Spiced Honey Drink

Name: Spiced Honey Drink
Yield: Makes 2 litres/3½ pints/8 cups
Cuisine: Russian
Ingredients: 150 g/5 oz/generous ½ cup honey; 100 g/3¾ oz/generous ½ cup sugar; 10 ml/2 tsp St John’s wort; 2 cloves; 5-6 black peppercorns; 1.5 ml/¼ tsp ground ginger; 5 ml/1 tsp ground cinnamon; 10 ml/2 tsp dried mint; 1 litre/1¾ pints/4 cups water

Sbitenj

Preparation info

Makes
2
litres

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Recipes from My Russian Grandmother's Kitchen

By Elena Makhonko

Published 2015

About

This spiced drink, made with honey, herbs and spices, is one of Russia’s oldest drinks, and was quite forgotten during the Soviet era. In old Russia it was sold in the streets and you could hear the vendors crying its name. After the perestroika this hot drink has experienced a renaissance. It complements traditional dishes very well.

Ingredients

150 g/5 oz/generous ½ cup honey
100

Method

Put all the ingredients for the spice mixture in a medium pan.
Bring to the boil, then lower the heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes, skimming the surface if necessary. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to stand.
Meanwhile, mix the honey and sugar in a separate medium pan.
Add the water to the honey and sugar mixture and bring to the b

Energy 558kcal/2374kJ; Protein 5.1g; Carbohydrate 135.5g, of which sugars 125.1g; Fat 3.9g, of which saturates 0.6g; Cholesterol 0mg; Calcium 67mg; Fibre 0g; Sodium 27mg.