Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome

to treat spices and flavors judiciously. This article alone should disperse for all time all stories of ancient Rome's extravagance in flavoring and seasoning dishes. It reminds of the methods used by European cooks to get the utmost use out of the expensive vanilla bean: they bury the bean in a can of powdered sugar. They will use the sugar only which has soon acquired a delicate vanilla perfume, and will replace the used sugar by a fresh supply. This is by far a superior method to using the often rank and adulterated "vanilla extract" readily bottled. It is more gastronomical and more economical. Most commercial extracts are synthetic, some injurious. To believe that any of them impart to the dishes the true flavor desired is of course ridiculous. The enormous consumption of such extracts however, is characteristic of our industrialized barbarism which is so utterly indifferent to the fine points in food. Today it is indeed hard for the public to obtain a real vanilla bean. Cf. also notes regarding flavoring to Nos. 276-7, 345 and 385. XI [16] TO MAKE HONEY CAKES LAST _UT DULCIA DE MELLE DIU DURENT_ TO MAKE HONEY CAKES THAT WILL KEEP TAKE WHAT THE GREEKS CALL YEAST [1] AND MIX IT WITH THE FLOUR AND THE HONEY AT THE TIME WHEN MAKING THE COOKY DOUGH. [1] Tor. and Tac. _nechon_; G.-V. _cnecon_; Dann. _penion_. [17] SPOILED HONEY MADE GOOD _UT MEL MALUM BONUM FACIAS_ HOW BAD HONEY MAY BE TURNED INTO A SALEABLE ARTICLE IS TO MIX ONE PART OF THE SPOILED HONEY WITH TWO PARTS OF GOOD HONEY. List. _indigna fraus_! V. We all agree with Lister that this is contemptible business. This casts another light on the ancients' methods of food adulteration. [18] TO TEST SPOILED HONEY _MEL CORRUPTUM UT PROBES_ IMMERSE ELENCAMPANE IN HONEY AND LIGHT IT; IF GOOD, IT WILL BURN BRIGHTLY. XII [19] TO KEEP GRAPES _UVÆ 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