Sekanjabin: drink syrup of endless possibilities

Reference: Cariadoc's Miscellany, http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/drinks.html

I first ran into sekanjabin as a refreshing cold drink offered at an Society for Creative Anachronism event. When the basic flavored syrup is diluted with water, the effect is much like lemonade: tart and sweet. With a bit of sekanjabin to freshen it up, even stale or bad-tasting water is enjoyable.

The basics are: 4 cups sugar to 2.5 cups water, boil, add 1 cup vinegar, boil 1/2 hour, remove from heat and throw in a handful of flavoring, then strain that out after the syrup has cooled in the covered pot. To drink, dilute syrup with water. I prefer a ratio of about five parts water to one part syrup. After receiving the basic sekanjabin syrup recipe from my friend Jean, I started experimenting with new flavors. The traditional flavoring is fresh mint leaves, but I don't like mint much myself, so I'm always looking out for something new.

My old standby is sliced ginger root w/apple cider vinegar, with thinly sliced lemon w/white vinegar coming in a close second place. I haven't really goofed around much with wine vinegars, although I've enjoyed Jean's efforts with red wine vinegar and that type of vinegar would be more appropriate to pre-1600 cookery.

Other fun experiments have included the pale pink syrup from using pomegranate arils and white vinegar; rhubarb and mulling spices with brown sugar and apple cider vinegar (molassey flavor, not my favorite); and fennel seeds, anise seeds and ground coriander with apple cider vinegar, which was vaguely medicinal tasting, but refreshing.

My favorite sekanjabin of all so far was made with white vinegar and sea buckthorn berries (German name: Sanddorn) from a bush around the corner from our house in Calgary. The berries are bright orange, tangy and juicy, and they made the most beautiful and most exciting-flavored syrup yet. Here's a picture of my bottles of Sanddorn sekanjabin:

Other possibilities I've got in mind but haven't tried yet: white wine vinegar with raspberries, lemongrass and red wine vinegar, citrusy lime basil and red wine vinegar. I'm looking forward to finding out how those turn out. Just as soon as we get to the bottom of the half-gallon of ginger sekanjabin syrup that's in the house now.

Food safety note: although the syrup keeps for months when bottled in clean jars/bottles with clean lids, it's advisable to refrigerate diluted sekanjabin if you don't drink it right away.