• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Ancient Recipes

Recreating Recipes of the Bible, Talmud and Biblical Lands

  • Home
  • Recipes
  • Ingredients
  • Cookbooks
  • Blog
  • About

Rubbah Charoset from the Temple Period, רובה חרוסת, Moretum, Thyestos (θυεστος)

March 3, 2018 By Eli 2 Comments

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Charoset is a dip for Matzah (Unleavened Bread) and Marror (Bitter Herbs) eaten during Passover Seder. It is not mentioned in the Bible, and it originated during the Temple Period, although it is not clear exactly when and why. Since the medieval times it has been a sweet pasty dip, made from nuts, apples, dates, and wine and its contents have been connected to various symbols in the story of Exodus from Egypt, such as the mortar or the straw from which the Israelite slaves built Egyptian store houses. However, the origins of Charoset are very different than what it is today. In order to reconstruct the original Charoset recipe from the Temple Period and identify what kind of dish it was, we need to turn to its earliest descriptions in the Rabbinic literature from the Land of Israel, namely, the Mishna and the Tosefta (quotes from 1st – 2nd centuries CE), and the Jerusalem Talmud (quotes from end of 2nd beginning of the 3rd centuries CE). The earliest comment about Charoset in the Babylonian Talmud (Pesachim 116a) is made by Rabbi Assi, who lived already at the end of the 3rd, beginning of the 4th century CE and was much further removed from the latest statements in the Jerusalem Talmud by close to 100 years. Hence, it is clear that by then living memory of real reasons of the creation of Charoset has faded and new, more esoteric reasons were invented.

[When] they have brought in front of him [during the Passover Seder] vegetables and Chazeret (a bitter dip), he dips [the vegetables] in the Chazeret until he reaches [in the Seder procedure to the] bread hors d’oeuvres. [Following that] they have brought in front of him Matzah (unleavened bread), Chazeret, and Charoset, even though there is no [obligatory] commandment [to eat] Charoset [during Passover Seder]. Rabbi Eliezer Bar Tzadok (1st century CE) says, [there is an obligatory] commandment [to eat Charoset during Passover Seder]. And in the [Second] Temple [in Jerusalem], they would also bring in front of him the flesh of the Passover Sacrifice.

הביאו לפניו ירקות וחזרת, מטבל בחזרת עד שהוא מגיע לפרפרת הפת. הביאו לפניו מצה וחזרת וחרוסת, אע”פ שאין חרוסת מצוה. רבי אלעזר בי רבי צדוק אומר מצוה. ובמקדש מביאין לפניו גופו של פסח.

Mishna Pesachim 10:3 (and parallel in Tosefta Pesachim 10:7)

משנה פסחים י:ג (דומה בתוספתא פסחים י:ז)

We do not put flour [on Passover], not into Charoset and not into mustard. However, if he already put [flour] into it, he should eat it right away [in order for the flour not to become leavened due to the moisture of the dip]. Rabbi Meir (end of 1st – beginning of 2nd century CE) forbids [eating Charoset with flour in it on Passover, even right away].

אין נותנין את הקמח לא לתוך החרוסת, ולא לתוך החרדל. ואם נתן, יאכל מיד. רבי מאיר אוסר.

Mishna Pesachim 2:8

משנה פסחים ב:ח

The sons of the house of Isi [Ben Yehudah] said in the name of Isi (their father) (3rd century CE), “Why was it (i.e. Charoset) called [in the local dialect of Palestinian Aramaic] Rubah [as opposed to the Hebrew name Charoset]? Because it (i.e Charoset) was [making it] tough (Rabbah) for him [to make it].” Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi (3rd century CE) said, “It (i.e. Charoset) must be made thick (Rabbah) [and not liquid (Rabeh – moist)].” He said, his reason was that it is a commemoration of the mortar [used in Egypt by the Hebrew slaves to build store houses.] There are those that teach in public that it should be liquid. They said their reason is that it is a commemoration of the blood (in the first plague in Egypt and blood spilled by the Israelite slaves who were killed).

בני בייתיה דאיסי בשם איסי, ולמה נקרא שמה רובה? שהיא רבה עמו. רבי יהושע בן לוי אמר צריכא שתהא עבה. מילתיה אמר זכר לטיט. אית תניי תני צבריה שתהא רבה. מילתיה אמר זכר לדם.

Jerusalem Talmud Pesachim Chapter 10, Halacha 3

תלמוד ירושלמי פסחים פרק י, הלכה ג

From these three excerpts we learn the following things about Charoset:

  1. Normally, Charoset had flour added to it, but it was not recommended or even forbidden to be done on Passover.
  2. The majority of the Rabbis were of the opinion that there is was no obligation to eat Charoset during the Passover Seder. Hence, originally it was merely a custom and seemingly originally had no specific reason, which is why the Rabbis from the Temple period do not state any reasons for it being eaten. The earliest reasons appear in the 3rd century CE, over 150 years after the Temple’s destruction in the year 70 CE.
  3. Charoset was called Rubah due to a play on words, between the words Rabbah (strong, tough, thick) and Rabeh (moist) and could be made thick or liquid despite the same recipe for both options. This implies that its texture could be controlled by mere amount of some key ingredient added to it.
  4. Charoset was tough to make, requiring excessive labor.
  5. By the 3rd century CE, new reasons connecting Charoset to the Biblical Exodus story began to be put forward, because all memory of its origins was gone.

From the above list we can identify what Charoset really was originally. It was the Greek dip called in Greek, Thyestos (θυεστος), and in Latin, Moretum, both of which mean “made in a mortar”. The Hebrew word Charoset is a technical term which means “made like clay” or “clay like” and it was called that, because clay was mashed in a mortar just like Moretum was. Hence, the word Charoset in Hebrew is a direct translation of the Greek word Moretum.

Moretum recipe, contemporary to the end of the Hasmonean period (165 – 37 BCE), came down to us from an anonymous author, usually referred to as Pseudo-Virgil, in the form of a poem, written in a collection of poems called Appendix Vergiliana. Moretum, written in 124 hexameter lines, describes the preparation of a meal by a poor farmer, Simylus. Waking up before dawn, he starts the fire, grinds grain and all of the ingredients in a mortar, while singing and talking to his African slave Scybale. Simylus makes his Moretum from garlic, cheese, and herbs. Then he eats, and goes out to plow the field.

Moretum

Iam nox hibernas bis quinque peregerat horas
excubitorque diem cantu praedixerat ales,
Simylus exigui cultor cum rusticus agri
tristia venturae metuens ieiunia lucis
membra levat vili sensim demissa grabato
sollicitaque manu tenebras explorat inertes
vestigatque focum, laesus quem denique sensit.
parvulus exusto remanebat stipite fomes
et cinis obductae celabat lumina prunae.
admovet his pronam summissa fronte lucernam
et producit acu stuppas umore carentis
excitat et crebris languentem flatibus ignem.
tandem concepto, sed vix, fulgore recedit
oppositaque manu lumen defendit ab aura
et reserat clausae quae pervidet ostia clavis.
fusus erat terra frumenti pauper acervos:
hinc sibi depromit quantum mensura patebat,
quae bis in octonas excurrit pondere libras.
Inde abit assistitque molae parvaque tabella,
quam fixam paries illos servabat in usus,
lumina fida locat; geminos tunc veste lacertos
liberat et cinctus villosae tergore caprae
pervertit cauda silices gremiumque molarum.
advocat inde manus operi partitus utrique:
laeva ministerio, dextra est intenta labori.
Haec rotat adsiduom gyris et concitat orbem
(tunsa Ceres silicum rapido decurrit ab ictu)
interdum fessae succedit laeva sorori
alternatque vices. modo rustica carmina cantat
agrestique suom solatur voce laborem,
interdum clamat Scybalen (erat unica custos,
Afra genus, tota patriam testante figura,
torta comam labroque tumens et fusca colore,
pectore lata, iacens mammis, compressior alvo,
cruribus exilis, spatiosa prodiga planta)
hanc vocat atque arsura focis imponere ligna
imperat et flamma gelidos adolere liquores.
Postquam implevit opus iustum versatile finem,
transfert inde manu fusas in cribra farinas
et quatit ac remanent summa purgamina dorso.
subsidit sincera foraminibusque liquatur
emundata Ceres. levi tum protinus illam
componit tabula, tepidas super ingerit undas
contrahit admixtos nunc fontes atque farinas,
transversat durata manu liquidoque coacto,
interdum grumos spargit sale, iamque subactum
levat opus palmisque suum dilatat in orbem
et notat impressis aequo discrimine quadris.
Infert ince foco (Scybale mundaverat aptum
ante locum) testisque tegit, super aggerat ignis.
dumque suas peragit Volcanus Vestaque partes,
Simylus interea vacua non cessat in hora,
verum aliam sibi quaerit opem neu sola palato
sit non grata Ceres, quas iungat comparat escas.
non illi suspensa focum carnaria iuxta,
durati sale terga suis truncique vacabant,
traiectus medium sparto sed caseus orbem
et vetus adstricti fascis pendebat anethi:
ergo aliam molitur opem sibi providus heros.
Hortus erat iunctus casulae, quem vimina pauca
et calamo rediviva levi muniebat harundo,
exiguo spatio, variis sed fertilis herbis.
nil illi deerat ,quod pauperis exigit usus:
interdum locuples a paupere plura petebat.
nec sumptus erat ullis, sed regula curae:
si quando vacuom casula pluviaeve tenebant
festave lux, si forte labor cessabat aratri,
horti opus illud erat. varias disponere plantas
norat et occultae committere semina terrae
vicinosque apte circa summittere rivos.
hic holus, hic late fundentes bracchia betae
fecundusque rumex malvaeque inulaeque virebant,
hic siser et nomen capiti debentia porra,
[hic etiam nocuum capiti gelidumque papaver,]
grataque nobilium requies lactuca ciborum
………. crescitque in acumina radix
et gravis in latum dimissa cucurbita ventrem.
verum hic non domini (quis enim contractior illo?),
sed populi proventus erat, nonisque diebus
venalis umero fasces portabat ad urbem:
inde domum cervice levis, gravis aere redibat
vix umquam urbani comitatus merce macelli.
caepa rubens sectique famem domat area porri
quaeque trahunt acri voltus nasturtia morsu
intibaque et venerem revocans eruca morantem.
Tunc quoque tale aliquid meditans intraverat
hortum.
ac primum, leviter digitis tellure refossa,
quattuor educit cum spissis alia fibris,
inde comas apii gracilis rutamque rigentem
vellit et exiguo coriandra trementia filo.
haec ubi collegit, laetum consedit ad ignem
et clara famulam poscit mortaria voce.
singula tum capitum nodoso corpore nudat
et summis spoliat coriis contemptaque passim
spargit humi atque abicit. servatum germine bulbum
tinguit aqua lapidisque cavom demittit in orbem.
his salis inspargit micas, sale durus adeso
caseus adicitur, dictas super ingerit herbas
et laeva vestem saetosa sub inguina fulcit:
dextera pistillo primum flagrantia mollit
alia, tum pariter mixto terit omnia suco.
it manus in gyrum: paulatim singula vires
deperdunt proprias; color est e pluribus unus,
nec totus viridis, quia lactea frusta repugnant,
nec de lacte nitens, quia tot variatur ab herbis.
saepe viri nares acer iaculatur apertas
spiritus et simo damnat sua prandia voltu,
saepe manu summa lacrimantia lumina terget
immeritoque furens dicit convicia fumo.
Procedebat opus nec iam salebrosus ut ante
sed gravior lentos ibat pistillus in orbis.
Ergo Palladii guttas instillat olivi
exiguique super vires infundit aceti
atque iterum commiscet opus mixtumque retractat.
tum demum digitis mortaria tota duobus
circuit inque globum distantia contrahit unum,
constet ut effecti species nomenque moreti.
Eruit interea Scybale quoque sedula panem,
quem laetus recipit manibus, pulsoque timore
iam famis inque diem securus Simylus illam,
ambit crura ocreis paribus, tectusque galero
sub iuga parentis cogit lorata iuvencos
atque agit in segetes et terrae condit aratrum.

Latin text from Fairclough, H. Rushton. Virgil with an English translation in two volumes. Volume II. Aeneid VII-XII, The Minor Poems. Loeb Classical Library. Harvard University Press, 1918.

Moretum

Already night had passed ten of its winter hours and the bird that wakes
us with its song had foretold the day, when Simulus, the rustic tenderer
of a tiny plot, fearing the hunger-pangs of the approaching dawn, lifts
his limbs laid softly on his lowly pallet and groping carefully through
the darkness probes the hearth, which he finally felt through pain, for
the smallest of embers was still left in a burned-out log, and ashes were
hiding the glow of the hidden embers. He brings his lamp close by to
these with his head bowed low, he pulls out with a needle the wick’s
threads which are not moist with oil, and stirs up the flagging fire,
blowing hard on it. While it is barely alight he moves away, and with
cupped hand shields the light from the draughts, and opens up the
closed cupboard door, peering inside. A humble heap of grain was
poured out on the ground; from this he drew for himself as much as his
measure allowed, which exceeded eight pounds in weight twice over.
He goes from there, and standing by his quern he places his trusty
light on a small shelf which the wall held firm for that very purpose;
then he freed both arms, and clad in the skin of a shaggy goat he gives
a thorough wipe with its tail to the surfaces and the lap of the millstones.
Next he summons his hands to the work, sharing it out to both: his left
concentrates on supply, while the right provides the effort. This one
turns round the familiar disc and urges it on (Ceres, crushed, flows
down from the swift pounding of the hard stones). From time to time
the left hand takes over from her exhausted sister, changing places. Now
he sings some countrymen’s songs and eases his toil with his rustic voice,
and occasionally shouts out ‘Scybale’. She was his only helpmate, African
by birth – her whole face testified to her native land, with frizzy hair,
swollen lips and dusky colouring, broad-chested, with drooping breasts
and a flattened stomach, slender thighs and wondrously extensive feet.
He calls her and commands her to put wood on the fire to burn and to
heat the cold fluids with flame. Once the whirling work had reached
the appropriate point, he transfers the flowing flour to a sieve in his
hand and shakes it; and the unwanted siftings are left on the very top,
while the pure Ceres drops through the holes, and is sifted clean.
Straightaway he piles it on a smooth board, pours warm ripples over it,
pulls together the mixture of both spring water and flour, kneading and
turning it as by hand and water it is made firm, from time to time
sprinkling the mounds with salt. Now that it is thoroughly kneaded he
lifts his work and squashes it into a round disc in his palms, and marks
it with intended divisions, equally spaced. Then he carries it to the
hearth (Scybale had cleaned the place fittingly beforehand) and covers
it with a testum and heaps the fires over it. While Vulcan and Vesta
each play their part, Simulus does not stop work in the empty hour
that intervenes, but searches out another resource for himself. Lest Ceres
unaccompanied is unpleasing to the palate, he gets ready some
accompanying foodstuffs. No +sides of bacon, butchered+ and hardened
with salt, weighed down his meat racks by the hearth; but a cheese,
pierced through the middle of its orb with a string made of broom, and
an old bunch of dill, were hanging there: therefore the resourceful hero
toils at another resource for himself. There was a garden adjoining
his little house, over which a few hurdles and recycled rushes with their
thin stems stood guard; it was tiny in extent, but productive with its
different plants. He lacked nothing that a poor man needs; sometimes
a wealthy man used to look for more from this poor one. His little plot
cost him nothing save his attention: if ever rainy weather or a festival
day kept him idle in his little home, if perhaps his work at the plough
was done, that time was devoted to the garden. He knew how to set out
different plants, how to sow seeds in the broken earth, and how to
divert nearby streams round his plot in a skilful way. Here grew
cabbages, here beets which spread wide their leaves, prodigious sorrel,
mallow and elecampane, here skirret and leeks which owe their name
to their heads, and lettuce, a pleasant relief to noble foods, and many a
radish forces its pointed root into the earth, and the heavy marrow
which grows into a broad belly. But this harvest was not for its master
(for who was more stinting than he?) but for the populace, and on
market days he would carry his bundles on his shoulder into the city to
sell them, and would return home from there with an unburdened neck
and a heavy purse, scarcely ever with a purchase from the city market in
his train: red onions and a patch of welsh onions tamed his hunger,
and cress that screws up your face with its bitter taste, and endives, and
rocket that revives flagging Venus. Now he was planning something
along these lines as he entered the garden; and first with his fingers he
gently loosens four garlic bulbs from the earth and lifts them along
with their tightly-packed innards, then he plucks the delicate fronds of
celery, and rue that grows up straight, and coriander that trembles on
its slender stalk. When he has gathered these, he sits beside the cheerful
fire and with a loud voice asks his maid for the mortar. Then one at a
time he lays bare each bulb in its knotty body and strips off its outer
layer, and scatters the waste product all over the floor as he throws it
aside; the bulb, kept back with its fresh green leaf, he bathes with
water and places it in the hollow circle of stone. On them he sprinkles
grains of salt, the cheese, hardened by the shriveling salt, is added, he
heaps on top the aforementioned herbs, and with his left hand he gathers
his tunic under his hairy thigh, while his right hand first softens the
pungent garlic with the pestle, and then grinds all together equally in a
mingled paste. His hand goes round and round; gradually each
ingredient loses its own characteristics, and there is one colour out of
many, not all green, because the hard lumps of cheese resist, and not all
pale from the milk product, because it is so often changed by the
herbs. Often a keen waft is launched at the man’s open nostrils, and he
damns his breakfast with his face turned away, he often wipes his
tearful eyes with the back of his hand and in his wrath utters curses to
the undeserving fumes. The work was making progress; the pestle
no longer jerking but moving in slow circles with greater pressure.
Therefore he drizzles on drops of Pallas’ olive oil, pours over it a dash of
strong vinegar, and again stirs it up and examines the mixture. Then at
last he scrapes round the whole mortar with two fingers and pulls the
contents into a single ball, so that there stands together the name and
appearance of a moretum. Meanwhile Scybale, herself busy, rooted out
the bread, which he took in his hands with joy, and with fear of hunger
now driven away Simulus walks confidently to meet this day; clad below
the knee in matching leggings and in a cap, he forced his obedient oxen
under the yoke bound with thongs and drove them to the cornfield,
where he plunged the plough into the earth.

English translation from Kenney, E. J. “The Ploughman’s Lunch: Moretum.: A Poem ascribed to Virgil.” Bristol Classical Press, 1984.

Mashing ingredients using a mortar and pestle requires a lot of physical strength and therefore it was tough to make. Moretum was usually made with cheese, but sometimes with nuts instead of cheese, into pasty balls and was wet and clay like, but not liquid. However, it could have been made liquid simply by adding more olive oil and wine vinegar to it, which was a key ingredient. Moretum normally had flour in it, but on Passover that ingredient was removed. Cheese was removed as well, since it could not be eaten together with meat, which was the main focus of the Passover Seder during which multiple goat and/or sheep sacrifices were eaten. Hence, nuts were used instead of cheese.

Moretum was used during the Passover Seder simply, because it was a classic dip eaten at a Greek Symposium and the Passover Seder was modeled based on the Greek Symposium during the Hasmonean period, incorporating most of its elements, procedures and foods. There was no specific Jewish reason why Moretum was eaten at the Seder, and therefore no reason was stated by the early Rabbis. Once, all memory of the original Symposium in the Rabbinic circles was gone and the form of the Passover Seder became an exclusively Jewish affair, the Rabbis came up with new reasons connecting Charoset to the Biblical Exodus story.

Another Moretum recipe with variations is brought down by the Roman writer Columella, in his work, On Agriculture, written in 60-65 CE:

Addito in mortarium satureiam, mentam, rutam, coriandrum, apium, porrum sectivum, aut si id non erit viridem cepam, folia lactucae, folia erucae, thymum viride vel n epetam, turn etiam viride puleium, et caseum recentem et salsum: ea omnia pariter conterito, acetique piperati exiguum, permisceto. Hanc mixturam cum in catillo composueris, oleum superfundito.

Aliter. Cum viridia, quae supra dicta sunt, contriveris, nuces iuglandes purgatas, quantum satis videbitur, interito, acetique piperati exiguum permisceto, et oleum infundito.

Aliter. Sesamum leviter torrefactum cum iis viridi bus, quae supra dicta sunt, conterito. Item aceti piperati exiguum permisc eto, turn supra oleum superfundito.

Aliter. Caseum Gallicum vel cuiuscunque notae olueris minutatim concidito et conterito, nucleosque pineos, si eorum copia fu erit, si minus, nuces Avellanas torrefactas adempta cute, vel amygdalas aeque supra condimenta pariter misceto, acetique piperati exiguum adicito et permisceto, compositum que oleo superfundito. Si condimenta viridia non erunt, puleium aridum vel th ymum vel origanum aut aridam satureiam cum caseo conterito, acetumque piperatum et oleum adicito. Possunt tamen haec arida, si reliquorum non sit potestas , etiam singula caseo misceri.

Columella, De Re Rustica, Book XII, LIX. Latin text from Forster, Edward S., and Edward H. Heffner. “Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella: On Agriculture X–XII. On Trees.” Volume III (1955). pp. 334-336.

Put into a mortar savory, mint, rue, coriander, parsley, leeks or, if you have no leeks, a green onion, leaves of lettuce and of rocket, green thyme or calamint. Also green pennyroyal and fresh and salted cheese: pound them all together and mix a little peppered vinegar with them. When you have put this mixture in a bowl, pour oil over it.

When you have crushed the green stuffs detailed above, rub into them walnuts, well cleaned, in what seems a sufficient quantity, and mix in a little peppered vinegar and pour oil on the top.

Crush up some slightly parched sesame with the green stuffs detailed above; also mix in a little peppered vinegar and then pour oil on the top.

Cut Gallic cheese, or any other sort you like, in minute pieces and pound it up; take pine-cones, if you have plenty of them, but, if not, toasted hazelnuts after taking off their shells, or almonds and mix them in the same quantity over the herbs used for seasoning and add a little peppered vinegar and mix it in, and pour oil over the compound thus formed. If there are no green seasonings crush dry pennyroyal or thyme or marjoram or dried savory with the cheese and add peppered vinegar and oil; but any one of these herbs when dry, if the rest are not available, can also be mixed by itself with cheese.

Columella, De Re Rustica, Book XII, LIX. English translation from Forster, Edward S., and Edward H. Heffner. “Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella: On Agriculture X–XII. On Trees.” Volume III (1955). pp. 335-337.

My recipe below is based on Columella’s and Pseudo-Virgil’s Moretum recipes of thick Moretum, with the cheese substituted by hazelnuts.

Bibliography:

  1. Kaufman, Cathy K. Cooking in ancient civilizations. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, p. 146.
  2. Grant, Mark, and Jane Smith. Roman cookery: ancient recipes for modern kitchens. Interlink Publishing Group Incorporated, 1999, p. 68.
  3. Dalby, Andrew, and Sally Grainger. The classical cookbook. Getty Publications, 1996, p. 104.
  4. Liddell, Henry George, and Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford at Clarendon Press, 1863. p. 680, entry θυεστος.

Rubbah Charoset from the Temple Period - רובה חרוסת - Moretum

Charoset is a dip for Matzah (Unleavened Bread) and Marror (Bitter Herbs) eaten during Passover Seder. This recipe is a reconstruction of the original Charoset from the Temple period, a type of Greek and Roman Moretum, a nut, garlic and spices savory dip paste.
Rubbah Charoset - Moretum in a Ball
Print Pin
Course Dips
Cuisine Greek, Roman
Prep Time 30 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  • 50 g Garlic Fresh Cloves
  • 200 g Hazelnuts
  • 1 tbsp Coriander Ground
  • 30 g Celery Stalks
  • 0.5 tsp Salt Large Granules, Kosher
  • 6 tbsp Wine Vinegar
  • 8 tbsp Olive Oil

Instructions

  • Peel about 1 head of garlic and measure the cloves to weigh 50 grams.
  • Put the garlic, hazelnuts, coriander, celery and salt into a food-processor and keep pulsing until all of the ingredients have been chopped up well and the mixture is smooth. Alternatively, for a more authentic experience and texture, you can crush all of the ingredients in a mortar, but it will take a very long time, probably close to 1 hour.
  • Add olive oil and wine vinegar to the mass and keep pulsing the food-processor until you obtain a consistent mass. If you are using a mortar, then simply add the olive oil and wine vinegar to the crushed solid ingredients and mix in a bowl.
  • The Classic Moretum should be rolled up into a ball and eaten together with bread in one bite. It can be served either at room temperature or after being chilled in the refrigerator.

Notes

For a more authentic taste use the following ingredients:
  1. Wine vinegar from Spain, either Sherry or Sweet Moscatel, which have a stronger taste, or Sweet Pedro Ximenez vinegar, which has a milder taste. All of the above mentioned vinegars are made based on recipes closer to what the Romans would have used. A very good brand of Spanish wine vinegars is Los Villares, which can be purchased in Whole Foods Supermarkets throughout the US.
  2. Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Greece, especially Crete. Just like wines, olive oil taste varies based on the variety of olives used and the region where they were grown. The Romans imported the majority of their olive oil from Greece, which was considered to be of the highest quality. A few different brands of Greek olive oil can be purchased in Whole Foods Supermarkets throughout the US.
Share on Facebook Share
Share
Share on Twitter Share
Share
Share on Google Plus Share
Share
Share on Pinterest Share
Share
Share on Linkedin Share
Share
Share on Reddit Share
Share
Share on Whatsapp Share
Share
Share on Email Share
Share
Share on Print Share
Share

Filed Under: All Recipes, Gluten-Free Recipes, Greek Recipes, Passover Recipes, Roman Recipes, Talmudic Recipes Tagged With: Charoses, Charoset, Greek Recipes, Moretum, Passover Recipes, Roman Recipes, Rubah, Thyestos, θυεστος, חרוסת, רובה

Previous Post: « Egyptian Breath Mints – Kyphi (κυ̑φι), Kupar, Kapet
Next Post: Cured Meat in Wine Reduction – Krea Tareikhera (Κρέα ταρείχηρά) »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. EliMargo Moore says

    May 6, 2018 at 1:07 pm

    You know, the mention of pine cones must mean pine nuts. But if you substitute pine nuts for hazelnuts, what you wind up with is…pesto! This may be the earliest written description of the making of pesto! Pesto would, of course, include cheese—that being the main difference, then, between Charoset and pesto! I love your research—and thanks for including the languages! Please keep it up!

    Reply
    • EliEli says

      May 6, 2018 at 1:41 pm

      Thank you. You are correct about pesto. Some cookbooks have mentioned that already, that Moretum is the original version of pesto.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Footer

Affiliates

  • Ancient Games
  • Bavli Online
  • Seforim Online
  • Tanach Online
  • Tosefta Online
  • Yerushalmi Online

Subscribe

Contact Us

For any issues contact us at eli@ancientrecipes.org.
  • Email
  • RSS

Copyright AncientRecipes.org © 2021

X
Subject:
Message:
Ajax loader
Close