How much would medieval Europe change if they had the custom of cooking any water before drinking it?
Less wine and beer would have been drunk
Actually, that's not a given. While drinking beer (not necessarily wine, since that was watered after fermentation) would have been safer than drinking water, that's not the reason people did it. Wealthy Romans had access to safe drinking water, and they drank wine whenever they could afford it.
Interesting aside: If boiling water before drinking becomes common (and it could, humoral theory would support it), the chance is good that flavored infusions would become more popular earlier. Probably not tzea, but spices for the upscale few and various tisanes for the common crowd.
And the Roman Legions added sour wine/vinegar to their water before drinking it.
Actually, that's not a given. While drinking beer (not necessarily wine, since that was watered after fermentation) would have been safer than drinking water, that's not the reason people did it. Wealthy Romans had access to safe drinking water, and they drank wine whenever they could afford it.
One thing that probably would have happened though is that the custom of adding hops to beer, originally done to make it keep longer, would be delayed, and thus the European beer tradition might not develop as strongly and distinctly as it has IOTL. Which would be a pity.
Well this isn't necessarily true. For one thing the Roman wealthy probably didn't know they had safe water as such, and they might well have felt they were risking less by drinking wine whenever possible. Plus, getting drunk is pretty damned fun, and wine is tasty.
One thing that probably would have happened though is that the custom of adding hops to beer, originally done to make it keep longer, would be delayed,
From analysis of latrine contents it seems that the big issue was parasite load, not so much waterborne diseases.
Then beer would essentially be ale.
Didn't the invention of hops adding take place in the early middle ages?
Then that drink might have developped nevertheless when the boiling boys kick in ...
I must admit that I'm honestly surprised that waterborn parasites can stand boiling water while viruses and bacteria die.It's hard to say, but probably not as much as we would think. From analysis of latrine contents it seems that the big issue was parasite load, not so much waterborne diseases. We can only speculate how much it would do for people's health.
I must admit that I'm honestly surprised that waterborn parasites can stand boiling water while viruses and bacteria die.
Well this isn't necessarily true. For one thing the Roman wealthy probably didn't know they had safe water as such, and they might well have felt they were risking less by drinking wine whenever possible. Plus, getting drunk is pretty damned fun, and wine is tasty.
I thought they used Lead water pipes? hasn't archeaology proven it wasn't safe at all?
No, the boiling was around long before the medieval period. And the addition of hops dates from around the 8th century or possibly earlier in Germany. From there it spread to other places during the middle ages. Up until that point people just used other things to flavor their boiled fermented barley water, like spruce tips, spices and herbs, etc. Such a concoction is called gruit, and is still made by many homebrewers today. There are even a limited number of commercial brews out there which are done this way. Skagway Brewing makes one, for example and so does Steamworks. Just to name two; there are others.Well modern ales come with hops, so. And anyway if the discovery of boiling doesn't occur until the middle ages it's too late to have any effect on European drinking habits.