Bloodwine
A goblet of haemoglobin!
Pleegzuster bloedwijn, translated as ‘Nurse’s blood wine’ is an age-old remedial drink given to alleviate stress, tuberculosis, or most commonly as a cure for aenemia. A drink to reinforce the blood.
The odd bottle can still be found in some pharmacies or on the forgotten bottomshelves of Etos or Kruidvats or albert heijn, usually in the ‘natural food ‘ section. Most bloodwines are made (and taste like) a syrupy sweet metallic concoction of iron supplements, chinese ginseng roots, sugar and asorbic acid on a red wine base. Drawing on the bloodwine tradition, though aiming for something distinctly more palatable, I am making a first attempt to macerate local Amsterdam plant pickings — yarrow, dandelion, milk thistle, Linden flower blossom, hydrangea petals — as base for a hematologic fortifying wine.
I did end up making a bloodwine-type recipe for public consumption. This was for Heilige bonen performance for which I made a sacrament for unwanted plants in the Jeruzalem church, Amsterdam.