[Sca-cooks] More on sapa/saba

[Terry Decker]

----- Original Message ----- 

OK, so then the next thing to get sorted out is what is meant by "must."  I
was under the impression that modern wineries interpreted this to mean
what's left over after the juice is squeezed from the grape.  But I'm now
seeing that it is, rather, juice that has not been fermented...in other
words, it's been squeezed from the fruit, with all seeds, skins, pulp
removed.  Is that correct?  If so, then should I be able to take some
grapes, squeeze them, strain them then boil down the resulting juice to 1/3
of its original volume and produce sapa?

Kiri

Must is either the juice that has been pressed out of the fruit and is being 
prepared for fermentation or is wine either in the early stages of 
fermentation or not yet completely fermented (in both Latin and English, it 
may have a different meaning in the argot of vintners).

Defrutum is also made from figs and quinces, which suggests to me that 
defrutum may be made from the fresh juice.  Sapa appears to be made only 
from grapes, which suggests to me that it may be made from new wine, which 
is why I think it may not be as sweet as defrutum (to answer Stefan's 
question).

That being said, I have not seen a definitive answer as to the meaning of 
must in the context of sapa, so the interpretation of boiling down grape 
juice to 1/3 of the original volume is a perfectly valid way to produce your 
own sapa.

Bear