Roman Ingredients

There are occasional problems with ingredient identification. Latin names can sometimes be confusing. Apium can refer to both celery and parsley, a surprising match until we remember that the leaves of wild celery are not too dissimilar in appearance to flat-leaved parsley. Pastinaca can denote both the carrot and parsnip, the ambiguity lying in the then virtually identical appearance of the two roots. It was not until the thirteenth century that the familiar orange carrot appeared through cross-breeding between the ancient European white carrot and a red species from Afghanistan.

Measurements & Pots/Pans

Caccabus - Small kettle
Cyathus - Half deciliter (50cc, a little over 3 tablespoons)
Patella - Diminutive of patina (see below). The word paëlla is derived from this.
Patina - Round or oval dish with upright sides for in the oven or on the fire
Scrupulum - 1,137 gram, a little less than 1/4 teaspoon
Uncia - Roman ounce, 27,3 gram (the modern ounce equals 28,35 gram)

From Athenaeus, Book 2:

The following are listed as seasonings somewhere by Antiphanes:​ "Raisins, salt, boiled must, silphium, cheese, thyme, sesame-seed, soda, cummin, cashew-nut,​b honey, marjoram, chopped acorns,​ vinegar, olives, young greens for sour dressing, capers, eggs, smoked fish, cress, fig-leaves, rennet."

BThe ancients were acquainted with the Aethiopian spice called cummin.

 

Seasonings

Roman cooks used a wide range of seasonings, as recorded in the one surviving Roman cookbook, attributed to the gourmet Apicius. De Re Coquinaria mentions:

salt, black and white pepper, anise, caraway, celery seed, costus, cumin, dill, fennel, flea-bane, ginger, laser, laurel, laurel berries, lovage, malabathrum, marjoram, mastic, mint, mustard, myrtle berries, onion, origany, pennyroyal, rocket seed, rue, saffron, sage, savory, spikenard, sumac, thyme, and tarragon.

Costus:

Flea-bane:

Silphium/Laser: Also called 'Laser' or 'ferula asa foetida'. Asafoetida (also known as hing in Indian cuisine. It was used as a garlic and onion subsitute because it keeps well. This is very pungent, use sparingly. Alternatively substitute garlic.

Laser (Silphium):

The Silphium plant was the first exotic spice to arrive in Rome and only the smallest amount was sufficient to flavor food. It was so important to the economy of its producer that its image was stamped on all coins of Cyrene from the 6th century B.C. This was undoubtedly effective as a form of publicity, since money enjoyed such wide circulation and its imagery was consequently a powerful message. Thus the cultivation of silphium must have been a great source of wealth for Cyrene and its territory.

In detailing his recipes in the 2nd century A.D., Apicius was trying to recreate the ingredients of an earlier time. The original main flavoring was laser or silphium, obtained by the Romans from Cyrene. "This seasoning was probably derived from the Ferula tingitana plant, a species of giant fennel which flourished, but only in a wild state, in North Africa. It was gathered with such zeal by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans that by the first century A.D. the plant was extinct on the southern coast of the Mediterranean and had to be imported from what are now known as Syria, Iraq and Iran. Apicius did mention Cyrenaic laser (Libyan asafetida). In modern times, the Ferula tingitana has returned to North Africa where it grows to heights of between six and eight feet." [John Edwards, The Roman Cookery of Apicius (London: Random House Ltd., 1985)].

Laser was often mixed and ground together with pine nuts, which would absorb the flavor. The ground pine nuts were then used as seasoning, while the expensive laser remained in the storage cask. When laser is added to hot oil, it changes from its strong and powerful smell to an enticing onion-garlic aroma.

Asafoetida emerged into prominence during Alexander the Great's invasion of Asia that began in 334 B.C. While crossing the northeastern provinces of the Persian Empire, his soldiers discovered a plant almost identical to silphium. It made an excellent silphium substitute for soldiers on campaign, and the only substitute when silphium became later extinct.

Botanists think that laser parthicum, which replaced the extinct silphium in Roman recipes, is Ferula asafetida. The gum resin, an extract of asafetida, was present for many years in European pharmacology and is still used in the Middle East. Thus asafetida, if the botanists are correct, is the same laser parthicum used by Romans from Pliny's time onwards, and asafetida is easily available in Indian groceries as "hing".

Laurel:

Malabathrum:

Mastic: Mastic is a dried yellow resing dreived from from the mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus). In antiquity it was used as a kind of chewing gum (hence the name) and even today it is used both as a flavouring and thickening agent, particularly in the Mediterranean region.

Myrtle berries:

Origany:

Pennyroyal:

Rocket seed:

Rue:

Spikenard:

Sumac:

Must

Obviously as old as the vine itself, the unfermented juice of the grape has found a place in the annals of gastronomy from earliest times, in ways which have changed surprisingly little over the centuries. The tart juice of unripe grapes, for example, was used by the ancient Egyptians as a sauce for fish, much the way we use lemons today. It was an astringent much loved in the Middle Ages, too, used in place of lemons, which had disappeared from Western Europe after the Fall of the Roman Empire only to return with the Crusaders.

That culinary detour notwithstanding, it is the grape’s role as a sweetener not as a lemon substitute that interests us here.  Again, from the most ancient times, grape juice was of great importance. It was essentially the only sweetener readily available, save for honey. The ancient Greeks used several variations of sweet grape juice, distinguished by the degree to which they were boiled down, or concetrated. There was the highly prized gleukos, which denoted either the fresh, free-flow must that was obtained from fully-ripe or overripe grapes before treading or the fermented product of this must; then there were several concentrated forms: hepsema, which was grape juice concentrated by boiling until rather thick, and which was a cheap substitute for honey; hepsetos, which was less concetrated; and, finally, siraion, yet another concentrated grape must, but to what degree or thickness it is hard to determine.

The Romans followed suit, with their own spate of similar grape sweeteners boiled down to various consistencies. There was caroenum, which was actually boiled down wine, and sapa or defrutum, which was concentrated grape must. According to Horace, there is even evidence that the juice of certain grapes was considered better for boiling than others, namely that of the Chian variety.

Sweeteners

Sugar was unknown in antiquity. Sugar only came to Palestine in the 7th century AD from where it reached Greece in the 8./9. Century AD and Western Europe in the late 10th century through Venice. Instead, Romans and Greeks relied on honey (thyme honey was especially popular), must-wine syrup, other fruit syrups, and dried fruits to sweeten their food. Passum, a sweet raisin wine supposedly originating in Carthage, was also one of several sweeteners which the Romans added to their food.

Honey: The main sweetener in Antiquity was honey. The use of honey in Roman cuisine stretched from consuming it pure to coating cured meat with honey before putting it in the oven to make it taste less salty. But honey was also used for Mulsum, a sweet honey wine that was irreplaceable for the feasts of the Roman high society. While most kinds of honey were harvested by pressing out the honeycombs the highest quality honey was harvested by cutting off the wax lits from the honeycombs and allowing the honey to drip out without any additional help.

Dried dates, raisins, figs and apricots:

Romans used to make several specialty wines and syrups for cooking, some of which are passum, defrutum, caroenum and sapa.

Passum: A sweet wine made with raisins and grape must (grape juice), said to have originated in Carthage.

In "APICIUS Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome" translated by Joseph Dommers Vehling, it only mentioned passum in passing as a raisin wine.

However, in "APICIUS The Roman Cookery Book" translated by Barbara Flower and Elisabeth Rosenbaum, there is a much more detailed description: "Another specially prepared cooking wine is the passum. Like defrutum, it was used to sweeten sauces. It is not only sweeter than defrutum, but has a different flavour. Palladius (XI, xix) even says that one can use it like honey." It goes on to give two recipes for passum. These recipes appeared to be similar to the making of wine, except that raisins were used instead.

See Passum for an ancient recipe for passum noted by Columella in De Agricultura and a modern substitute.

Grape Syrups

One of the earliest mentions of grape syrup comes from the fifth-century BC Greek physician Hippocrates, who refers to hépsēma (ἕψημα), the Greek name for the condiment. The fifth-century BC Athenian playwright Aristophanes also makes a reference to it, as does Roman-era Greek physician Galen. Grape syrup was known by different names in Ancient Roman cuisine depending on the boiling procedure: defrutum, carenum, and sapa.

Defrutum, carenum, and sapa were all reductions of must. They were made by boiling down grape juice or must (unstrained grape juice, with skins, stems and seeds still in it) in large kettles until it had been reduced to two-thirds of the original volume, carenum; half the original volume, defrutum; or one-third, sapa. The Greek name for this variant of grape syrup was siraion (Greek: "σίραιον").

Writers like Columella recommended simmering the Defritum down in lead pots, because they knew that lead would make it even sweeter. Some versions of defritum apparently could be made from figs. Apicius, writing quite late in the Roman Empire, says Defritum can also be made from figs or quinces (56 : L II – II.8.) Most classical writers, though, refer to it as being made from grapes.

As to siræum, by some known as "hepsema," and which in our language is called "sapa,"266 it is a product of art and not of Nature, being prepared from must boiled down to one-third: when must is boiled down to one-half only, we give it the name of " defrutum. All these mixtures have been devised for the adulteration of honey267.
Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, Book XIV

Notes:
266 This was evidently a kind of grape sirop, or grape jelly.
267 When cold, they would have nearly the same consistency.

Caroenum:

Sapa:

Types of Fish Sauce

The Romans had different grades of fish sauces and used several names for them. To the best of current knowledge this is how it shakes out:

Some Other Ingredients used in Roman Cooking

Amulata (Amulum) — this is a starch made from wheat that's steeped in water and then macerated before being air dried. It is a classical Roman thickening agent, and a recipe is given by Cato in his De Agricultura (see Recipe for amulum).

Asafoetida: Asafoetida is a gum derived from the sap of the roots and stem of the Ferula assafoetida plant. It has a very pungeant aroma though this dissipates with cooking. It can be bought in health-food shops and Indian/Middle-eastern markets either as a liquid essence or as a fine yellow powder. Either are fine for cooking but remember to keep in an air-tight container otherwise its scent will taint other foods.

Caricarum This is a wine made from figs, made by macerating or boiling figs in water until they disintegrated. Typically this was boiled down until very thick and sweet.

Caroenum: Boiled Must (must is esentially very young wine at the first stage of fermentation). The closest equivalent would be a sweet young white wine or grape juice. Boil until the volume is reduced by half.

Egyptian Bean Colocasia esculenta (Colocasio in Latin) was a plant much esteemed by the Romans (which we know of today as taro). As today, the starchy tubers were the most esteemed part and these were boiled, as we would prepare potatoes. However, the stems and leaves were also cooked and served, as were the plant's beans (substitute these with borad [fava] beans in any Roman recipe).

Elecampane: Inula helenium is a a perennial composite plant, also known as 'Horse-heal', a member of the Asteraceae (dais family) that is common in many parts of Great Britain, and ranges throughout central and Southern Europe, and in Asia as far eastwards as the Himalayas. The roots (which should be no more than three years old) are used both as a medicine and as a condiment.

Feverfew Pyrethrum parthenium (Pyrethrum in Latin) is a is a traditional medicinal herb that is a member of the Asteraceae (daisy family) that has long been used for treating headaches, arthritis and digestive problems. Howeve, it can cause severe allergic reactions, mouth ulcers and should not be taken during pregnancy. This is a Roman ingredient to avoid.

Galingale: Sweet Galingale is the dried root of the aquatic plant, galingale Cyperus longus. Cyperus longus is a monocot perennial flowering plant and member of the Cyperaceae (sedge) family. Superficially, galingale resembles a grass or rush that prefers wet ground and is closely related to the Egyptian papyrus. It is native to Britain and the Mediterranean and grows by water and in marshy places. It quickly grows to 2m in height and has large, attractive inflorescences.

The tuberous roots are edible and have an aromatic violet-like tone. They were a critical ingredient of many Medieval recipes and were used where today we would use ginger or galangal. Sweet Galingale is one of those plants that has fallen out of culinary use in Europe, though it and its close relatives are still used in Europe. Modern chefs would probably use Asian galengal instead.

Liebstoeckl: This is the plant Levisticum officinale (lovage) and its dried roots were used as a spice. It's an umbelliferous plant with yellowish flowers.

Liquamen: Fermented salted fish. This was a common addition to Roman food. The closest modern equivalent would be Nam Pla, Thai fish sauce.

Lovage: In Latin it is called 'levisticum officinale'. It's an umbelliferous plant with yellowish flowers. Its dried roots are used as spice. It can be replaced by the leaves at the tops of celery stalks in a pinch. I have seen it in health food stores as a loose tea, or in tea bags.

Oenogarum: Wine tempered with fish-sauce and herbs. Temper 1 cup white wine with 1 cup Vino Santo and 1 tsp. to 1 Tbsp. fish sauce (to taste)

Oxyporium This is a traditional Roman recipe for a salad dressing made from dates. See Recipe for Oxyporium

Poleiminze or Puledimu: Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium). Ordinary garden mint can be substituted.

Rue: Ruta Graveolens is not commonly used in modern cooking, as it is in large quantities an abortificent [as is oregano] and does require a bit of care in using it if one of your diners may be pregnant and very sensitive to the active ingredient. It can be found occasionally in health food stores in the herb section, and you can buy seeds online.

Safflower This is the plant, Carthamus tinctorius, a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual that is growh both for its seeds (used to make oil) and for the dried petals that can be used as a saffron substitute. In ancient times, it was prized by the Egyptians and the use in Apicius clearly demonstrates the Egyptian antecedents of some of the recipes (where the oil and flour made from the ground seeds is used).

Sapa: This is must (grape juice) that is boiled down to a third of its original volume. It was made with sweet wine and the final product was both very thick and sweet. It was used as a sweetener and flavouring as well as a preservative (in place of honey).

Saturei: Summer Savory. In Latin it's called 'satureia hortensis'. It's a violet or white flowered kind of labiate plants which grows mainly in Southern Europe. It's used as a spice plant, especially for bean dishes; in Germany it is called the 'bean herb'.

Spikenard This is the plant, Nardostachys grandiflora (Indian spikenard) or Nardostachys jatamansi (Himalayan spikenard), [also known as nard, nardin, and muskroot] an aromatic plant with small leaves and red-purple flowers that's a member of the Valerian family and a native to northern region of India and Nepal as well as the Himalayas of China. This is used frequently in aromatherapy oils. The oil was known in ancient times and was obtained as a luxury in ancient Egypt, the Near East, and Rome, where it was the main ingredient of the perfume nardinum. The dried root, used as a spice, be obtained from a specialized supplier. An alternate is to use equal portions of fennel and lavender a fifth of the final quantity of valerian root (note, valerian is a sedative and some people are very sensitive, use sparingly. Lavender should not be consumed by pregnant women). The powdered root was used commonly as a spice during Roman times and in Medieval Europe it was part of the spice blend used to flavour Hypocras.

Wormwood Artemisia: spp (but most commonly Artemisia absinthium [absinthe wormwood]), a herbaceous perennial plant, with a hard, woody rhizome, native to temperate regions of Eurasia and northern Africa. The leaves and flowering tops are gathered when the plant is in full bloom, and dried naturally or with artificial heat.

Legumes: Pliny mentions lentils, peas, chick-peas, "kidney bean" which ia a variety of the Phaseolus vulgaris of Linnæus: the "haricot" of the French. The French bean and the scarlet-runner are cooked in a similar manner today. Pliny says of the "kidney bean," unlike other legumes: "In the case of the kidney-bean it is usual to eat the pod together with the seed . . . As soon as ever the leguminous plants begin to ripen, they ought to be plucked." (Pliny, Book XVIII, Chapter 33).

Note: In ancient Rome, legumes were limited to dried peas, sweet peas, lupines, lentils and fava beans. The Romans knew several varieties of chickpea, such as venus, ram, and punic. They were either cooked down into a broth or roasted as a snack. The Roman gourmet Apicius gives several recipes for chickpeas. The French green bean was not know, and most dried beans were only know after contact with the Americas where they are indigenous (kidney, black, pinto, etc.).