Location: A Dictionary of Sussex Folk Medicine
Drink: Glow-worm wine.
Although I know of many British folk remedies involving plants, those which involve animals are a suprise. Glow-worms, the little beetles that shine a faint greenish light in wet and marshy places, habitats where the larvae can find and feed on slugs and snails, feature as a key ingredient in a 16th and 17th Sussex cure for drunkenness and lust! Brilliant! The green glow from the "firefly" or glow worm not only acts to attract mates, but also serves as a warning to predators that it tastes bitter and horrid. What better ingredient to use to create a brew likely enough to dampen your ardour and put you off wine for life!
Recipe 1:
Gather your glow worms. Macerate. Add to wine.
Recipe 2:
Gather your glow worms. Add to wine. Distill.
Supply to "those unclean lechers" to spare wife, widow and maid "from lust not fit to be mentioned". Leonard Mascall 1627.
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