Hot toddy
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A hot toddy, also hot totty, and hot tottie, is typically a mixed drink made of liquor and water with sugar and spices and served hot.[1] Hot toddy recipes vary and are traditionally drunk before going to bed, or in wet or cold weather. They were once believed to relieve the symptoms of the cold and flu — in How to Drink, Victoria Moore describes the drink as "the vitamin C for health, the honey to soothe, the alcohol to numb"[2] — but the American Lung Association recommends avoiding treating the common cold with alcoholic beverages as they cause dehydration.[3]
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Preparation [edit]
Traditional Scottish preparation of a hot toddy involves the mixture of whisky, boiling water and sugar or honey. Additional ingredients such as cloves, a lemon slice or cinnamon (in stick or ground form) may be added.[4]
A common version in the Midwestern United States uses Vernors Ginger Ale, lemon, honey and Bourbon whiskey.[citation needed] In Wisconsin, brandy is often used instead of bourbon.[5] In Southern California the version includes tequila.[citation needed]
A common version in Ontario, Canada typically consists of heated Canada dry ginger-ale, honey, and either whiskey or brandy. It is often recommended to heat the ginger-ale before adding the whiskey or brandy, otherwise the heating process will reduce the alcoholic effects of the liquor.
Popular etymology [edit]
It has been suggested that the name comes from the toddy drink in India,[6] produced by fermenting the sap of palm trees. The term could have been introduced into Scotland by a member of the East India Company.[7]
An alternative explanation is given in Allan Ramsay's 1721 poem The Morning Interview, which describes a tea party in which it is said that
- "All the rich requisites are brought from far: the table from Japan, the tea from China, the sugar from Amazonia, or the West Indies, but that
- 'Scotia does no such costly tribute bring,
- Only some kettles full of Todian spring.'"
To this passage, Ramsay has appended the note:
- "The Todian spring, i.e. Tod's Well, which supplies Edinburgh with water."
Tod's Well, on the site of Arthur's Seat, supplied Edinburgh, and since whisky derives its name from water (the Scottish Gaelic term uisge beatha), it could be that "Toddy" was a facetious name for whisky.
See also [edit]
- Tamagozake, the traditional Japanese cold cure, uses heated sake.
References [edit]
- ^ "Definition of Hot Toddy". Princeton WordNet. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
- ^ Nigel Slater (March 13, 2011). "Nigel Slater's classic hot toddy recipe". The Guardian. Retrieved December 16, 2012.
- ^ "Facts about the Common Cold". American Lung Association. August 2005. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
- ^ "How to make a Hot Toddy". LifeOverHere.com. January 3, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2012.
- ^ "Wisconsin Winter Toddy". Princeton WordNet. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
- ^ "Glossaries: India". Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie Archive. Macquarie University. 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2012. "Toddy: palm wine made from the sap of the palmyra palm."
- ^ "Hot Toddies". Conan's Pub. Retrieved December 16, 2012.
- MacKay, Charles. A Dictionary of Lowland Scotch (1888)
