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Mirorale, root beverage

Not ready yet: the water is just starting to turn white.

“Mirorale” was a popular beverage in Chartagon which was served both as a regular dinner thirst quencher and as a luxury drink during solemn occations.

Mirorale was produced by putting a special type of onion, “Annealyn”, in water and letting the roots grow for a couple of weeks. The roots are covered with a net of symbiotic fungus, which together with (friendly) bacteria started a fermentation process. This process made the water turn white, as if someone poured milk into the water, and sometimes Mirorale have been refered to as Mirorale-milk, “Mirorale -gomaen”, when the drink was of extra high high quality. The fermentation process could be stopped at various timepoints to add other ingredients, such as sweetener or flavour. If done correctly, the beverage could be botteled and aged for decades. However, it is not known whether Mirorale was also used for alcoholic beverages. In addition to drinking, Mirorale was also used in cooking and baking.

Unfortunately, we have not found an substitute for Annealyn onion that could be used today, but the taste should be similar to Kefir or Kombucha.