[Sca-cooks] Apician date recipe

[Philip & Susan Troy]

"Mark.S Harris" wrote:
>
> Adamantius commented:
> > Sue Clemenger wrote:
> > > Hmmm....I wonder why they rolled them in salt? How would that affect the
> > > frying? Would it do anything to the temp of the honey, or the way the
> > > honey would adhere to the dates?
> > > --maire
> >
> > I wonder if perhaps they're talking about fresh dates, rather than dried
> > ones. Salting them might help keep things from splattering.
>
> Wouldn't the use of fresh dates compared to dried ones have a major
> effect upon the results of this recipe?

Uh huh.

> Where was Apicius writing his book? Were date palms grown in southern
> Europe? Perhaps some more less direct information will tell us whether
> the dates are fresh or dried. Would dates still be "fresh" after being
> transported from the Middle East or Africa to Europe?

I'm not sure, but fresh dates aren't hugely moist (vaguely apple-like),
and Apicius does mention various methods of preserving fruit, such as,
IIRC, packing it in bran or honey, for example. And then there's the
fact that Cato's original "Carthage must be destroyed" speech before the
Roman Senate was accompanied by the display of a fresh fig from
Carthage, which had crossed the Mediterranean in four days, IIRC. Cato's
point was that there was, for practical purposes, a hostile (to Rome, in
theory) superpower only four days away by ship.

> If these were meant to be fresh, I doubt I can find fresh dates. Would
> rehydrating the dried dates by boiling them in water approximate fresh
> dates?

Probably not. But then, I have no idea whether feresh dates are what the
recipe's author had in mind. I just mentioned the possibility.

> Then again, they may have rolled them in salt simply because they liked
> the taste.

Quite possibly. Sometimes I ask questions to get others to think about
things, but most of the time it's because I just plain don't know.

Adamantius
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
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