Sekanjabin- Drink of Antient Persian's, and modern Iranians'

 First here is my recipe...

Why because I hate the sites that make you go though all there story to get to the recipe that is why and this is my blog so I will do as I please. There is not a ton of history here just the sources for the history oldest I am listing that I have a 13th century cook book. 

Strawberry's Sekanjabin

1 cup white vinegar

2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup Mint leaves or as many mint leaves as your heart delights in.

Put vinegar and mint in a pot over heat and cover boil for 5 to 10 min.

Strain out mint leaves pressing liquid out of them.

Return vinegar to pot add in the 2 cups of sugar and keep stirring till all the sugar dissolves and the liquid is no longer cloudy.

Pour in to storage container, if glass and liquid is still hot put a metal spoon in the container to prevent the glass from breaking.

Lid and store till use. I keep mine in the refrigerator 

Mix syrup with as much water as you like and ice if you like,  or mix with hot water and have a hot beverage.

I put it in the blender with ice water and tequila or vodka also for a cocktails.

Chit-chat before photos and historic source listings and recipes  

I take this syrup camping with me and use it one gallon over ice in a 5 gallon water cooler then filled with water for summer outdoor events.

You can use wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar. I use to. However it cost much more if you do, and when making enough to run 4- 5 gallon containers of it over a weekend it doesn't make any sense because the white vinegar tastes just fine to me with the mint. 

I would love to do a class & tasting, with 5 or more different type of vinegars double batching each, one with mint, and one without mint. But I have so many things on my plate that I don't know if I will ever get to it. 

NOW photos and then history.

white vinegar 1 cup- 

white sugar 2 cups-

mint 

Boil mint in the vinegar 

Have ready a storage solution here is a pint and a half sauce jar with caning funnel and metal spoon in it to dissipate heat so I can pour hot liquid into the glass jar.

The leaves will change color and the liquid will take on a yellow color

Strain the leaves fron the vinegar and squeeze all the liquid from the leaves

The vinegar after mint infused

Return the vinegar to pot and add the sugar and stir over heat till melted

Still cloudy

There we go all combined

A bit more then 1 pint of syrup of Sekanjabin

Historic recipes and sources 

13th Century Al-Andalus Cookbook has many drink resipes and one is as follows (page 17 in the pdf link.)

Syrup of Simple Sikanjabîn [vinegar syrup] Take a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of strong vinegar and mix it with two ratls [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of sugar, and cook all this until it takes the form of a syrup. Drink an ûqiya [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of this with three of hot water when fasting. It is beneficial for fevers of jaundice, and calms jaundice and cuts the thirst Since sikanjabîn syrup is beneficial in phlegmatic fevers: make it with six ûqiyas [1 ûqiya=39g/7tsp] of sour vinegar for a ratl [1 ratl=468g/1lb] of honey and it is admirable. 

I don't care about rattle sizes, I did ratios and called it good. it is 1:2 to make a syrup that can be mixed as needed or can be transported to be mixed somewhere else. this is pure volume despite the ingredients being wet and dry. If you use honey then use 1-1/4cup honey to each cup of sugar, Ratio Vinegar to Honey 1:2.5

A modern source: A Book of Middle Eastern Food, by Claudia Roden. 

Sekanjabin

Dissolve 4 cups sugar in 2 1/2 cups of water; when it comes to a boil add 1 cup wine vinegar. Simmer 1/2 hour. Add a handful of mint, remove from fire, let cool. Dilute the resulting syrup to taste with ice water (5 to 10 parts water to 1 part syrup). The syrup stores without refrigeration.

Note: This is the only recipe in the Miscellany that is based on a modern source: A Book of Middle Eastern Food, by Claudia Roden. Sekanjabin is a period drink; it is mentioned in the Fihrist of al-Nadim, which was written in the tenth century. The only period recipe I have found for it (in the Andalusian cookbook) is called "Sekanjabin Simple" and omits the mint. It is one of a large variety of similar drinks described in that cookbook-flavored syrups intended to be diluted in either hot or cold water before drinking.

Syrup of Simple Sikanjabîn

(Oxymel)

Andalusian p. A-74

Take a ratl of strong vinegar and mix it with two ratls of sugar, and cook all this until it takes the form of a syrup. Drink an ûqiya of this with three of hot water when fasting: it is beneficial for fevers of jaundice, and calms jaundice and cuts the thirst, since sikanjabîn syrup is beneficial in phlegmatic fevers: make it with six ûqiyas of sour vinegar for a ratl of honey and it is admirable.

This seems to be at least two different recipes, for two different medical uses. The first, at least, is intended to be drunk hot. In modern Iranian restaurants, sekanjabin is normally served cold, often with grated cucumber.

Check out these links and the bottom pdf of a 13th century cooking book.

from http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/drinks.html

  also see

http://italophiles.com/andalusian_cookbook.pdf