How to make the unfamiliar, but delicious Caudle

It is creamy, hot and sweet with a bit of a nip to it. What’s not to like about that? Here is a forgotten beverage from times past, called Caudle. It can be enjoyed year-round. But we think you will especially take delight in a mug of this drink on those dark cold evenings. Here is our take on the Caudle recipe. We warrant that it is delicious enough to satisfy both the mediaeval and modern palates.

What is it?

Caudle (or Kandeel in the Netherlands) was popular in the Mediaeval period right down to the 19th century. It was actually commonly used for the infirm and, interestingly, women who had just given birth.

Either ale, white wine or brandy was heated and then thickened with egg yokes, ground almonds or breadcrumbs. Then it was spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and sweetened with either sugar or honey. Such a beverage probably did very well in a new mother’s milk production!

I’d have to say, I wouldn’t argue with some lady friends coming over and admiring the new baby with a yummy drink like this!

A Culture for Caudle

The social partaking in hot drinks with others has been a very special part of human culture throughout our history. This is why coffee and tea are so popular today. But before the trade routes made it possible to start shipping exotic products such as coffee or tea to Europe, folk still had their hot beverages to share with one another!

Caudle was one of those drinks. Apparently, it became quite popular amongst lady-folk to visit their friends who had just had a baby, where they would indulge in cake and caudle.

Nowadays, it may be difficult to realize what the world of hot beverages looked like before coffee and tea took it by storm. For that reason, a drink with hot ale or wine or brandy may seem rather strange to us. But sometimes, the best way to learn history is to taste it. For this version, we did not add any “solids” like almonds or breadcrumbs but kept it as similar to a hot cocoa or eggnog as possible.

Here is our first simple recipe for Caudle. We included a non-alcoholic option as well.

What do you need for Caudle?

It’s a pretty simple recipe really, all you need is:

• saucepan and stove
• whisk
• food thermometer (optional)
• milk, cream, butter, cinnamon, honey, egg yolk, brandy (optional)

How to make Caudle

• Put milk, cream, and butter into the saucepan and heat on med-low
• When liquid is warm enough the butter is melting, add the cinnamon and honey
• Whisk
• If you have a food thermometer, heat liquid until it reaches 180F. You want it hot but not boiling because you don’t want to scramble your egg! If you don’t have a thermometer it’s probably ready when the liquid is uncomfortable to touch but not quite boiling
• When temp is 180F add your egg yolk and whisk away! It should come together quite nicely and become a bit more creamy. You should not see any egg chunks, if you do your milk was too hot
• After whisked, pour into preferred mugs
• If you’re making this the alcoholic version you can add 1/2-1 whole shot of brandy to you steaming drink and stir gently

Along with helping mama’s milk production, we recommend it for an in-home date on a winter’s evening. Care to cuddle up with some caudle? Your spouse might be more about the cuddle–or maybe more about the caudle. Dare you hope both? We are going to be trying different variants of this drink in the future, so stay tuned! ~ Nathanel and Emily

A couple other hot drinks to try:

The best Scandinavian hot cocoa

Cozy cinnamon vanilla coffee