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Maitrank

Maitrank or Maiwein is a seasonal flavored wine, a speciality of the Pays d'Arlon, a region in Belgium. It is obtained by the maceration of fragrant woodruff inflorescences, still called "queen of the woods" or "false lily of the valley" and which blooms in May (hence the name), in white wine from Luxembourg Moselle, to which sugar, sliced oranges and cognac have been added.

The fragrant woodruff is the basic ingredient.

History

In German as well as in Moselle Franconian (a Germanic language spoken in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and in Moselle) Maitrank literally means "May drink" and Maiwein "May wine". It is difficult to say exactly when this drink appeared. Some documents of the Benedictine monks of Prüm Abbey in Germany already mentioned it in the 9th century. Maitrank was first mentioned by a monk from Prüm in 854 (glossed as meiowîn in Old High German and vinum maiores in Latin).

The inhabitants of the German wine-growing regions had developed the habit of tempering the acidity of the lower wines by adding seasonal fruit or plants through maceration. The monks knew that the woodruff had medicinal virtues (choleric, cholecystokinetic, tonic and antispasmodic),^[1] so they macerated it in the wine and drank the maceration in the spring to flush out the winter toxins. They shared this maceration with the local people and offered it to travelers seeking shelter with them. The local population soon followed suit.

With time and especially the improvement of the winemaking process, the habit of macerating plants or fruit in wine gradually disappeared and Maitrank saw its vogue decline sharply in Germany and in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, without ever completely disappearing. Some families in these regions had kept the tradition and made some every year, but the recipe did not go beyond a private family setting.

In the 1950s, some people from Arlon decided to bring the recipe up to date, and to the woodruff that gives the beverage its bitterness, they added softening and aromatic elements that are now part of the basic recipe of Maitrank:^[2] sugar, sliced oranges and cognac (the latter is also useful to slow the second fermentation).

This recipe was a great success and re-launched Maitrank to the point that as early as 1955, a municipal commission of the city of Arlon for the first time organized a Maitrank and broom day during May. Since then, every year, Arlon has been animated by the "Maitrank festivals" from the second to last weekend in May. In May 1964, the Confrérie du Maitrank d'Arlon was created in order to promote the profile of the drink, the town and the region.

In Germany and other regions of Germanic culture

The maceration of fragrant woodruff in white wine (or its commercial equivalents) is the basis of several variants that can be found in Luxembourg, Belgium (Eupen-Malmedy), Germany, Austria and Alsace where this kind of drink is called Maiwein, Maibowle or Maitrank ("May wine, May punch, May drink") and in regions of German culture in the United States, where it is called May wine.

Sources

Website of the la Royale Confrérie du Maitrank
Barbara Witkowska, "Le Maitrank, divin apéro arlonnais", Le Vif, 16 August 2015

Notes and references

^ The woodruff is also slightly toxic, so its use must remain reasonable
^ Recette de la Confrérie du Maitrank d'Arlon

External Links

MHAN2016

[1] The woodruff is also slightly toxic, so its use must remain reasonable

[2] Recette de la Confrérie du Maitrank d'Arlon

[1]

[2]