[Sca-cooks] Apician date recipe

[Decker, Terry D.]

> Where was Apicius writing his book?

Rome, 1st Century CE (14-37)

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?

Dates were grown in North Africa and Arabia, which were both part of the
Roman Empire at this point.

Dates do not dry quickly, so the ones in the Roman markets might be fresh.

>
> 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?
>
> Stefan li Rous

There are a number of varieties of dates which tend to fall into three
categories.  "Soft dates" have soft flesh, high moisture and low sugar
content.  "Semi-dry dates" have a firmer flesh, lower moisture and higher
sugar content.  "Dry dates" have a hard flesh, low moisture and high sugar
content.

Dates loose moisture slowly.  If they are truly "dried dates" rather than
"dry dates," you will probably find sugar crystals under the skin.  High
sugar dates often form a coat of sugar on the outer skin as they lose
moisture.

Steaming the dates for about 10 minutes (as opposed to boiling them, which
extracts sugar) will help to re-hydrated dried dates.

Bear