Medieval nuns, they're just like us.
They had their good days and they had their bad days.
Now today for a bad day I might find solace in a sleeve of Oreos,
but in 12th century Germany the cure to a bad day was the violet wine and cookies of joy of abbess Hildegard von Bingen.
So thank you to Babbel for sponsoring this video as we make cookies for a Medieval nun
this time on Tasting History.
Hildegard von Bingen was a 12th century nun living in what is now the Rhineland of Germany,
and in addition to her nunly duties she's known for being a composer, philosopher, mystic and recipe writer
which of course is what concerns us most today,
but her recipes were not written for tasting good but rather for doing good
because they were part of her medical texts.
So they blended together the latest in herbal remedies along with the ancient Greco-Roman theory of the four humors,
or the fluids that controlled people's health and disposition.
And one of those fluids was black bile which in excess could cause melancholy
so in her work 'Physica' she gives a remedy for that affliction.
"Take some nutmeg and an equal weight of cinnamon and a bit of cloves, and pulverize them.
Then make small cakes with this and find whole wheat flour and water. Eat them often.
It will calm all bitterness of the heart and mind, open your heart and impaired senses,
and make your mind cheerful.
It purifies your senses and diminishes all harmful humors in you.
It gives good liquid to your blood, and makes you strong."
That is promising a lot for what is essentially a cookie made without sugar butter or eggs,
but at least she says you can eat them as often as you like.
So I'm really excited to make this recipe because
I believe it is the first recipe that I've done from the Holy Roman Empire,
and it's fitting because on the day that I release this video I am going to be heading to one of the major cities
of the Holy Roman Empire, Vienna.
So make sure to follow me over on Instagram @tastinghistorywithmaxmiller
so you can watch me try out some of the German that I've been learning with help from today's sponsor Babbel.
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Now just like learning a language can take some time
so can trying to figure out a recipe like the one that Miss Hildegard Von Bingen left us
because I've- I had some trouble with this one partly because
it's supposed to be some sort of wafer, or cookie, or cake, or biscuit, but it's missing a lot of the ingredients that a typical
one of those would have, no sugar, no butter, no eggs, no baking powder, nothing to leaven it.
You'll see online there are recipes for this and they always add those things in
making it absolutely nothing like what Hildegard was actually making but rather more like a modern day gingerbread,
but that's okay, but that's not what I'm doing. I want to make what Hildegard was making
so I tried several different versions, some of which did not work out.
The pancake, not great.
The one that's more like a cookie is kind of akin to hardtack
[clack clack]
so the version that I ended up going with is more like a wafer or kind of like a tuile-ish.
So for that version what you'll need is: 1 cup or 150 grams of whole wheat flour,
2 teaspoons of nutmeg, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon of cloves,
and if you like add in a 1/2 teaspoon of salt
because that ingredient was often included in old dishes but almost never actually makes it into recipes.
So first add the nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and salt to the flour and whisk everything together.
Then pour in 1 cup of water and mix.
Every type of flour is going to absorb the water at a different rate so you might need to add a little bit more
but just do so about a tablespoon at a time. What you're looking for is something similar to a pancake batter,
just maybe a little bit thicker. Then drop the batter onto a lined baking sheet and smooth it out into a thin round,
and then set the tray in the oven and bake it at 350 degrees Fahrenheit 175 Celsius for about 25 to 30 minutes,
or until they get nice and crisp.
Now that is a pretty simple recipe and so I think we have time for one more.
Perhaps something to wash down what I can only imagine will be rather dry cookies,
and luckily Hildegard Von Bingen left us many recipes for wine, or wine-based drinks,
one of which cures melancholy so I figured I would double down on on that theme,
and make her violet wine.
"Anyone oppressed by melancholy with a discontented mind which then harms his lungs,
should cook violets in pure wine.
He should strain this through a cloth, add a bit of galangal and as much licorice as he wants and so make spiced wine.
When he drinks it, it will check the melancholy, make him happy and heal his lungs."
So I'll be happy and I'll be able to breathe better, that's two for one.
So I started off with dried violets because I couldn't find any fresh violets
so I went with a half cup of dried violets, added to about two cups of white wine.
Set this over a low heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes just long enough to allow the violets to diffuse into the wine
but not so long that you're going to burn off all the alcohol,
and then pass that through a strainer. The violets really make the wine into such a lovely color,
and then she says to make this into a spiced wine or a hippocras which we have made here on the channel before.
And she says to use galangal which is a- part of the- remember of the ginger family,
and it usually comes dried and so that's what I'm going to be using I'm going to use like one slice of this but crushed up.
As well as about a quarter teaspoon of powdered licorice.
So add those into the wine, stir them up, and let them sit for a couple of hours,
more than enough time to take a closer look at the remarkable author of today's recipe Hildegard von Bingen.
Hildegard was born around 1098 in Bermersheim in the Rhineland,
and she was born into a noble family but she was born 10th into that family and so
the likelihood of her inheriting anything was basically none
so she was a perfect candidate for the nunnery.
It was very common at that time for noble families to dedicate a child to the church to become a monk or a nun,
and so when Hildegard was only eight she was sent to the monastery at Disibodenberg,
and it was mostly a monastery of monks but there was one nun there named Jutta who took Hildegard under her wing,
and taught her a lot of things including how to read and write as well as attend to the sick
mostly using the herbs from the monastic garden,
things that would serve her very well later in life.
Another thing that Hildegard learned from Jutta was what to do when you have visions because
Jutta was was a bit of a local celebrity known for having visions of the future and of God in heaven,
and it turns out Hildegard began having those same type of visions when she was only three
but she she kept it under wraps, only told Jutta for quite some time
but the cat was probably out of the bag when Jutta died in 1136
and Abbott Kuno asked Hildegard to become the new prioress at the monastery
so she would be in charge of all of the nuns but Abbott Kuno would still be in charge of her.
Now today Hildegard is probably best known for her music.
She is actually one of the first named composers in history that we still have music from,
and while much of her music was liturgical and meant To be sung during Church services,
her 'Ordo Virtutum' is the oldest morality play in existence.
While religious in nature it was not meant to be performed during services
which makes it unique in 12th century music that still survives today,
but while it's her music that we remember her for today, back when she was actually composing it it was definitely a side gig
because her claim to fame at the time were those visions that she kept having.
And in 1141 one of the visions was of God telling her to write this stuff down.
"But I, though I saw and heard these things, refused to write for a long time through doubt and bad opinion
and the diversity of human words, not with stubbornness but in the exercise of humility,
until laid low by the scourge of God."
That is God made her ill until she finally relented
and wrote down these visions and she didn't just write them down
she Illustrated them as well.
The work was known as 'Scivias' or 'Knows the Way' and it changed everything for Hildegard.
Back in the 12th century having visions was not all that uncommon but it usually kind of made you
a local celebrity of sorts
but the fact that she wrote them down allowed them to be shared with the masses,
and so at the Synod of Tyre Pope Eugenius heard about Hildegard's writings and after reading them himself,
he declared them divinely inspired and in the 12th century
when the pope declares that your visions are divinely inspired
it's like getting onto Oprah's Book Club list.
Overnight Hildegard became a star and it brought in a lot of money to the abbey at Disibodenberg,
not through book sales though but through new nuns.
See when a family sent their daughter to a nunnery they had to send a dowry along with her basically
if the nunnery is going to pay for her upkeep, her food and lodging, and everything
something needs to be given to to make that cost worth it and usually it was either
you know a small chest of silver or a few hundred acres of farmland.
Well with Hildegard's newfound fame many of these new nuns were coming from the wealthiest families in the area
so they were getting a lot of silver and a lot of new farmland.
And so it's no wonder that Abbott Kuno was not too thrilled
when Hildegard told him that she wanted to leave she wanted to start her own monastery
without an abbott, but Kuno who was in charge refused to let her leave.
So she went over his head to the archbishop,
and he was going to get money from either Monastery so he didn't really care and so he said sure go go start a new monastery,
but Kuno like put his foot down and literally would not let her leave and so
she got sick. So sick that she was paralyzed and unable to leave her bed,
no more visions, no more music, nothing.
And people probably weren't too keen on sending their daughters to learn from a catatonic nun so
not a lot of use to Abbott Kuno in her current state.
So finally Kuno relented and said whatever get out of here who needs you
and so she took 20 of her nuns and left Disibodenberg to establish a new Monastery at Rupertsberg.
There here visions returned and she began pumping out sequels to that original book of visions
along with new music, poetry, and several treatises on medicine
including the one that we're using today for our recipes.
She even created her own language and an alternate alphabet just for kicks.
She also became one of the few women of the day who was allowed to evangelize and so she went from town to town
giving sermons which was way out of the ordinary at the time,
so it it just helped to increase her fame and she was able to kind of speak her mind on a lot of the issues
that were affecting regular people at the time,
but she always did it with a lot of humility.
"I, a poor little figure without health or strength or courage or learning,
myself subject to master, have heard these words addressed to the prelates and clergy of Trier."
And then she would speak her mind, tearing into the powers that be. She even criticized the Holy Roman Emperor at the time
and that that just wasn't done.
In 1165 she founded another abbey at a Eibingen which is where she gets the name that we call her today,
Hildegard von Bingen, and that is where she lived until she died in 1179 at the ripe old age of 81.
Now as brilliant as Hildegard was it is clear when you read her texts, especially her medical texts,
that she was still a product of her time and so I want to share with you a few of the little snippets from those texts
including the one where she clearly has an aversion to people like me,
people with blue eyes.
"A person who has blue eyes like water gets them mainly from the air.
This is why they are weaker than other eyes...
if someone has blue eyes, with which she somehow sees poorly and feels pain, she should take fennel or fennel seeds when the pain is fresh..."
She says people with black or brown eyes which come from the earth tend to be more clever and willing to accept good advice,
and I'm curious what color eyes she had...
She also didn't like strawberries.
"Strawberries adversely affect persons who eat them, and they are not good to eat for either the healthy or the sick
because they grow close to the earth and indeed even in putrid air."
Though she did have an appreciation for good dental hygiene.
"Brush your teeth often, and after dinner daily. Your teeth and gums will become strengthened.
For those who have healthy teeth, maintain this procedure for a vital and healthy smile."
She includes several treatments for chronic bad breath and even has a recipe for a sort of toothpaste should you have gingivitis.
"If your your gums are decayed, add pulverized grapevine ash, still warm, to good wine."
Though two of my favorite little tidbits from her writings have to do with blood.
The first is the amount that you're supposed to take during a bloodletting
and that would be "the amount that a thirsty person can swallow in one gulp."
Gross. x_x
The other one is explanation of why people sneeze
and should you ever come across any Medieval explanations of why people sneeze
they are always worth reading.
She says "Whenever the blood in the vessels is not awake and lively but rather just lies there as if asleep,
and also when the body liquids don't move fast enough, but are lazy and slow,
the soul notices this and causes the body to tremble through sneezing
and in this way wakes up the blood and juices of the person so that they can return to their correct behavior."
Doesn't quite work that way but for the 12th century she was extremely forward-thinking
which is why I expect that these cookies, and wine
"will calm all bitterness of the heart and bring cheerfulness to my mind."
Just as she promised.
So once the wine has had time with these spices strain it through a layer of cheesecloth and it's ready to drink,
and here we are the violet wine and cookies of joy of Hildegard von Bingen.
Okay so I'm going to start with the cookies of joy. Now this this was the one that I made that had-
it had a lot more flour and less liquid and it's weird because it's like soft,
and yet really, really hard at the same time,
kind of gummy not great but these which I haven't tried yet,
[mini clack clack]
They at least- I like the texture it's more like a wafer or a tuile, like I said. Here we go.
The spice really- actually smell really good.
The spice is there.
Do I wish that there was some sugar in there?
Of course because
once the spice goes
then all you're left with is kind of the- almost bitterness of the of the flour,
of the whole wheat flour. There's like a a little bitterness.
Not overwhelming but I am left with the spice flavor which is kind of nice.
The thing is the texture is just never going to be
good without butter, or sugar, or honey, maybe eggs something.
It's just hard and then
turns into turns back into dough almost once you start eating it.
I mean I wouldn't make them again. What I would make are some modern day like ginger snaps
but instead of ginger use the spices that she used here that's what I would make,
but that's not what she made so that's not what I made.
I'm gonna try the wine I think I need it because
it is dry.
Oh it smells so good. I love the color. This was white wine and those those violets just like
darken it up. It's beautiful. Here we go.
Hmm! Ooh!
Spicy.
It's this [holds up galangal].
I'm getting a little bit of the licorice, I didn't add very much licorice because I don't love licorice.
She says add as much licorice as you want,
I don't want much so you could add more and take less of this. This is going to add more spice
because it is from the ginger family and I am getting that at first I get like the
flavor but then there's this burn in the back of the throat.
Honestly it's like no longer even wine.
[sips]
Hm!
It's actually really, really good.
That I could have like on a-
I don't know. I would actually think it would be very good warmed up,
like a glug or glühwein, one of those heated spiced mulled wines.
That's really nice.
Meh.
Yeh!
So again if you want to follow my trip to Vienna followed by two weeks in Greece,
make sure to follow me on Instagram @tastinghistorywithmaxmiller I'll probably post a little bit on here as well,
and then I'll be doing videos that I'll be researching while I'm over there in in the next few months so be on the lookout for those,
and I will see you next time on Tasting History.