Syllabub Under the Cow

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there were three different, yet similar, kinds of syllabubs. In one of them, the milk was sweetened, spiced and mixed with cider or ale. It was treated as a drink, often reputedly made by milking a cow straight into a bowl with the alcohol, sugar and spices. The whole thing was then left to curdle so a froth would form on top and a boozy whey would be left underneath. This was probably the syllabub enjoyed by people in the countryside, and poems from the period confirm this.