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Rosolio (from around the internets)

January 4, 2023

Rosolio is a type of Italian liqueur made from a base of alcohol, sugar, and water in the same proportion, which is flavored by adding an essence of any of various types. Despite a common misconception based on the name, rosolio has no direct connection with roses or rose petals. (Rose essence is, however, one option for addition to the base; other options include citrus, coffee, aniseed, and mint.) In fact, the name comes from the Latin ros solis, which means “dew of the sun”: Drosera rotundifolia. The liqueur is common in Piedmont and in Southern Italy. It enjoys a special popularity in Sicily, where it has been prepared since the sixteenth century and was offered to house guests as a sign of good luck.

Сharacterization

It is widespread above all in Piedmont, Campania, Sicily and particularly in Umbria. In Italy it has been used since ancient times to offer to guests and in confectionery preparations. The oldest is the Franciscan rosolio prepared in the Assisi area with rose petals. On the Sicilian island, where since the sixteenth century it was produced at home and offered to guests as a sign of good luck, various recipes of rosolio were tested, including those with citrus fruits, coffee, anise, mint, cinnamon and pistachio. Zingarelli’s Vocabulary of the Italian Language (Vocabolario della Lingua Italiana) defines rosolio as “liqueur prepared with alcohol, sugar and water in the same proportion, plus an essence that gives it its name”: therefore, rose rosolio, mint rosolio, etc. The etymology that he attributes to it is that of ros solis; that is, dew of sunshine. Drosera and rosolida come from the Greek meaning covered with dew, in fact the sundews seem to be covered with dew. With Drosera rotundifolia L. the pharmacopoeia made an elixir called ros solis, originally from Dalmatia. The word ros solis developed into rosolio, interpreted as a liqueur made with roses. Consequently, the petals of roses are of little use in defining the name/ In Ficarra, in the province of Messina, a particular recipe recommended preparing it by keeping alcohol (to which the peel of three oranges macerated for forty days and vanilla had been previously added) and a syrup made simply with sugar and water. Concerto liqueur is a type of rosolio produced on the Amalfi Coast, precisely in the city of Tramonti. ^{“Bergamot liqueurs“. Ed. 12 ª, 1990 Carlos Delgado, El libro de los aguardientes y licores, Madrid, 1979, p. 132}

Carnivorous plant liquor

Sundew is known as the “fly paper” plant. It coaxes in insects with a sweet nectar that’s so sticky they cannot escape. The plant then releases enzymes to leach nutrients from the insects and slowly digests them. So, why would anyone want to use a carnivorous flower filled with dead bugs as the base for an alcoholic spirit? Truly, I have no idea, but apparently it was a popular drink during the Renaissance. In a previous era, the carnivorous flower was harvested to produce a sweet liqueur that you literally had to pick the bugs out of. Nowadays, the only beverages that appear to use sundew as an ingredient are a german beer and liquor that both go by the name Sonnentau. In English, sonnentau translates to sundew.

https://abbeythefoodscientist.com/elementor-1609/

Rosolio or rosa solis (sometimes resoil in English) was the original liqueur

said to have been invented in Turin during the early Renaissance, using the pretty carnivorous plant sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) as the base. It was considered a medicine (notably an aphrodisiac or digestive—known in Britain as surfeit water); often gold and pearls would be added to increase its value. They were especially popular in Sicily, where for centuries it was the custom to offer little glasses of rosolio to guests.

Today the classic rosolio is made of macerated rose petals, sugar and alcohol, although any number of ingredients can replace the petals for a surprising variety of flavours. Many people make them at home, but a wide number are commercially available as well, including the trendy turquoise bergamot and and citron Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto, a recent revival of a recipe from 1800, that goes so well with Prosecco. Also see concerto.

Read the full content in the app (something tells me I’ve done enough reading for today)

https://www.facarospauls.com/apps/italian-food-decoder/11017/rosolio

ROSOLKA – A VERY LIMITED EDITION LIQUEUR

The label design of this extremely limited edition spirit tries to combine the old and the new, expressing the unique qualities of the product – the result of mixing history with modernity, an old recipe made today, with modern knowledge and technology. The label tries to show this contrast in design, by mixing old botanical atlas illustrations with modern branding elements. Like taking a page from an old book and putting colorful stickers on it. The bright red color is inspired by the sundew plant itself and the suggestion of a dangerous substance, while the small text that goes around the label tells the consumer more about this fascinating carnivorous plant.

Rosolio is an ancient Italian liqueur that was often used as a base in preparation of other drinks. Although it is claimed that the name rosolio originated because the drink was flavored with Drosera rotundifolia—a type of sundew with a Latin name ros solis, it is also likely that the name originated because the liqueur was primarily infused with rose petals. With time, various other flavorings were used in its production, and the name was eventually used as a generic term for a variety of liqueurs. All the variations were created and flavored with local products such as lemons in Campania, bergamot in Calabria, fennel and citrus in Sicily, juniper berries in Tuscany, and rose petals in Piedmont. Additionally, they would often be enriched with various spices. Rosolio liqueurs were usually low in alcohol, and they became a popular aperitif during the Renaissance. The only variety that has been officially protected is rosolio di Torino—which is based on rose petals, aniseed, bitter almonds, fennel, apricot seeds, and crushed cochineal insects, which give the drink its distinctive red color.

https://www.tasteatlas.com/rosolio

this one has to be my favorite

https://www.diffordsguide.com/beer-wine-spirits/category/1194/bergamot-liqueurs

and this one is similar and not only because I can’t grab a quote

https://italspirits.com/rosolio-dew-of-the-sun/

Alchermes

Alchermes (/ælˈkɜːrmiz, -mɪs/, Italian: [alˈkɛrmes]; from the Arabic: القرمز, romanized: al-qirmiz, lit. ‘cochineal‘, from Persian: کرمست, romanized: kirmist, lit. ‘bloody, red, cochineal, carmine’) is a type of Italian liqueur (especially in Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Sicily) prepared by infusing neutral spirits with sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and vanilla, and other herbs and flavoring agents. Its most striking characteristic is its scarlet color, obtained by the addition of Kermes, a small scale insect from which the drink derives its name. Several proprietary variants are commercially available, where the coloring agent is a coal tar-derived dye such as E124 or E126, with alcoholic contents ranging from 21 to 32%. Its chief use is in coloring pastry, although a quick dessert is sometimes made by adding it to custard cream and sugar. In the Italian pudding zuppa inglese, sponge cake or ladyfingers soaked in this liqueur are a major ingredient.^[1]

Alkermes was a modification of an 8th-century potion confectio alchermes, a tonic composed of raw silk, apple juice, ground pearls, musk, ambergris, gold leaf, rose water, cinnamon, sugar and honey. In pre-modern medicine, it was ranked among the best tonics for the heart, and was frequently used for the palpitation of the heart, or syncope, sometimes for smallpox or measles and a general restorative.^[2]

References

Riley, Gillian (2007). The Oxford Companion to Italian Food. Oxford University Press.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1st ed.). James and John Knapton, et al.

Confectio alkermes

[confectuall kermis; confection of alchermies; confectio alkermis; confectio alcarmus; confect’ allcarmes; alkermes confectio]

A CONFECTION made from KERMES JUICE that was, according to Quincy (1721), one of the ‘five great COMPOSITIONs of the Shops’. Nicholas Culpeper gave a recipe for it, which he claimed was simplified version compared with earlier ones, having ‘All the superfluous Ingredients and troublesome Parts of the Process’ removed, including the inclusion of GOLD [Recipes (Culpeper)]. An even simpler recipe was included in the eighteenth-century Pharmocopoeia, where the other ingredients were reduced to three; ROSEWATER, SUGAR, and oil of CINNAMON [Recipes (Pemberton)].

OED earliest date of use: 1605 under Alkermes

Found in units of DRACHM, OUNCE, OZ Found rated by the OUNCE

See also SYRUP OF KERMES.
Sources: Inventories (early), Inventories (mid-period), Rates.
References: Pemberton (1746).

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/traded-goods-dictionary/1550-1820/

Alkermes

[alchernes]

Like COCHINEAL, alkermes or kermes, as it was also known, was made from the dried bodies of female insect, in this case Coccus ilicis. It was also called the kermes or SCARLET grain insect. This insect was found on the kermes oak, a native of the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries. During classical antiquity in particular, this insect was thought to be a berry, and was also sometimes erroneously described as a GALL. It was not until the discovery of the microscope in the seventeenth century that kermes was recognised as being an insect. Alkermes was found among DYERS GOODS, owing to the colouring quality of the active ingredient, kermesic acid. Although the colour produced by alkermes was unusually bright, it had a limited place in the commercial market, compared with dyes such as MADDER and COCHINEAL, since the dyestuff produced by the kermes insect was present in a less concentrated form, making it a relatively expensive commodity [Ponting (1980)]. Even so, an attempt in the 1720s was patented to transfer the ‘raising and cultivating’ of kermes insects to the American plantations, presumably to avoid importation from areas not under direct British control [Patents (1722)].

OED earliest date: 1605 under Alkermes

As a syrup: Found rated by the LB
As a confection: Found rated by the OUNCE

See also CONFECTIO ALKERMES, KERMES JUICE, SCARLET POWDER.
Sources: Houghton, Inventories (early), Inventories (mid-period), Patents, Rates, Recipes.
References: Ponting (1980).