PEAR TREE LOG

pear tree log: I started this blog to keep my younger son, Jonny, in touch with life in Lincolnshire, while he spent a year working in China. That year turned into five! Now he is home and training to become a physics teacher. This is simply a patchwork quilt of some of the things I enjoy - life in rural Lincolnshire, our animals, friends, architecture, books, the gardens, and things of passing interest.



Thursday 24 November 2011

Take 1lb treacle, 18 grains of opium ...

For anyone who may be suffering from a cough, here is a home remedy from my lovely old Victorian (handwritten) recipe book.


For a Cough:


1lb of treacle
18 grains of opium
2oz of juniper berries
2oz of Spanish Juice
1 quart of rain water


To be simmered down in an earthenware jar to 3 gills.


Take a dessert-spoonful on lying down in bed.  (Something to do with the opium?)






A really yummy way to use:


Sheep Trotters


Take one gang of sheep's trotters, put 2oz of heartshorn shavings, one quart of milk and quart of water.  Leave it in the oven to simmer all night, and when used add a little milk and sugar and lemon to your taste.


Mmn.  Sounds tasty.  Almost looks as though it could be two completely unrelated recipes mixed together, but that is how it appears in my lovely old recipe book.




Apologies for such a brief post - we have spent yet another delightful day visiting the aged aunt, and then for a bit of R&R we spent this afternoon filling in the trench which we so carefully created the other day.  

7 comments:

  1. Sherlock Holmes swore by it. I have all of the ingredients except for the rain water - can I nick some out of Toby's supply?

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  2. What on earth is Spanish Juice?

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  3. Owl Wood, I suggest you try one of the rain butts! Toby only drinks Bling, bottled water.

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  4. Cro, I shudder to think what it could be - but that is what the recipe calls for.

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  5. That book looks wonderful!

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  6. Cro: Spanish juice was licorice extract. I suddenly had a vague memory of my mother calling licorice sticks 'Spanish' so it seems a reasonable assumption...

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  7. Hi Nilhuanwen, I'm glad you like it. It's a battered old kitchen recipe book and I probably spend more time reading it (although I don't use many of the recipes) than I have ever spent reading any of the big, glossy, beautiful modern ones!

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