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Italian Cure for Malaria
Slice thin one lemon-rind and all-and place in saucepan. Over this pour one and a half pints cold water and cook down to one-half pint, then strain through coarse cotton or linen so that part of the tender pulp and rind exude. Let stand till cool and drink it fasting. This should be kept up-continuously-for some days.
A lemon decoction, reduced by two-thirds and drunk cold on an empty stomach. It makes a bitter, intensely aromatic drink; the medical claim attached to it is worthless, but the preparation itself is sound and harmless.
- Quantities in cupsOne and a half pints is 3 cups of water, reduced to half a pint, which is 1 cup. That is a single dose, and the reduction takes roughly 40 minutes to an hour at a bare simmer in an uncovered pan.
- Rind and allThe whole lemon goes in, sliced thin: peel, pith, pulp and seeds. Pith and seeds contribute much of the bitterness, so the finished drink will be markedly bitter; the recipe itself makes no comment on the taste.
- Wax and spray residueSupermarket lemons are almost always waxed and often treated post-harvest. Since the peel is the main ingredient here, scrub the fruit hard in warm water or buy unwaxed.
- Pan choiceUse stainless steel or enamel. A long simmer of citrus in bare aluminium or unlined copper picks up a metallic taste.
- The straining"Coarse cotton or linen" is doing deliberate work: the loose weave lets pulp and softened rind through, so the finished liquid is cloudy and slightly thick. A fine sieve or coffee filter defeats the intent.
- "Fasting"Older usage for taking something on an empty stomach, before breakfast. A cup of concentrated citrus decoction on an empty stomach is acidic enough to be uncomfortable for anyone prone to reflux.
- It is not a treatment for malariaMalaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites and requires prescribed antimalarial drugs. Nothing in a lemon acts on them. Read this as a period document, not as advice.
Before the mosquito was identified as the vector, malaria — from the Italian mal'aria, "bad air" — was blamed on marsh vapours, and the Italian peninsula, with its coastal wetlands and the Roman Campagna, was one of Europe's most notorious fever districts. The one genuinely effective remedy of the era was cinchona bark, sold as Jesuits' powder and later refined into quinine, and its defining quality was extreme bitterness. Lemons also carried a long-established reputation against scurvy at sea. The recipe's presence in a book of fruit cookery is unremarkable for the genre — household compilations of the period moved freely between the kitchen and the sickroom.