Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome Part 10

XII

[19] TO KEEP GRAPES _UVae UT DIU SERVENTUR_

TAKE PERFECT GRAPES FROM THE VINES, PLACE THEM IN A VESSEL AND POUR RAIN WATER OVER THEM THAT HAS BEEN BOILED DOWN ONE THIRD OF ITS VOLUME. THE VESSEL MUST BE PITCHED AND SEALED WITH PLASTER, AND MUST BE KEPT IN A COOL PLACE TO WHICH THE SUN HAS NO ACCESS. TREATED IN THIS MANNER, THE GRAPES WILL BE FRESH WHENEVER YOU NEED THEM. YOU CAN ALSO SERVE THIS WATER AS HONEY MEAD TO THE SICK.

ALSO, IF YOU COVER THE GRAPES WITH BARLEY [bran] YOU WILL FIND THEM SOUND AND UNINJURED.

V. We keep grapes in cork shavings, bran and saw dust.

[20] TO KEEP POMEGRANATES _UT MALA GRANATA DIU DURENT_ [1]

STEEP THEM INTO HOT [sea] WATER, TAKE THEM OUT IMMEDIATELY AND HANG THEM UP. [Tor.] THEY WILL KEEP.

[1] Tor. _conditura malorum Punicorum_; Tac. _mala granata_; G.-V. _mala et mala granata_.

[21] TO KEEP QUINCES _UT MALA CYDONIA DIU SERVENTUR_

PICK OUT PERFECT QUINCES WITH STEMS [1] AND LEAVES. PLACE THEM IN A VESSEL, POUR OVER HONEY AND DEFRUTUM [2] AND YOU'LL PRESERVE THEM FOR A LONG TIME [3].

[1] V. Excellent idea, for the stems, if removed, would leave a wound in the fruit for the air to penetrate and to start fermentation. Cf. also the next formula.

[2] G.-V. _defritum_, from _defervitum_; _defrutum_ is new wine, spiced, boiled down to one half of its volume.

[3] This precept would not keep the fruit very long unless protected by a closefitting cover and sterilization. Cf. No. 24.

[22] TO PRESERVE FRESH FIGS, APPLES, PLUMS, PEARS AND CHERRIES _FIc.u.m RECENTEM, MALA, PRUNA, PIRA, CERASIA UT DIU SERVES_

SELECT THEM ALL VERY CAREFULLY WITH THE STEMS ON [1] AND PLACE THEM IN HONEY SO THEY DO NOT TOUCH EACH OTHER.

[1] See the preceding formula.

[23] TO KEEP CITRON _CITRIA UT DIU DURENT_ [1]

PLACE THEM IN A GLa.s.s [2] VESSEL WHICH IS SEALED WITH PLASTER AND SUSPENDED.

[1] Tor. _conditura malorum Medicorum quae et citria dic.u.n.tur_. V. Not quite identified. Fruit coming from Asia Minor, Media or Persia, one of the many varieties of citrus fruit. Probably citron because of their size.

Goll. Lemon-apples; Dann. lemons (oranges). List.

_Scilicet mala, quae Dioscorides Persica quoque & Medica, & citromala, Plinius item a.s.syria appellari dicit_.

[2] G.-V. _vas vitreum_; Tac. and Tor. _vas citrum_; V.

a gla.s.s vessel could not be successfully sealed with plaster paris, and the experiment would fail; cf. note 3 to No. 21.

[24] TO KEEP MULBERRIES _MORA UT DIU DURENT_

MULBERRIES, IN ORDER TO KEEP THEM, MUST BE LAID INTO THEIR OWN JUICE MIXED WITH NEW WINE [boiled down to one half] IN A GLa.s.s VESSEL AND MUST BE WATCHED ALL THE TIME [so that they do not spoil].

V. This and the foregoing formulae ill.u.s.trate the ancients' attempts at preserving foods, and they betray their ignorance of "processing" by heating them in hermetically sealed vessels, the principle of which was not discovered until 1810 by Appert which started the now gigantic industry of canning.

[25] TO KEEP POT HERBS [_H_]_OLERA UT DIU SERVENTUR_

PLACE SELECTED POT HERBS, NOT TOO MATURE, IN A PITCHED VESSEL.

[26] TO PRESERVE SORREL OR SOUR DOCK _LAPae _[1]_ UT DIU SERVENTUR_

TRIM AND CLEAN [the vegetable] PLACE THEM TOGETHER SPRINKLE MYRTLE BERRIES BETWEEN, COVER WITH HONEY AND VINEGAR.

ANOTHER WAY: PREPARE MUSTARD HONEY AND VINEGAR ALSO SALT AND COVER THEM WITH THE SAME.

[1] The kind of vegetable to be treated here has not been sufficiently identified. List. and G.-V.

_rapae_--turnips--from _rapus_, seldom _rapa_,--a rape, turnip, navew. Tac. and Tor. _Lapae_ (_lapathum_), kind of sorrel, monk's rhubarb, dock. Tor. explaining at length: _conditura Rumicis quod lapathon Graeci, Latini Lapam quoque dic.u.n.t_.

V. Tor. is correct, or nearly so. Turnips, in the first place, are not in need of any special method of preservation. They keep very well in a cool, well-ventilated place; in fact they would hardly keep very long if treated in the above manner. These directions are better applied to vegetables like dock or monk's rhubarb. Lister, taking Humelbergii word for it, accepts "turnips" as the only truth; but he has little occasion to a.s.sail Torinus as he does: _Torinus lapam legit, & nullibi temeritatem suam atque inscientiam magis ostendit._

Now, if Torinus, according to Lister, "nowhere displays more nerve and ignorance" we can well afford to trust Torinus in cases such as this.

[27] TO KEEP TRUFFLES _TUBERA UT DIU SERVENTUR_

THE TRUFFLES WHICH MUST NOT BE TOUCHED BY WATER ARE PLACED ALTERNATELY IN DRY SAWDUST; SEAL THE VESSEL WITH PLASTER AND DEPOSIT IT IN A COOL PLACE.

Dann. Clean [peel] the truffles ... in another vessel place the peelings, seal the vessels.... V. this would be the ruin of the truffles, unless they were "processed" in the modern way. Our originals have nothing that would warrant this interpretation.

[28] TO KEEP HARD-SKINNED PEACHES _DURACINA PERSICA UT DIU DURENT_

SELECT THE BEST AND PUT THEM IN BRINE. THE NEXT DAY REMOVE THEM AND RINSING THEM CAREFULLY SET THEM IN PLACE IN A VESSEL, SPRINKLE WITH SALT AND SATURY AND IMMERSE IN VINEGAR.

XIII

[29] SALTS FOR MANY [ILLS]

_SALES CONDITOS AD MULTA_

THESE SPICED SALTS ARE USED AGAINST INDIGESTION, TO MOVE THE BOWELS, AGAINST ALL ILLNESS, AGAINST PESTILENCE AS WELL AS FOR THE PREVENTION OF COLDS. THEY ARE VERY GENTLE INDEED AND MORE HEALTHFUL THAN YOU WOULD EXPECT. [Tor. MAKE THEM IN THIS MANNER]: 1 LB. OF COMMON SALT GROUND, 2 LBS. OF AMMONIAC SALT, GROUND [List. AND G.-V. 3 OZS. WHITE PEPPER, 2 OZS. GINGER] 1 OZ. [Tor. 1-1/2 OZ.] OF AMINEAN BRYONY, 1 OF THYME SEED AND 1 OF CELERY SEED [Tor. 1-1/2 OZ.] IF YOU DON'T WANT TO USE CELERY SEED TAKE INSTEAD 3 OZS. OF PARSLEY [SEED] 3 OZS. OF ORIGANY, 1 OZ. OF SAFFRON [List. and G.-V. ROCKET] 3 OZS. OF BLACK PEPPER [1] 1-1/2 OZS. ROCKET SEED, 2 OZS. OF MARJORAM [List. and G.-V.

CRETAN HYSSOP] 2 OZS. OF NARD LEAVES, 2 OZS. OF PARSLEY [SEED] AND 2 OZS. OF ANISE SEED.

[1] In view of the white pepper as directed above, this seems superfluous. White pepper and ginger omitted by Tor.