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Drink

Iceland Moss, or Lichen Diet Drink

A drink made by macerating Iceland moss in water, boiling, straining, and sweetening with marshmallow syrup, optionally diluted with milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Syrup and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,143 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Iceland Moss, or Lichen Diet Drink

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the moss

  1. Soak 1 ounce of Iceland moss in 1 pound of water for 12 hours.

  2. Drain the water and boil the moss in 3 pounds of fresh water until reduced by one-third.

  3. Strain the mixture through a napkin.

Finish the drink

  1. Add 1 ounce of marshmallow syrup.

  2. If desired, dilute with 1/3 cup of cow's milk.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Syrup + milktop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,143 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Iceland moss
Its mucilage thickens the liquid, giving the drink a soft, viscous body.
Marshmallow syrup
Adds sweetness and a smooth, mellow flavour to balance the moss.
Cow's milk
Optional; dilutes the drink and softens its flavour and richness.

The step that matters

Boiling the moss until reduced by one-third. Boiling extracts the thickening mucilage from the lichen. Stopping too early leaves the drink thin, while boiling too long concentrates it and can make it overly bitter or gluey.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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