3-4 lbs. white grapes, or a combination of white, red, and purple grapes*
water as needed
generous 1-inch piece of cinnamon stick
4 cloves
1/4-inch piece of long pepper**
dash nutmeg
9 cardamom seeds
1/4 tsp. grains of paradise**
1/4 tsp. chopped ginger
Wash and stem grapes. Place in a kettle and add enough water to keep grapes from burning. Slowly heat grapes, occasionally mashing and stirring, until they start to simmer. Simmer grapes (still mashing and stirring occasionally) until soft and starting to burst, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a jelly bag or several layers of cheesecloth and let juice drain into a kettle or bowl (I have found that cheesecloth laid over a steamer basket fitted into a good-sized kettle works well). Leave to drip several hours, then squeeze bag or cheesecloth to express any remaining juice. Discard skins and chill juice at least 24 hours to allow lees to settle.
Pour off juice, either being careful not to disturb sediment or filtering through a coffee filter. Adjust the amount to about 750 ml. (3-3 1/4 cups). Place all spices except ginger in a mortar and grind coarsely; add to juice along with ginger. Return juice to refrigerator and let sit; taste just before bedtime and make any adjustments in spices you think necessary (remembering that spices will grow stronger); add sugar or honey if you want (not recommended); let sit at least overnight. At this point it's ready to drink.
If you've made enough to can, strain juice through another coffee filter, a tea towel or similar cloth (remembering that the juice will stain), or a layer or two of good-quality paper towels to remove spices. Bring juice to a boil and pour into sterilized jars, leaving at least 1/4-inch headspace. Process in boiling water 5 minutes for quarts or smaller. If you can this in jelly jars, you have nice individual drinks that don't have to be refrigerated, although you'll want to pack a can opener in that lunch.
Adapted from: To the king's taste / Lorna J. Sass, in an attempt to mimic the muste served at the Bors Hede.
Juicing and canning instructions from the National Center for Home Food Preservation
-------
*It is possible to use bottled grape juice for this recipe, but juice from concentrate is significantly sweeter than juice that has never been concentrated -- so much so that I cannot recommend it. If you can find bottled juice that is a mix of from-concentrate and never-concentrated, you can try adjusting the sweetness by adding the acid blend used in winemaking (I have not had good results from trying this with juice that is all from concentrate, however).
**Try Buck's or Penzey's for the more unusual spices; grains of paradise can sometimes also be found among brewing and winemaking supplies.
Versión en español: this post is also available in Spanish.
Esperanta traduko: this post is also available in Esperanto, because Dana is a language geek.
