Orgeat: A light, refreshing drink, Almack’s considered appropriate for debutants. So why did digging into it lead me down five research rabbit holes?

Before we even begin to explore what orgeat was, let’s begin with the beginning: the pronunciation. (Trying to read something I don’t know how to pronounce always irritates me. Weird, I know.) So with no further ado, orgeat comes from an old French word for barley: orge, and is pronounced OR-ZHAT.

So, with that out of the way, let’s jump down the rabbit hole–several of them actually and explore this historical beverage which still exists, in modern forms today.

Origins of Orgeat

Enormously popular in the seventeen and eighteen hundreds, orgeat was originally known as French Barley Water. (See this post for more on barley water.)

This is a typical barley based recipe from 1775.

“Take pound of barley, which you soak in water; and, having peeled it grain by grain, make a knot of it in bit of linen.  Put this knot in pot over the fire with about quart of water.  After having boild it gently three or four hours, put into the water one pound of sweet almonds, which mix and dilute well in it.  Then take off the knot of barley, which you pound like the almonds and mix like them in the water.

 Strain alt together through piece of linen; then pound the grounds well and pour all the water over it again, which stir all together and strain again.  This water will look very thick.  Put one pound of lump sugar in powder, to that liquor, and boil it into syrup over moderate fire.  You will know that the syrup is done to its right degree if, letting one drop fall on the back of your hand, it remains in the form of pearl. Then take it off from the fire, and when cold, give it what flavour you chuse whether amber, musk or other odour.  Such is the syrup of orgeat, which you bottle and keep for use.

To make the draught which, in coffee houses or other places of refreshment, is called orgeat, put at the bottom of decanter half an ounce, or one ounce, of that syrup and pour common water over it, then shake the decanter well to mix the water and the syrup together.  It is fit for drinking directly.  In the summer you may cool it, if you chuse, in a pailful of ice and water, and you may add syrup, or water, to the first mixture, according as it wants to make it agreeable to the palate.” (Society of Artists of Great Britain, 1775)

Orgeat as a Medicinal

Like many concoctions of the era, orgeat was used in a medicinal fashion. And here’s where I fell down the first rabbit hole.

According to the Encyclopédie (1765), a huge French encyclopedia famous for representing the thought of the Enlightenment, the barley water formulation was used as the basis of a medicinal emulsion of almonds and/or pine nuts and the four major cold seeds.

According to Clermont, 1776 (rabbit hole number two, by the way) the four greater cold seeds are watermelon, cucumber, gourd and melon; the four lesser, succory, endive, lettuce, and purslane. Some physicians also included poppy seed, lettuce seed, violet seed in the mix.

Apparently, the barely based version fell out of favor in the mid-1700’s to be replaced by an almond based form. Denis Diderot, one of the authors of the Encyclopédie, (whose aim, by the way, was “to change the way people think ” and allow the for people (bourgeoisie) to be able to inform themselves and to know things) suggested that the barley water ruined the taste of the orgeat and suggested it was really unnecessary.

ORGEAT, SYRUP OF. Orgeat syrup is called like this because pharmacopeas require a barley decoction rather than plain water. But barley ruins its taste without adding any virtues. So all master apothecaries, who know how to evaluate theoretical rules according to their own practical experiences, steer clear of using barley decoction when making orgeat syrup; & it is not easy to decide wether this infidelity deserves more contempt when found at the minister’s than when charlatanism or routine is found at the law-maker’s. (1765, Vol 11, pg 633)

Diderot’s Encyclopédie

This may have contributed to the fall from favor of the barley based orgeat and the rise of largely almond based variety. Below is a later, British, recipe for medicinal orgeat based on almonds alone, said to be good for a tender chest and treating gout.

Rabbit hole number 3: Mrs. Rundell’s recipe calls for a capillaire. Apparently a capillaire is a syrup prepared from the maidenhair, formerly supposed to have medicinal properties. Now it is used to mean simple syrup flavored with orange flowers.

So naturally I had to find a recipe for a capillaire. Does that count as rabbit hole number 4 or not?

Strop de Capillaire. Maiden-hair Syrup.

This plant is said to grow in Cornwall; but the most that is used in England comes from abroad (the French author says that the best comes from Canada); the proportion is one ounce of the dried leaves, infused in half a pint of boiling ‘water; keep it on an ashes fire from one day to another, sift it in a napkin, and mix it with a pound and a quarter of sugar au Casse; keep it in a warm place some time, then bottle it: observe the same proportion for a greater quantity.
~Clermont, 1776

This being said, what exactly is/was maiden’s hair? That certainly counts as rabbit hole number four.

It turns out that there are multiple plants known as maiden’s hair including maiden’s hair fern, maiden’s hair moss, several species of seaweed and the Ginkgo biloba tree. Given that the recipe says the best comes from Canada and it was used for medicinal purposes, my best guess is that Maiden-hair syrup was made from maiden’s hair pocketmoss, Fissidens adianthoides. I can’t say this definitively, but it’s my best educated guess.

Orgeat of Almonds

Coming up for air from that rabbit hole, it’s time to tackle the subject of orgeat of almonds. Finally.

Orgeat is an emulsion (a mix of two liquids that do not readily mix like oil and water). The process used to make it essentially forms almond milk. In the form of a syrup, it was added to water, milk or other liquids to make a tasty beverage with a distinctive silky mouth feel thanks to the emulsion.

Orgeat commonly contained a lot of sugar, which helped in the emulsive process. Orange flower water was another common addition. Other oil rich seeds could be added or used in place of the almonds. Today you can find recipes for orgeat from walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, cashews, pine nuts, pistachios even avocado pits.

Two period recipes featuring the almonds:

The Problem of Cyanide

All of that leads down rabbit hole number five. Bitter almonds.

Just about every recipe specifies sweet and bitter almonds. So what’s the difference? Cyanide, my friends. Cyanide.

Bitter almonds contain glycoside amygdalin, which breaks down into glucose, hydrogen cyanide and the essential oil of bitter almonds, which is nearly pure benzaldehyde, the chemical causing the bitter flavor. 

Bitter almonds can produce 4–9 mg of hydrogen cyanide per almond. Modern studies suggest ingesting 6–10 raw bitter almonds is sufficient to cause serious poisoning in the average adult; 50 or more can cause death. (Mouaffak, et al, 2013).

If that is the case though, why didn’t a recipe like the one below leave people sick or even dying?

To make Ozyat.

BLANCH a pound of sweet almonds, and the same of bitter, beat them very fine, with a spoonfuls of orange flower water, take three ounces of the four cold seeds, if you beat the almonds, but if you do not beat them, you must take six ounces of the four cold seeds, then with two quarts of spring water, rub your pounded seeds and almonds six times through a napkin, then add four pounds of treble refined sugar, boil it to a thin syrup, skim it well, and when it is cold, then bottle it.~ Raffald, 1786

Luckily for the orgeat lovers, heating the bitter almonds appears to dramatically reduce the potential for cyanide production. Baking appears to reduce it by 79%, boiling and boiling by 98%. (Zhang et al 2019) So, the amount of boiling in the above recipe should have rendered the concoction safe to drink.

This final recipe, for a long lasting paste which could be made up into ‘instant’ orgeat appears to involve no heat. So it is likely that those consumed it would definitely feel some small effects of the (minor) cyanide content,

Orgeat Paste.

Pound the almonds as directed for orgeat, with a little orange-flower water; and when it is very fme, work it with as much weight of pounded sugar: it will keep a long while, and by this means you may have orgeat ready much sooner, by dissolving about an ounce of this paste in the proportion of a half pint of water, and then sifting it for use. ~Clermont, 1776.

And that my friends is how researching one little recipe lead me down five separate research rabbit holes. One of these days I suppose I will figure out that nothing is safe from those tricky little bunnies!

So what do you think? Any of you interested in trying/making orgeat now? Were all those rabbit holes worth running down?

References

Clermont, B., and Menon. The Professed Cook ; Or, the Modern Art of Cookery, Pastry, and Confectionary, Made Plain and Easy … including a Translation of Les Soupers De La Cour … By B. Clermont … The Third Edition, Revised and Much Enlarged. London: W. Davis, Etc., 1776.

Mouaffak, Y. & Zegzouti, F. & Boutbaoucht, Mustapha & Najib, M. & El Adib, Ghassane & Sbihi, M. & Younous, S.. (2013). Cyanide poisoning after bitter almond ingestion. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Public Health. 6. 679-680. 10.4103/1755-6783.140262. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288208697_Cyanide_poisoning_after_bitter_almond_ingestion

Raffald, Elizabeth. The Experienced English Housekeeper for the Use and Ease of Ladies, Housekeepers, Cooks, &c. Written Purely from Practice … Consisting of near Nine Hundred Original Receipts, Most of Which Never Appeared in Print. … The Tenth Edition. … By Elizabeth Raffald. London: Printed for R. Baldwin, 1786.

Rundell, Maria Eliza Ketelby. A New System of Domestic Cookery: Formed upon Principles of Economy, and Adapted to the Use of Private Families. A New ed. London: Printed for John Murray …, 1814.

Society of Artists of Great Britain. (1775). Valuable Secrets Concerning Arts and Trades: or Approved Directions From the Best Artists. London: Will Hay.

Zhang, Lingyan. Min Zhao, Jia Chen, Mengzhu Wang, Xiuzhu Yu. Reduction of cyanide content of bitter almond and its oil using different treatments. Institute of Food Science Technology. 29 May 2019 https://ifst.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ijfs.14223

To see Period Cookbook References, click here

To read more Georgian Era Recipes, click here.

To read more about Regency era Food and Drink, click here