THREAD:
The most mysterious food item of the ancient Greeks I have come across, is the almost mythical, and most certainly now extinct plant, “Silphium”…
Silphium was first mentioned in Greek literature in the early sixth century BC by the famous Athenian statesman Solon.
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Silphium was a wild herb and was not able to be cultivated apparently, yet it rapidly became an indispensable ingredient in the menus of the ancient world. Silphium only grew in Cyrenaica which we now know as modern day Libya.
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Cyrenaica was a Greek colony established around 7th century BC. Perhaps indigenous nomads, introduced it to the Greek colonists. The city flourished quickly in part due to one of its valuable commodities, Silphium.
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Cyrenaica was a Greek colony established around 7th century BC. Perhaps indigenous nomads, introduced it to the Greek colonists. The city flourished quickly in part due to one of its valuable commodities, Silphium. 3/x
Cyrenaica was a Greek colony established around 7th century BC. Perhaps indigenous nomads, introduced it to the Greek colonists. The city flourished quickly in part due to one of its valuable commodities, Silphium. 3/x
But what did it taste like? How was it used? Can I use it in my recipes now I hear you asking... Well, what do we know about it? The plant was almost certainly related to fennel and celery, and it was eaten principally in the forms of ‘opos’ a dried sap and ‘kaulos’ a stem. [...]
...These general words of dried sap and stem were appropriated into the trade of silphium and came to denote how it was eaten. Romans on the other hand liked to eat the whole root and stem, sliced and preserved in vinegar. 5/x
Dioscorides a prominent Greek physician of the Roman army says of Silphium: “ The Cyrenaic {sylphium} even if one just tastes it, at once arouses a humour throughout the body and has a very healthy aroma, so that it is not noticed on the breath, or only a little…”
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How was it used? Farmers fed their sheep on a diet of Silphium to make tastier meat. Silphium-fed sheep were the ancient equivalent of the highly prized and highly priced Wagyu beef today.
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According to Pliny "if an animal should ever come upon a promising shoot of Silphium, the sign will be that a sheep after eating it rapidly goes to sleep, whereas a goat sneezes rather loudly."
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Alas, silphium appears to have died out in the first century AD. As we read from Pliny’s “Natural History”; ‘for many years now it has not been found there…the single stem found within living memory was sent to Emperor Nero’ The goat never sneezes...

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Nero must have eaten the last one...Why did it disappear when it was so prized and popular? There are many theories and speculations as to what really was the downfall of this plant but it’s popularity seems to be the main reason.
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Vast sums of money were made by whoever controlled the trade of it. So valuable was for Romans, that their state treasury stored it alongside with gold and silver. In the highly interconnected Roman world, it was a very prominent ingredient.
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As a wild plant with no known means of cultivation, the overgrazing most likely contributed massively to its demise and disappearance on our modern tables…

So, is this it? Are we doomed to not try any of the silphium recipes..?

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No, luckily for us we can, there is a silphium that Romans and Greeks of later times used, an alternative which came from Iran and Armenia. It was used as a spice by the soldiers of Alexander the Great ...authors of this time treated the...

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...Libyan and Middle Eastern plants as if they were identical to the Cyrenaic one. This exists still today and is what you will know as "asafoetida". Asafoetida is the resin of the plant Ferula Asafoetida a relative to fennel. 14/x
The aroma and flavour of asafoetida can be compared with leek and garlic. It is a strong concentrated flavour, which typically I enjoy cooking with, but even I've found it can easily be overpowering in my dishes! It needs a light hand, but used correctly, it is delicious.
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It is commonly found in Indian cuisine nowadays you may see it referred to in hindi as "hing".

Ancient Romans rather loved it, there are a number of recipes in Apicius cookery book you can try.

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I made the roast hare dish (or rabbit if you can't find hare) from it, which has a red wine sauce, asafoetida powder, onions, celery seed, lovage, rue and the other ubiquitous ingredient of the ancient world, Garum! More on that next time.
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A hearty lentil stew with Asafoetida was a big hit, and surprisingly this spice also worked really well with fish; I made a baked mackerel dish, where I split the fish down the middle, sprinkled it with asafoetida, fresh oregano...
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...and fresh chevre cheese pressed down on to the flesh of the fish and bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.
That's all for now, hope you've enjoyed travelling through the time and tastes of the ancient Mediterranean!
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If you like this thread why not listen to The Delicious Legacy podcast episode which talks in detail about this mysterious herb/spice/root?
#podcast #AncientGreece #Food #AncientFood

https://shows.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy/episodes/the-mysterious-herb-sylphium

/END
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