Dehydration, the sick, and Barley Water?!
Causaubon's Book linked to these two pages on the Rehydration project site:
Signs of dehydration: http://rehydrate.org/dehydration/index.html
Homemade Rehydration Solutions: http://rehydrate.org/solutions/homemade.htm
Apparently, including starches and sugars with the water helps it be absorbed.
Thus, apparently, the barley-water treatment for the ill. I've looked briefly for recipes for barley-water using Doc's MedievalCookery.com site (if you don't already use the Medieval Cookbook search, go bookmark it right now: http://www.medievalcookery.com/cgi-bin/booksearch.pl
Most of the recipes that did turn up-- in the Libre de Coch-- also called for chicken and almonds, prime sources of protein. But I know of other barley water recipes that call for barley, water, and salt/sugar...
Signs of dehydration: http://rehydrate.org/dehydration/index.html
Homemade Rehydration Solutions: http://rehydrate.org/solutions/homemade.htm
Apparently, including starches and sugars with the water helps it be absorbed.
Thus, apparently, the barley-water treatment for the ill. I've looked briefly for recipes for barley-water using Doc's MedievalCookery.com site (if you don't already use the Medieval Cookbook search, go bookmark it right now: http://www.medievalcookery.com/cgi-bin/booksearch.pl
Most of the recipes that did turn up-- in the Libre de Coch-- also called for chicken and almonds, prime sources of protein. But I know of other barley water recipes that call for barley, water, and salt/sugar...