Exuria

Exuria is a family of spiced wines in Caphirian cuisine. Exuria roughly translates to "the travelers wine", referring to the origin and popularity of the drink which dates back to Ancient Caphiria where it was commonly used as an "on-the-road" beverage for long travels. While the original recipe was lost to antiquity, a new version was created during the Principate based from a collection of contemporary sources. Exuria generally consists of honey, pepper, mastic, laurel, saffron, date seeds, and dates soaked in a wine. Exuria is typically prepared in large batches and is often one of the more readily available beverages throughout the Imperium.

Original recipe

15 pounds of honey are added to two sextarians wine in an urn vessel, so that you boil the wine into a honey broth. This is heated on a small flame of dry wood and stirred with a whisk while it is cooking. When it starts to froth, it is extinguished by sprinkling with wine, except when it goes back to when the fire is gone. When it has cooled, the fire is rekindled. This happens a second and third time, and then he is taken off the stove and foamed the next day. Then add 4 ounces of pepper, 3 scruples ground mastic, one drawer (spikenard or laurel) leaves and saffron, five roasted date cores together with dates soaked in wine, but before that give so much wine by quantity and number that one receives a mild spice mixture. When all this is done, add 18 mild wine sextants. Coal will help complete it as it boils.

Modern recipe

Heat 500 ml of Retsina with 500g of honey in a saucepan, add 60g of black peppercorns, 8 pitted dates, 1 tsp of anise, 1 pinch of saffron and as many laurel leaves as the pot can cover in the liquid. All this is simmered at low temperature, strained, chilled and filled with the remaining 3.5 liters of retsina. The wine can be diluted with water.