website, this link will take
you here and if you'd like to request a
print catalog,
this link will take you to that spot. We
also have related video links right down
here just click on them it'll take you
right to the video.
Thank you so much for watching!
