
To Make Cordial Pepper Water - benbreen
https://rarecooking.com/2018/04/16/to-make-cordial-pepper-water/
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nielsbot
Seems like using poppy seed instead of actual poppies is a big deviation from
the original? (Or is that what the original recipe meant?) ...As well as
omitting the licorice root. Then again, I love licorice but I understand not
everyone does.

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mrarjen
Reminds me of feeding black licorice "Drop" to non Dutch people, make sure
napkins or a trash can is nearby for them to spit it back out.

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themodelplumber
Are those the really salty ones? I like black licorice, but have only ever
enjoyed it with a sweetener.

I had what may be an equivalent experience when I gave a bag of Reese's Peanut
Butter Cups to my Italian hosts. One adventurous set of tastebuds out of the
bunch had led me to believe they'd be a good gift. People were practically
knocking each other over looking for a place to spit :-)

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mywacaday
American and European chocolate are very different tastes.

[https://www.gourmetboutique.net/blogs/tasting-
room/17250043-...](https://www.gourmetboutique.net/blogs/tasting-
room/17250043-european-vs-american-chocolate-whats-the-difference)

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throwaway2048
very different is a pretty huge overstatement, and this article only describes
the mandatory legal minimums. There is plenty of american chocholate
(including easy to find mass market stuff) that meets or exceeds the european
standards.

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bluesmoon
This was confusing for me because my grandma used to make pepper water for me
when I was a child, and it was nothing like this. It's a kind of spicy soup.
Recipe here: [http://anglo-indianfood.blogspot.com/2013/06/anglo-indian-
pe...](http://anglo-indianfood.blogspot.com/2013/06/anglo-indian-pepper-
water.html)

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dmurray
Starting with 4 gallons (more than 16 litres) of "very good brandy" is an
enormous amount for personal use. Was the original recipe aimed at businesses?

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toomanybeersies
I've found that with old alcohol recipes, they always specify a recipe to make
massive amounts.

A few years ago I was looking at recipes for brewing from the Household
Cyclopedia of 1881 [1]. The recipes specify malt by the sack. 3 sacks of malt
to brew 3 barrels. I never did actually brew any beer from the book, since the
recipes were fairly standard and not altogether that different from modern
brewing. 1881 is late enough that we had a good understanding of the chemistry
and microbiology involved in brewing beer.

The book also has recipes for various liqueurs, usually with recipes calling
for 4 gallons of spirits. There's even a recipe for "port wine" that calls for
100 gal of claret and 12 gal of honey.

[1]
[https://archive.org/stream/Household_Cyclopedia#page/n403/mo...](https://archive.org/stream/Household_Cyclopedia#page/n403/mode/2up)

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roel_v
Since these old recipes are showing up every now and then here, I feel like I
should plug www.archiefkok.nl for those of us who speak Dutch. It's like the
blog linked above except she also writes an essay around the historical source
the recipe is from or the historical context of the recipe. Do not open this
site on a morning where you can't afford to lose most of the day browsing the
archives.

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zeveb
Pity that anyone who makes this according to the original recipe would be
violating the law in the U.S. and (I believe) many other countries. I'd love
to try it.

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dec0dedab0de
If the poppy seeds are unwashed, even this version would break the law.

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oh_sigh
What's the law? Are you not allowed to possess unwashed poppy seeds? Or are
you just not allowed to put them in brandy?

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AdmiralAsshat
A splash of soda / seltzer water seems to make just about everything better.

