Honey of Raisins.
Take Malaga Raisins freed from the Stalks and Stones 2 pound; Currants pick'd and rubb'd clean with a Cloth 1 pound; Jujubes half a pound; beat all in a Marble Mortar, and boil in a convenient quantity of clear Barly Water, 'till the Goodness be boil'd out into the Liquor, then strain and squeeze it out, and having set it by to settle and decanted the clear, and added to it clarify'd Honey and white Sugar Candy, each 4 ounces; boil again gently, 'till it be reduc'd to a Mellaginous Consistence.
Here I desire the English Reader to take notice once and for all, that our Herbals give such poor, sorry, deficient, false and undistinguishing accounts of the Virtues of Simples, that he must not venture Practice upon their Authority. To instance in Raisins, when they are prescrib'd, Raisins of the Sun are generally made use of, whereas they, and Malaga have their several Faculties and uses no where to be found in such like Books.
For Raisins of the Sun are pleasanter to the Palate, quench Thirst and deoppilate more than Malaga, by reason of a delicate Tartarous Acidity, mixt with the sweet, and so are better in thirsty Fevers, and Splanchnic Cases,
But Malaga Incrassate, Obtund and Maturate more than they, by reason of their mucilaginous Sweetness, and therefore are prefrrrable [sic] in Catarrhs, Rheumatism, Small Pox, Stone, and wheresoever a thin, acrid, crude Serum is to be corrected or ripen'd.
Thomas Fuller
Pharmacopeia Extemporanea 1710