FOOD HISTORY: GIN (Part One) Ancient Tmes thru Holland

Gin is a distilled, colorless to a pale yellow alcoholic drink usually obtained from a grain mash
that derives its predominant flavor from juniper berries. Juniper berries have been combined with alcohol for medicinal use far back as 70AD when the Greek physician Pedanious  Descorides published "De materia medica",  a five-volume tone about herbal medicine. In this, he had a detailed description of juniper berries steeped in wine to be used to combat chest ailments. Later, the process of distillation would effect the way Juniper berries combined with alcohol would evolve. The process for the distillation of alcohol originated  in the Arab world in 790 AD, when the Arab alchemist, Abu Musa Jabir Ibn Hayyan designed a simple  "pot still"* which allowed for the effective distillation of many products. Distillation moved to Europe when the Moors invaded and ruled Sicily where Benedictine monks used this process to preserve locally grown medicinal plants, including juniper berries, to be used as medical treatments. In 1055, Benedictine monks in Salerno, Italy published, in their "Compendium Salernito",  a  recipe for a distilled alcohol spirit, infused with juniper, to be used as a health tonic. In the 16th century, the Dutch began producing juniper containing distilled spirits rather than wine-infused products. They called this spirit  "genever". The name of the beverage came from the French name for the juniper berry "genevrier", changed by the Dutch to "genever (Jenever) and, later, shortened  by the British to "Gen' or Gena" and, even later, to "Gin"  Many attribute  genever's origin to Professor Sylvius de Bouve a 16th-century chemist, alchemist and one of the founding professors of Medicine at the University of Leiden, Holland in 1575. He distilled malt wine** spirits which were unpalatable because of the unrefined distilling technique used by "pot distilling". Therefore, he combined the spirits with a distillate of juniper berries, for their alleged medicinal benefit, to mask the flavor.  Thus, he produced  a cheap "medicinal spirit" having the diuretic properties of the juniper berry oil. This was very different from the clear, juniper berry spirit that we now know as "gin", today. However, there is evidence that spirits flavored with juniper were around many years before de Bove produced his. In fact, genever was brought to the Holland from Belgium because the government of Belgium, concerned that the use of grain for the distilling of Genever would contribute to its continuing national food shortage, banned all distilling. Therefore, many Flemish distillers fled from Belgium to other countries, France, Germany, and Holland. The history of  genever in Holland changed farther in 1575, when the Protestant Bolsius family moved from Cologne to Amsterdam and set up a distillery. Amsterdam was independent of the rule of the Catholic Spanish king and a haven for Protestant religious refugees. Bolius changed their name to the more Dutch sounding Bols. While they may not have been the first to make "Genever", they were the first commercial producer of this juniper flavored spirit made for recreational rather than medicinal use.  Bols established a relationship with the Dutch East India Company for them to access exotic herbs and spices for their genever and contracted to supply the company's ships with genever, (their sailors being given a daily ration of genever) which, then, was carried throughout the world. The Dutch particularly prospered by their quick association with the Dutch East Indian Trading Company. With the Dutch East India Company using their trading monopoly of the world spice routes to supply the Dutch distillers with new, rare and exotic spices, the distillers began to experiment with these different  spices and botanicals, changing their original, simple products in to a more complex spirits, spicy with exotic flavors. The Dutch continued to dominate the  genever market around the world until many years later, through a slow process , the British developed a taste for genever. Over the next decades, the British changed the way genever was distilled into what was to become the "Gin" that we all know today. This will be covered in another blog post, "Food History" Gin: Part Two; Britain".

* Pot stills are copper pots from which there is an swan neck arm and an arm that protrudes as a spout. The heated malt wine evaporates in the pot, is cooled and condenses in the swan neck and the resulting distillate is collected via the spout.
**malt wine: a spirit made from corn, wheat and rye.

FOOD HISTORY: GIN (Part Two) Gin in Britain

 FOOD HISTORY: GIN (Part Two) Gin in Britain

Genever was introduced to Britain over a many year period, beginning with the Eighty Years War in 1585, when 6000 British soldiers were sent by Queen Elizabeth to the Low Countries to help them fight against the Spanish but  the troops arrived too late to be involved in much fighting  While they were there, however, they observed a tradition among their Dutch counterparts where they sipped from  small bottles of Genever that they carried on their belts. Before going into battle they drank some of their Genever after which they fought very bravely. The British dubbed this drink "Dutch Courage". Once again, in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), British and Dutch troops fought together, both of them drinking "Dutch Courage" before battle. From the British soldiers association with their Dutch counterparts during these wars, Genever was introduced into Britain, where it was first called, Geneva", then, "Gena",  "Gen" and finally, "Gin". Slowly it  began to become popular. Gin increased in popularity ( and not in a necessarily good way) in 1689 when, through a number of historical twists and turns, the Dutchman, William of Orange, married to Mary, Queen of Scotland, ascended to the British throne. He took the name William III and he and  Mary became King and Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland. Their rise to power brought greater popularity and demand for Gin as a beverage to the usually beer drinking English public. In addition, one of the first things King William did, was to initiate  a trade war with France, Britain's traditional enemy. He blockaded French ports and laid heavy taxes on the import of French wines and cognac in order to weaken their economy. This had the effect of significantly reducing the availability of these products in England. Simultaneously, to make sure that the English still had their access to plentiful alcoholic beverages, he instituted The Corn Laws which provided British distillers tax breaks on spirit production. This resulted in a production spree in the distillation of  Gin.Thousands of legal and illegal gin-shops sprang up using very poor quality grain and  frequently adulterated Gin. Because of the relatively low price of gin compared to other alcoholic beverages, gin became popular with the poor. Also, because anyone could now prepare gin, many thousands of poor households distilled there own .This  led to a disastrously period in English history known as the "Gin Craze" when a pint of Gin was cheaper than a pint of beer and was vastly available. After several years of increased drunkenness, higher infant mortality and an increase in the overall death rate, the government tried to address the problem by introducing the Gin Act in 1736. This significantly raised the duty put on the retail cost of gin with the stipulation that two gallons was the smallest quantity one could buy at retail. While this increased duty was reduced and finally abolished in 1741, the 1751 Gin act was more successful, forcing  distillers to sell only to licensed retailers and brought gin shops under local government oversite. Gin continued to be distilled using the "pot still' method  until, in 1826, a new distilling technique was invented by  Scotsman, Robert Stein. Stein's still involved two columns whose design was later improved and patented by Irishman, Aeneas Coffey in 1831.These stills were called "column stills"* which could run continuously, not having to stop between batches as had the pot still. This allowed a much purer spirit to be produced on a larger scale. The clean spirit produced from the column stills allowed the distillers to significantly reduce or eliminate the sugar used to soften the harshness in the old, pot distilled gins. This new type of column still made the distillation of neutral spirits more practical and enabled a new style of gin to be created  in the later 18th century.This new style of gin became known as Dry gin or London Dry gin and was usually distilled in the presence of bitter orange peel or lemon accents, as subtle combinations of many other spices, as well. This was more  as more typical of the gin products we know today. Together with the reforms enacted by the government to reduce the abuses associated with uncontrolled Gin usage and the production process becoming more refined, with new, subtle flavors, in made its ascent into high society, Further,the  evolution of Gin as a  component of  "new" alcoholic beverages was brought about by Britain's Empire building with expansion into territories all over the world. A large part of this involved the British navy. 

 To my Blog followers: Sorry I screwed up. posting Gin 3, first. Must have been drinking a G&T at the time..

The Gin 1 and Gin 2 are posted above.. Have a G&T or a Gimlet before reading them. 

Either, or both, will help you bring them all together.

FOOD HISTORY: Gin (Part 3) The Part Played by the British Navy"

 FOOD HISTORY: Gin   (Part 3) The Part Played by the British Navy".

Extensive voyages by British navy ships to far distant ports around the world lead to outbreaks of the  disease scurvy; a nutritional  deficiency disease common to sailors on long voyages having to eat diets lacking in an  essential nutritional component; later discovered  to be vitamin C. At that time, however, even though the "cause" of scurvy was unknown, it had been found that sailors given citrus juice aboard ships did not come down with the disease. Therefore, in 1795, the  British Navy issued  an order  to provide a lemon  juice ration to every Navy sailor as a preventive measure to prevent this disease. Lemon juice was replaced by lime juice in 1840, thus, British sailors, after that, were called, "Limeys". (The Merchant Shipping Act of 1867 made this requirement mandatory for sailors on British merchant ships, as well.) Further, from time immemorial, British Navy sailors were given an alcoholic drink ration to prevent drunkenness' from sailors bringing their own, unrestricted alcohol supplies aboard ship. Beer was the drink of choice; one gallon per man per day. When sea voyages became so much longer, ships could not carry the amount of beer needed before it became spoiled. Therefore, substitutions of one pint of wine or one half pint of spirits were introduced. For the sailors the spirit was rum; for the officers it was Gin, which, at that time, was believed to be the cure for various illnesses. "Navy" gin was much stronger (57% alcohol) than the original gin (41.2%)  In 1740, Admiral Edward Vernon seeing that the drinking of sailors rum ration led to a variety of problems among the crew, ordered (Order #349) that the rum ration be diluted one half with water and that sailors could purchase limes and sugar to make the drink more palatable. The sailors did this and named their "new" drink," Grog" the shortened  nickname (Old Grog)  given to Admiral Vernon for wearing a cloak made of grogram cloth. In the same year, according to legend which may or may not be true, Navy Surgeon Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Desmond Gimlette proscribed that the  naval officers daily ration of lime juice be mixed with their Gin to mask its bitterness, ensuring that  his officers also had  the limes anti-scurvy benefit. Since many sailors mixed their lime juice with water diluted rum and sugar to make it more palatable, the officers probably did this with their gin, as well.They called their drink, a "Gimlet", named after Admiral Gimlette. Since all British sailors and officers used sugar sweetened lime juice in their alcoholic beverages, this may have been the precursor to," Rose's" sweetened lime juice, developed by Sir Lachlan Rose who, in 1857, developed a method of preserving a stable lime juice solution.. Ths quickly became popular with the sailors, their officers  and later, bartenders and people for home use in making 'Gimlets". When the Navy brought gin to tropical British colonies, gin found another"medicinal"  use. Colonists used it to mask the bitter taste of Quinine dissolved in  carbonated water, that   they called "tonic water", to prevent malaria. This mixture went on to become  a very popular social drink. Thus, gin and  tonic was born and, later was  transported  by British colonists to be enjoyed around the world.  Another Gin based drink, as is said, "became history."

FOOD HISTORY: Champagne;: Part 3: Vueve Cliquot

Before Madame Clicquot's innovations, Champagne held little relationship to the grand sparkling wine we know today. Barbe-Nichole Pansardin was born in Rheims, France in 1777 into a family well versed in business and politics. At age 21, in a business deal devised by two industrial leaders in Rheims, in what was primarily a business. arrangement quite common at that time, she was married to Francois Clicquot.  Francois Clicquot was the only son of Phillipe Clicquot, Barbe Nicole Pansardin's fathers’ main business competitor. While Phillipe Clicquot ‘s main interest was in trade and banking he also owned wine vines in Bouzy, France and a small wine business. Legend has it that the priest who married them gave Barbe - Nicole a book by Dom Perignon as a wedding present. After the marriage, the couple developed a real partnership. Francois was not interested in working in his father’s textile business but was interested in growing the family’s small wine business. This met with his father’s disapproval: Phillipe was content to buy still white wines from other producers and export them on an as-needed basis. This would be more profitable than making their own wines. Francois, disregarding his father’s concerns and with the support of Barbe - Nicole, together, they began to learn the wine industry from the ground up. Francois had a good head for business. In August 1801, Francois met Louis Bohne in Switzerland and hired him to be a vendor to sell his wine. Because of the large number of wine producers competing for the British Champagne market, Bohne successfully found a way to enter the Russian Court, became a friend of the Tzar and brought Clicquot Champagne into high esteem into St. Petersburg and the Russian Court. With Francois’ guidance and with the help of Bohne, sales rose from 8000 bottles in 1796 to 60,000 in 1804. Despite their passion and hard work to learn the wine industry, their business failed and in 1805, Francois contracted a fever and died.  Phillipe, devastated by his death decided he would end the wine business. Barbe - Nicole had other plans. Now, Veuve Clicquot (Widow Clicquot) would not give up. She asked her father -in -law for a loan and help in the business. Perhaps recognizing her business sense or honoring the memory and vision of Francois, he agreed. For four years, Barbe – Nicole apprenticed with Alexandre Fourneaux, a well-known wine maker but ended the relationship in 1810 with business still not profiting. Once again, she asked her father-in-law for a loan and, once more, he agreed. The year 1811 proved to be a banner year for Champagne because of an exceptional crop. When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, the Tzar banned the import of French Wines in bottles.  Bohne, wanting to continue sales to Russia, registered as a coffee exporter. Using Dutch merchant ships, he smuggled small quantities of bottles of wine in barrels of coffee beans to Konigsberg, Russia where the wines were eagerly greeted by the Russian elite including the Tzar. The Tzar announced that this was the only Champagne he would drink, and the ban was soon lifted. This established the Clicquot Champagne stature in Russia which, eventually, became the second largest consumer of Champagne in the world. With the Tzars endorsement, Barbe – Nichole had to scramble to keep up with increasing orders. She had to address production methods to meet this problem. However, the wine’s second fermentation in the bottle still left a cloudy wine with sediment in the bottom of the bottle. Decanting the wine into a new bottle was a slow, time-consuming process, lost product and reduced the number of bubbles in the wine. A new method had to be devised.  To solve this problem, in 1816, she developed a way to speed up production and reduce waste using a rack and a process called riddling. Riddling is a process in which the dead yeasts (lees) in the Champagne are collected and removed to produce a clear, sparkling wine. Bottles are placed in a riddling rack, a frame which holds the bottle facing downward at a 45-degree angle, allowing the lees to settle at the bottom near the cork. The bottles are turned frequently for 4 - 6 weeks until all the lees have totally settled. Then the neck of the bottle is frozen, the bottle. is turned upright, the wire cage removed, and the cork popped. The built-up pressure in the bottle expels the frozen wine plug containing the lees and leaves a clear, sediment free sparkling wine. The loss in volume is immediately replaced with a mixture of still wine and sugar, in varying amounts, to determine the final sweetness of the wine. The bottle is recorked and aged further. Riddling is still used today in Champagne making and this allowed Veuve Clicquot to expand to the worldwide market. Hers was one of the first mass market produced luxury products in the world. Further, in 1818, she invented the first known blended rose-colored Champagne by mixing still red wine, to provide fruitiness, with white Champagne. The Veuve Clicquot method of producing rose-colored Champagne is still used today by most producers of Champagne. From 987 AD, Champagne wines have been chosen to celebrate life’s most important (and not so important) events. Since 1843, ships are christened with Champagne, it was served on the Concordes maiden flight, on the linking of the French and English portions of the Channel tunnel, was drunk by the winners (Churchill) and the losers (Napoléon), of great wars, the winners of all kinds of sporting events and much more. We owe a debt, for all these traditions, to those whose hard work, inspiration and innovation combined over the years to make Champagne the celebratory we drink today and enjoyed all over the world.

FOOD HISTORY: Champagne Part 2: Dom Perignon

Enter Dom Perignon. He did NOT invent Champagne, but he did make significant contributions to its development. He was born Pierre Perignon in 1640, joined the Benedictine Order at age 19 and was appointed cellarmaster at the Abbey of Hautvelliers in about 1670. He remained there until his death in 1715. His wines were made for both the church itself and sold to make money for the Abbey. In his time, wine bubbles were something to be avoided, as described above, and he tried to avoid them. He knew that wines made from white grapes fermented more easily than wines made from wines made from red grapes. Further, he understood the effects of climate on grape growth. One of the first things he addressed was climate issues. He developed wine using the red Pinot Noir grape which was more resistant to cold. He pressed the red Pinot Noir grapes very gently to extract the white juice and immediately separated the juice from the red skin before the skins could color the juice red. Further, he blended it with juice from the white Chardonnay grape in case there was a less favorable climate year for one of the two grape varieties. He made other changes in the blending process, as well. He blended wines from different years to avoid climate hazards and blended batches from different vines to obtain the best quality using the knowledge that vines with greater exposure to the sun made sweeter wines while those with less produced more acidic flavors. These changes ensured consistent quality. He reinforced the ability of his bottles to withstand their pressure buildup by using the harder glass introduced by English glassmakers for his bottles. Also, it was Dom Perignon who introduced cork as a stopper in Champagne bottles. At that time, bottles were plugged with a wooden bung (plug) wrapped in oiled hemp, which kept popping out under pressure. On a visit to Catalonia, Dom Perignon discovered the elasticity of cork and decided to use cork as a stopper for his bottles. He wrapped a cord around the cork stopper to help keep it in place to help withstand the buildup of pressure in the bottles. It was not until 1844, however, that Adolphe Jaqueson invented the “muselet, the first wire cage in the shape we know it today to cover the bottle cork and help it retain the pressure in the bottle.  As an aside, most sparkling wines from whichever country they are made use the muselet. For reasons not clear, all require six half turns to be fully unwound from the bottle. However, the Champagne wines of that time still contained sediment from the dead yeasts after secondary fermentation which left the wine cloudy, with off flavors if the wine was shaken.  Some producers would decant their wines into new bottles but the loss of CO2 from doing that made the wines less bubbly. At some court banquets, servers would pour Champagne into a fresh glass, leaving the sediment in the bottle. All that changed with the arrival of the Veuve Clicquot on the scene. 

FOOD HISTORY: Champagne: Part 1

The Champagne region of France existed long before it it became famous for it's sparkling wine since it lay art the crossroads of northern Europe with it's river valley to the south, leading to the Mediterranean ocean and to the north, to Paris and the English channel. Because of its location it became an access point, the pathway for may invaders for hundreds of years being destroyed by armies from many countries' marching back and forth over its land. For this reason it became a center of European trade when the local medieval Counts became strong enough to encourage commerce and trade by providing protection to traveling merchants. It’s importance was enhanced when its Cathedral of Reims became the site of the Coronation of French king Hugh Copet  in 987 AD. Thirty-seven subsequent French kings were coronated in the same cathedral. Because of this, local Champagne region wine-makers, envious of the reputation of wines from the Burgundy region of France, trying to emulate the wines from that region, established a wine industry, mostly in monasteries. These flourished with the financial help of the Crown. The wine, which was highly regarded by the Nobility, became very popular. These, however, were light red still wines, not the sparkling wine, Champagne, for which the region later became world famous. However, the northern climate of that region presented a unique set of challenges in making red wine - grapes would struggle to ripen and had  high acid level and low sugar levels. When cold weather prematurely stopped fermentation in barrels in the cellar, dormant yeast cell remaining awakened in the spring during the bottling process. In the bottles, they started the fermentation process once again, releasing carbon dioxide gas which, in many cases, burst the bottles ( French wine bottles were quite weak) although  bubbles remained in some of the bottled wines. The Champagne wine makers were horrified over this happening - they considered this a fault. They liked their wine to be still and thin. Even into the 17th century, the Champagne wine makers were trying to rid their wines from bubbles. However, bottles which retained their bubbles that were sent to England were greeted with pleasure - they were very happy about the "fault" " in the wine; the sparkle a desirable trait. However things change! The years 160 -1720 marked a turning point in Champagne history, when  when  the production of sparkling wines became a deliberate choice in the region. Before then, effervescence (bubbles) in the wine depended on the variable external conditions. This was the first time  wine had been produced from a single region, Champagne, and identified. as such. Until then, al wines produce in France were referred to as, "French wines".