Wednesday 19 June 2019

Victualling Victoria's Navy - 4. Lemon Juice

The essential anti-scorbutic lemon juice is one of the easiest period food stuffs to prepare. That is  just as long as you don't have to squeeze the lemons by hand. The Navy's specification called for an ounce of brandy to be added to ten of fresh juice. Presumably this will have been cask-strength but, in the interests of expediency, I made do with the what I had to hand, which is a paltry 40% alcohol by volume. The final touch is a layer of olive oil floating on the top to exclude the air. Much nicer than the modern chemically preserved version, I think. No scurvy for me!

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2 comments:

  1. Soloman Grundy19 June 2019 at 19:31

    At your service! Here I am with lemon trees in my backyard. Although I do squeeze lemons by hand, I can well imagine that the Royal Navy had steam-powered lemon pressing machinery to extract the juice. After all, it was the time of the Industrial Revolution!

    ReplyDelete
  2. MC19 June 2019 at 19:37

    Now let a bottle sit for 3 years and then do a taste test :D

    ReplyDelete

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