Imperial Spice

Translation of a 16th century Italian Recipe.

Fiorauanti Bolognese, Leornardo: Del Compendio de i Secreti dell'Eccell. Medico, & Cirugico M. Leonardo Fiorauanti Bolognese, Libri Cinque. (Vincenzo Valgrisi, Venice, 1554)

V.37 p161r/v Del modo di fare specie imperiali che si usano in diuersi luochi. (The way to make Imperial Spice which is used in various places.)

Sweet spices are made in many kinds, but the best that it is possible to make is this the Imperial: and to make it, take one pound of fine cinnamon, one ounce of saffron, half an ounce of [...],¹ four drams of nutmeg, two carats of Eastern musk, and all the above things together are ground finely, and are passed through silk, and to that which has passed, add the same quantity of fine sugar that has been ground the same way as the spices, and mix them well together in a mortar, and this can be called Imperial Spice, and not without cause is it called "Imperial", because in all spices, this wears the crown, and is the best of all the others which can be made, and to smell them, is to smell something unique and rare.

1 The word looks like "bongioi" or "bengioi", but I am unable to work out what it is.