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Posset
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<h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2> <p>To make the drink, <a href="/facts/Milk/wDJBUHvy">milk</a> was heated to a boil, then mixed with <a href="/facts/Wine/przCrC98">wine</a> or <a href="/facts/Ale/tcpd1FVh">ale</a>, which <a href="/facts/Curd/yqRzqk51">curdled</a> it, and spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> </p><p>It was considered a specific remedy for some minor illnesses, such as a <a href="/facts/Common_cold/fP9A03U9">cold</a>, and a general remedy for others, as even today people drink hot milk to help them sleep. </p> <h2 id="history">History</h2> <p>The <a href="/facts/OED/qaxKX8Bc">OED</a> traces the word to the 15th century: various Latin vocabularies translate <i>balducta</i>, <i>bedulta</i>, or <i>casius</i> as "poshet", "poshoote", "possyt", or "possot". Russell's <i>Boke of Nurture</i> (c. 1460) lists various dishes and ingredients that "close a mannes stomak", including "þe possate". Posset is frequently used as a starting point for other recipes (e.g. "Make a styf Poshote of Milke an Ale", and "Take cowe Mylke, & set it ouer þe fyre, & þrow þer-on Saunderys, & make a styf poshotte of Ale", each of which is the first sentence of a longer recipe).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> Recipes for it appear in other 15th-century sources: boil milk, add either wine or ale "and no salt", let it cool, gather the curds and discard the whey, and season with ginger, sugar, and possibly "sweet wine" and candied anise.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> Certain monks would make a posset including <a href="/facts/Egg/KyMSx9v4">eggs</a> and <a href="/facts/Fig/J5k5HxS3">figs</a>, a possible precursor to <a href="/facts/Eggnog/SkGzfe6b">eggnog</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> </p><p>In 14th and 15th century cookery manuals, a possibly-related word, spelled variously "possenet", "postnet", or "posnet", is used to mean a small pot or saucepan.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> In 16th-century and later sources, possets are generally made from lemon or other citrus juice, cream and sugar. Eggs are often added. Some recipes used breadcrumbs to thicken the beverage. </p><p>"Posset sets" for mixing and serving possets were popular gifts, and valuable ones (often made of <a href="/facts/Silver/xXe41BGg">silver</a>) were heirlooms. Such sets contained a posset "pot", or "bowl", or "cup" to serve it in, a container for mixing it in, and usually various containers for the ingredients, as well as <a href="/facts/Spoon/6EvbJtf2">spoons</a>. The posset set that the <a href="/facts/Spain/bIyrB8EY">Spanish</a> <a href="/facts/Ambassador/hVpzsRdy">ambassador</a> gave Queen <a href="/facts/Mary_I_of_England/smBAdhhD">Mary I of England</a> and King <a href="/facts/Philip_II_of_Spain/xSwrEajp">Philip II of Spain</a> when they became betrothed in 1554 is believed to have been made by <a href="/facts/Benvenuto_Cellini/NXDDK7sy">Benvenuto Cellini</a> and is of <a href="/facts/Crystal/e2R2mk3E">crystal</a>, <a href="/facts/Gold/1znknojp">gold</a>, precious <a href="/facts/Gemstone/kHffmvE3">gems</a>, and <a href="/facts/Vitreous_enamel/gjfb1hA8">enamel</a>. It is on display at <a href="/facts/Hatfield_House/aDaSYUvL">Hatfield House</a> in England and consists of a large, stemmed, covered bowl; two open, stemmed vessels; a <a href="/facts/Rock_crystal_vase/MUAvuERG">covered container</a>; three spoons; and two <a href="/facts/Fork/mgePxNcw">forks</a>. </p><p>The word "posset" is mostly used nowadays for a cold set dessert invented in the late 19th c., containing cream and lemon, similar to <a href="/facts/Syllabub/zN9fjCz3">syllabub</a>. It is also used to refer to the semi-digested milk brought up by babies after a feed.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul> <li>Drink portal</li></ul> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Brose/DEF4MGAs">Brose</a> / <a href="/facts/Atholl_brose/ky0DCJXq">Atholl brose</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Caudle/yxWeLv2f">Caudle</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Eggnog/SkGzfe6b">Eggnog</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Hot_toddy/HXtf8XjF">Hot toddy</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/List_of_hot_beverages/yymXYnuo">List of hot beverages</a></li></ul> <h2 id="notes">Notes</h2> <ul><li>Thomas Austin (1888). <a href="https://archive.org/details/twofifteenthcent00aust"><i>Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books</i></a>. Early English Text Society. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-5-87685-811-5.</li> <li>Constance B. Hieatt; Sharon Butler (1985). <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=eSJ3ngEACAAJ"><i>Curye on Inglysch: English culinary manuscripts of the fourteenth century (including the Forme of cury)</i></a>. Early English Text Society. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-19-722409-0.</li> <li>Constance B. Hieatt; Eulalia Pensado (1988). <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=opMgAQAAIAAJ"><i>An Ordinance of pottage: an edition of the fifteenth century culinary recipes in Yale University's Ms Beinecke 163</i></a>. Prospect Books and Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-907325-38-3.</li> <li>Robina Napier (1882). <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ExrqNwAACAAJ"><i>A Noble Boke Off Cookry Ffor a Prynce Houssolde Or Any Other Estately Houssolde: Reprinted Verbatim from a Rare Ms. in the Holkham Collection</i></a>. London: Elliot Stock.</li> <li>Rachel Waddilove (2006). <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=rY4I05Tv3dwC"><i>The Baby Book: How to Enjoy Year One</i></a>. Lion Books. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-0-7459-5213-0.</li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="https://sites.google.com/a/elementalmixology.com/www/drink-genres/possets/a-little-posset-history">https://sites.google.com/a/elementalmixology.com/www/drink-genres/possets/a-little-posset-history</a> (as of 29 Nov 2023, this page is not found)</li> <li><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/pass-the-posset-the-medieval-eggnog-25860188/">https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/pass-the-posset-the-medieval-eggnog-25860188/</a></li> <li> Media related to Posset at Wikimedia Commons</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Oxford English Dictionary. <a href="/wiki/OED" target="_blank">/wiki/OED</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Hieatt and Pensado 1988, Item 130. - Constance B. Hieatt; Eulalia Pensado (1988). An Ordinance of pottage: an edition of the fifteenth century culinary recipes in Yale University's Ms Beinecke 163. Prospect Books and Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. ISBN 978-0-907325-38-3. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=opMgAQAAIAAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=opMgAQAAIAAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Austin 1888. - Thomas Austin (1888). Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Early English Text Society. ISBN 978-5-87685-811-5. <a href="https://archive.org/details/twofifteenthcent00aust" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/twofifteenthcent00aust</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Hieatt and Pensado 1988, Item 130. - Constance B. Hieatt; Eulalia Pensado (1988). An Ordinance of pottage: an edition of the fifteenth century culinary recipes in Yale University's Ms Beinecke 163. Prospect Books and Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. ISBN 978-0-907325-38-3. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=opMgAQAAIAAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=opMgAQAAIAAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Napier 1882. - Robina Napier (1882). A Noble Boke Off Cookry Ffor a Prynce Houssolde Or Any Other Estately Houssolde: Reprinted Verbatim from a Rare Ms. in the Holkham Collection. London: Elliot Stock. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ExrqNwAACAAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=ExrqNwAACAAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>"A Brief History of Eggnog". 21 December 2011. <a href="https://time.com/3957265/history-of-eggnog/" target="_blank">https://time.com/3957265/history-of-eggnog/</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Hieatt and Butler 1985, Item 1, Diversa Cibaria; items 32, 54, Forme of Cury; item 26, Diuersa Servicia; item 32, Utilis Coquinario. - Constance B. Hieatt; Sharon Butler (1985). Curye on Inglysch: English culinary manuscripts of the fourteenth century (including the Forme of cury). Early English Text Society. ISBN 978-0-19-722409-0. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=eSJ3ngEACAAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=eSJ3ngEACAAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Austin 1888, Item 89, Harley MS 279; "Stwed Beef" and "Stwed Mutton", Harley MS 4016. - Thomas Austin (1888). Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Early English Text Society. ISBN 978-5-87685-811-5. <a href="https://archive.org/details/twofifteenthcent00aust" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/twofifteenthcent00aust</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Waddilove 2006, p. 65. - Rachel Waddilove (2006). The Baby Book: How to Enjoy Year One. Lion Books. ISBN 978-0-7459-5213-0. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=rY4I05Tv3dwC" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=rY4I05Tv3dwC</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>