Medieval Recipes and Drinks: Clarrey

Sep 30 2020

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Clarrey was a medieval drink consisting of spiced white wine and honey. Clarrey was mentioned in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and mentioned in the Forme of Cury book, which dates to the 1390s.

He drynketh yppocras, claree, and vernage
Of spices hoote, to encressen his corage
Chaucer, The Merchant’s Tale, from the Canterbury Tales

Ingredients

One bottle of sweet white wine
1 or 2 cups of honey
1 tbs. cinnamon, galingale or ginger and cardamom (of each)
1 tbs white pepper
Cheesecloth

Preparation

“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.”

Boil the wine and honey, reduce the heat and skim off the scrum as it rises. Continue adding honey as you deem necessary, then remove from the heat and stir in the spices. Let the mix sit covered for 24 hours. After this period, remove the residue of spices and pass the wine into another container using a strainer with two or three layers of cheesecloth. Bottle and wait at least one month before serving.

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