11/03/2016

The Elixir of Love



A couple of hundreds years ago, the elixir of Love could be bought from pharmacies / apothecary shops. The History of Pharmacy Collection in Cluj-Napoca preserves eighteenth-century small bottles in which the Elixir of Love was sold. They are hand-painted with different romantic depictions: hearts, doves, couples holding hands, and flowers, and accompanied by German inscriptions. But maybe it was just good product branding, a nice gift, and nobody really believed in the power of the  magic elixir.



Old pharmacopoeias and dispensatories (specialized books for pharmacists) reveal several related recipes of this potion. To prepare the elixir apothecaries boiled different kinds of spices in red wine: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, pepper seeds, orange peel, etc. After the wine cooled down the bits of plants were strained through a piece of cloth in order for the product to remain clear. At the end they added sugar (which was at that time rather expensive and pretty hard to get by) or honey (which was easily obtained).

Read the full story in Romanian HERE. For help with the German inscription please drop a line! I understand "Liebe" and "1744" :)



 

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