16^th Century: Ypocras Jellies

Mulled wine – called ‘ypocras’ in past centuries – has been around since the Middle Ages but mulled spirits predate even medieval times. There is a recipe for a fine spiced wine in a Roman cookery book (Apicius: De Re Coquinaria) that looks a lot like the recipe for ypocras. Ypocras was common enough in the fourteenth century to be mentioned by Chaucer and the first English recipe for it dates from that sam