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Oatmeal and Ginger
Mix three fourths of a cup of oatmeal, one fourth ounce of ground ginger, one fourth cup of brown sugar, and the grated rinds and juice of two lemons. Add two quarts of boiling water and boil for five minutes. When cool, strain, and serve.
A cooling barley-water-style drink built on oatmeal rather than barley, meant to be strained clear and drunk cold. Two things decide whether it works: the cut of oatmeal and how hard you boil it.
- What "oatmeal" meantRecipes of this sort usually assumed pinhead or coarse-ground meal rather than the rolled flakes now standard, though rolled oats were on sale by the late 1800s. Steel-cut oats give the cleanest result; rolled oats break down into a cloudy sludge that is harder to strain, and oat flour will not strain usefully at all.
- Stir, and watch the potOatmeal will settle to the bottom of the pan and can catch during the five minutes of boiling. Keep the boil gentle and stir often, or the batch can pick up a scorched taste that sugar will not hide.
- The ginger quantityA quarter ounce of ground ginger is roughly four teaspoons, a generous tablespoon, which is still a lot for two quarts and reflects the drink's medicinal intent. As a beverage rather than a remedy, 2 to 3 teaspoons is closer to modern taste.
- Lemon rindGrate only the yellow zest of the two lemons. Any white pith carried in will turn bitter over the five minutes of boiling and again as the drink stands.
- Add the juice at the endThe recipe puts rind and juice in together before boiling. Holding the juice back until the pan comes off the heat keeps the flavour brighter; boiled lemon juice goes flat and slightly cooked.
- StrainingA fine sieve lined with a double layer of cheesecloth or a coffee filter gives a clear drink. Let it drip rather than pressing the solids through, which pushes oat starch into the liquid.
- Yield and keepingTwo quarts of water go in, and a little is lost to the strained solids and to evaporation, so expect somewhat under two quarts finished, about six to eight glasses. Serve cold over ice; it separates on standing, so stir or shake before pouring, and keep it refrigerated and use within two days.
Oatmeal water belongs to a long line of grain drinks — barley water, gruel, caudle, and the Scottish harvest drinks of oatmeal and water — given to the sick and to people working in heat, on the reasoning that a little starch and sugar in water was easier to keep down than food. Ginger was long relied on in the same tradition for nausea and chill. "Invalid Drinks" was a real category in household books of this era, when nursing the sick happened at home and the cook was expected to supply beef tea, whey, toast water and lemonades on demand. Where such a chapter appears in a temperance collection, it may reflect the fact that medicinal spirits were among the last socially defensible uses of alcohol.