[Sca-cooks] true silphium laserpitium was herb seasoning question

[Johnna Holloway]

I would recommend Andrew Dalby's account
in his book Dangerous Tastes the Story of Spices.
He covers both the extinct Silphium on pages 17-19
and later Asafoetida or hing on pages 110 - 112.
Oh and the book reproduces plates from a 1712 work that
first showed how the sap was gathered.

For an entry with a picture of the true variety from actual
Ancient Greek coins from Cyrenaika
see http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Silphion.html
Most recent mention that I could locate was:
Also see http://www.slate.com/id/2159800/   where just a
couple of weeks ago Slate mentioned that silphium was associated
with the Valentine's Day heart.
Also see
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=aa128e68-c333-49a4-905f-3eb0f24e2334&k=13003

There are also several mentions in the Florilegium from times past.

Johnna