beverages, food-adjacent, history, silliness
So, I'm told there was a beverage often drunk in ancient Rome called posca, made by mixing vinegar, water, probably salt, and possibly other herbs. In later times variations on it were made for medicinal purposes, but vinegar (sour wine) was multiply attested as a standard ration.
...is pickle juice a modern equivalent?
- 🎒 💭 🥒
re: beverages, food-adjacent, history, silliness
@packbat It's not just ancient Rome, vinegar based drinks are pretty common cross-culturally. not sure why they don't seem to be that well known anymore
-F
re: beverages, food-adjacent, history, silliness
@Felthry it's a good question! and that makes sense - just because it hasn't been something in our life doesn't mean it's gone.
- 🎒
re: beverages, food-adjacent, history, silliness
@packbat The one you'd be most likely to be familiar with is called either
- switchel
- swizzle
- switzel
- switchy
- ginger-water
- haymaker's punch
and was apparently common in the US, especially rural areas, from the 17th to 19th centuries, though according to wikipedia it's now mostly used as a cocktail base
-F
re: beverages, food-adjacent, history, silliness
@packbat I should say, the US or the place-that-would-become-the-US
-F
re: beverages, food-adjacent, history, silliness
@Felthry oh, we have heard the word "switchel" before! fair enough!
- 🎒 ✨