Folger Institute Mixology
Our “Mixology” series draws on the Folger’s rich collection of handwritten recipe books from early modern Britain—the largest in the world—to examine the early modern era and connect it with the present. The ingredients listed within these books for drinks, potions, cordials, and more speak to the role of recipes in providing sustenance, medicine, and care. They also speak to histories of labor, exploitation, and survival.
Together, let’s look more deeply into our cocktail glasses to rethink how we research and talk about recipes.
About the Folger Institute
The Folger Institute is a center for early modern research at the Folger Shakespeare Library that brings public audiences together with researchers to explore the cultures and legacies of the early modern world. Learn more.
Coming Soon!
Mixology: Game Night
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The vibes of the past in Shakespeare and fantasy
For many creators in the fantasy genre, from books to shows to games, the action takes place in a distant past. Why is medievalism so often the default setting for fantasy and what does that say about us?
Grimoires and games
Immerse yourself in the magic of the Folger and the early modern world with our new game “A Night at the Library” paired with recipes for two conjuring cocktails to enhance playing.
Mixology: How Alchemy Gave Us Alcohol
Without alchemy there would be no mixology. No cocktails, no spirits, no liqueurs! At our October 2024 trivia night we explored esoteric views, searched for the fifth essence, and leaned in on the hot debate—can lead be turned into gold? A fashion-show style costume contest and tarot readings with Skye Marinda Tarot made for a unique Halloween season event!
Alchemy, aqua vitae, and Mixology: How alchemy gave us liquor
Without alchemy there would be no mixology. No cocktails, no spirits, no liqueurs, no essences! Dive into the history of alchemy and distillation, with two cocktail recipes.
High spirits: Alchemy in Elizabethan England
Jennifer Rampling, a Princeton history professor and author of The Experimental Fire: Inventing English Alchemy, 1300–1700, explores alchemy in Shakespeare’s England.
Mixology (TV) Presents: Shakespeare for Swifties
Is Taylor Swift the Shakespeare of our time? For this “cruel summer” program, the Folger Institute explored the poetry, literary devices, and early modern allusions of Swift’s discography. If you missed our trivia night, don’t let “your saddest fears come creeping in.” We are sharing three Taylor-themed cocktails inspired by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century recipes from our collection. Enjoy these drinks at home while watching the Eras Tour or sip while testing your knowledge of two of the world’s greatest poets with our “Who said it, Shakespeare or Taylor?” quiz.
Shax it Off: Taylor Swift-themed cocktails inspired by recipes in our collection
Three Taylor Swift-themed cocktails inspired by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century recipes from our collection.
Taylor Swift and Shakespeare
“Lend me your ears”: Harvard English professor Stephanie Burt explores the songs and songwriting of Shakespeare and Taylor Swift.
Drink like it’s 1699
Ingredients for early modern recipes took winding, diverse, and sometimes troubling pathways. By funding research, partnering with industry experts, and engaging with public audiences, the Folger Institute uses early modern recipes as an entry point for studying the important histories of Gender, Sexuality, Class, and Race. Our September 2023 trivia night at local Barracks Row restaurant Crazy Aunt Helen’s invited participants to “drink like it’s 1699” with four bespoke cocktails inspired by our research cornerstones.
Four Cocktails Inspired by the Folger Collection
Learn more about—and how to make!—the four cocktails featured at Folger Institute’s upcoming Mixology event.
Mixology and Memorie
In this three-part Mixology blog series, we heard from two DC mixologists, a scholar, and a local Ayurvedic Doctor about the brain-boosting powers of coriander, an ingredient often featured in early modern recipes for “memorie potions.” This deep dive into the theme of memory was part of the April 2023 “Searching for Shakespeare” celebration of the 400th anniversary of the printing of the First Folio, in partnership with DC Public Library.
"To preserve the memorie": Cocktails inspired by the Folger Collection
The Folger Institute has partnered with two DC mixologists to bring you cocktail and mocktail recipes featuring the key memory-enhancing ingredient from Mrs. Baker’s recipe book: coriander.
The coriander connection: Brain health in early modern English recipes and Ayurvedic practices today
An Ayurvedic doctor explores resonances between traditional Indian medicine and an early modern English recipe in the Folger collection that prescribes coriander to “helpe the memorie.”
Recipes to remember: Coriander, gallyngale, and the legacies of the lost
The Receipt Book of Margaret Baker, compiled in 1675, contains a recipe for a memory-potion called “Confect of Coriander Seed.”
Love-in-Idleness
To accompany the Folger’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the National Building Museum in summer 2022, Dr. Marissa Nicosia explored the uses of the love-in-idleness flower, also known as heartsease or, more commonly today, the pansy. In Shakespeare’s play, this flower is used to interweave the language of love and remedy, intoxication and danger, sweetness and excess. Add all this and more to your next cocktail with Dr. Nicosia’s recipe for Heartsease Cordial!
Love-in-idleness, Part One: Adapting an early modern recipe for heartsease cordial
Marissa Nicosia adapts an early modern recipe for heartsease cordial. This purple pansy syrup was used to “clear the heart” – to treat the chest and lungs or to reduce fever – but also for healing heartaches.
Love-in-idleness, Part Two: Intoxicating botanicals in 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream'
Love-in-idleness, a flower also called pansy or heartsease, plays an important role in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” as Marissa Nicosia explores.