Sweet Tisane

A brew of barley, licorice, figs, and sugar

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City/Region: France

Time Period: 1393

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The myth persists that everyone was drunk in the Middle Ages because no one drank water, only alcohol. While many people preferred to drink ale, wine, or mead, people drank water all the time. Having a source of fresh, clean water was the basis of the location of many cities and towns.

Clean water isn’t just an issue of the past, either. Today, 1 in 10 people don’t have access to clean water. For the month of August, I’m joining thousands of creators across the internet to form Team Water with the goal of raising $40 million to supply 2 million people with clean water which will flow for decades. You can support Team Water by donating at teamwater.org, or by watching and sharing the episode for this recipe. I’ll be donating all of the ad revenue from this video to Team Water!

This sweet tisane is an herbal tea made with barley, licorice root, figs, and sugar. I really enjoyed it, even though the flavor of the licorice and figs didn’t come through. It kind of reminds me of the milk after you’ve eaten a bowl of Raisin Bran, which I like.

“Sweet tisane.
Take some water and boil it, then for each septier of water add one generous bowl of barley—it does not matter if it is all hulled—and two parisis’ worth of licorice; item, also figs. Boil until the barley bursts, then strain through two or three pieces of linen, and put plenty of rock sugar in each goblet. The barley that remains can be fed to poultry to fatten them.”

— Le Ménagier de Paris, 1393

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Ingredients:

• 1 quart (1 L) water
• 1/2 cup (85 g) barley, hulled or unhulled
• 1 teaspoon (2 g) dried licorice root
• 3 dried figs, chopped into small pieces
• Rock sugar, or regular sugar to sweeten to your taste

Instructions:

1. Combine the water, barley, licorice root, and figs in a pot.
2. Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, then cover and let it simmer for 1 hour.
3. After the tisane has simmered for 1 hour, you can let it cool if you like, or begin straining while it’s still hot.
4. Pass the tisane through a wire strainer to get rid of the barley, licorice root, and figs.
5. Set up a jelly bag and pass the tisane through it to get rid of the larger pieces of sediment.
6. Clean out the jelly bag, then lay several layers of cloth into the bottom of it and pass the tisane through it once more. It took mine about 5 minutes to drip through.
7. Place a few pieces of rock sugar into a glass, or use granulated sugar if you don’t have rock sugar, and add your tisane, which you can serve either hot or cold. Stir to dissolve the sugar, then serve it forth.

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