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| Cheese made from goat's milk, shown with crackers. (Image found on Wikimedia Commons) |
A few months ago, in a post on the Medieval Cheese Forum, I discovered a completely different moretum recipe, one more like the sort of soft, spreadable cheese I had mistakenly been expecting from Virgil. That recipe can be found here. It is a redaction of a recipe attributed to Columella II, formally Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella. Columella was a writer about agricultural subjects who was born in Gades, now Cadiz, on the Iberian Peninsula. The recipe in question comes from his book De Re Rustica ("On Rustic Matters"). He wrote during the early Roman Republic; his date of death is reported as 70 CE.
Columella's recipe is based on goat cheese, as I had originally assumed Virgil's recipe to be. He also includes a lot of fresh plants and herbs to moisten the final product, such as fresh mint, coriander, and parsley, along with a small, but full, head of lettuce and a small leek.
The existence of Columella's recipe indicates that there were many different types of moretum, starting with different types of cheese and, presumably, resulting in spreads with different textures as well as different flavors. I plan to try out the redaction of his recipe when I have the opportunity.
EDIT: (3/4/2019) Over at Tavola Mediterranea, Farrell Monaco posted her own redaction of Columella's moretum recipe. Now I have to try both recipes out!
Columella's recipe is based on goat cheese, as I had originally assumed Virgil's recipe to be. He also includes a lot of fresh plants and herbs to moisten the final product, such as fresh mint, coriander, and parsley, along with a small, but full, head of lettuce and a small leek.
The existence of Columella's recipe indicates that there were many different types of moretum, starting with different types of cheese and, presumably, resulting in spreads with different textures as well as different flavors. I plan to try out the redaction of his recipe when I have the opportunity.
EDIT: (3/4/2019) Over at Tavola Mediterranea, Farrell Monaco posted her own redaction of Columella's moretum recipe. Now I have to try both recipes out!
Here is a Moretum recipe that I recreated actually without cheese. It seems to be what Jews ate 2000 years ago during the Passover Seder. http://www.ancientrecipes.org/recipes/rubbah-charoset-from-the-temple-period-moretum/
ReplyDeleteHi, Eli! Thanks for the information. I look forward to reading your rubbah charoset post, and the rest of your blog.
DeleteI'm a little surprised to see lettuce in the recipe, but I can see it being quite good. Must try it.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the lettuce gives a different sort of flavor note? If you start with ricotta or goat cheese, it seems unlikely that you'd need lettuce for the sake of improving the consistency. But who knows?
DeleteIt has occurred to me that a Mexican-style mortar and pestle (which is rough-textured inside and out) would replicate the qualities that made a mortarium so useful (notably, the coarse quality of the interior). It appears to be the kind of mortar Farrell Monaco used for her recipes. I plan to buy one before trying the next several moretum recipes.
A rough textured mortar like the Roman ones definitely seems like it would do a better job of grinding leaves. Let us know how it goes!
DeleteI certainly will!
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