MORETVM

A Cheese and Garlic Spread of Classic Rome

Revised

By Lady Gwenhwyvar ingen Greig, CVO, CMC, CGHM, CSP

Moretum was a common and popular food of the ancient Romans. It was often mentioned in classical poetry and prose. In the poem, Moretum, Virgil suggests the dish will be served with bread. Bread and cheese were often accompanied by cold meats, soups, and fruits at the mid day meal or Prandium.[i] The word moretum translates to salad in Latin, but moretum is a cheese and garlic paste. Besides garlic, this dish is also heavily flavored with fresh green herbs as well as vinegar and olive oil. The addition of the herbs might have influenced the naming or the modern translation of the word as well as the dish that we know today as salad. If we look beyond Classic Rome and into the Middle Ages, we can see that the word later changed to sallet. This word generally referred to dishes containing mixed green herbs or wortes and other assorted ingredients such as fruits, nuts, and vegetables, either in simple or elaborate combinations.[ii]

The following are excerpts taken from the verses of Virgil’s poem Moretum. In this work, the simple husbandman or farmer, Symilus awakes from sleep and sets about preparing food for the coming day.

MORETVM

Symilus gathers forth his herbs

On something of a kind reflecting he had then the garden entered

First when there with fingers having dug the earth away, he garlic

Roots with fiber thick, and four of them doth pull; he after that

Desires the parsley’s graceful foliage, and stiffness causing rue,

‘ And, trembling on their slender thread, the coriander seeds and

When he has collected these he comes and sits him down beside the

Cheerful fire and loudly for the mortar asks his wench.

Symilus prepares moretum

The bulb preserved from th’ plant in water doth he rinse, and throw

It into th’ hollow stone. On these he sprinkles grains of salt, and Cheese is added, hard from taking up the salt. Th’ aforesaid herbs

He now doth introduce. The reeking garlic with pestle breaks, then

Everything he equally doth rub I’ th’ mingled juice. His hands in

Circles move: Till by degree they one by one lose their proper powers,

And out of many comes a single colour, not entirely green because the milky fragments this forbid, nor showing white, because that colour’s

Altered by so many herbs. Some drops of olive oil he now instills, And pours upon it’s strength besides a little of his scanty vinegar,

And mixes once again his handiwork, and mixed withdraws it: and

Then with fingers twain round all the mortar doth he go at last and Into a coherent ball doth bring the different portions, that it may the Name and likeness of a finished salad fit.

MORETVM

Alium, apium, ruta, coriandrum, salis, caseus, oleum, acetum

The following recipe is a personal redaction taken from the works of Virgil.

1or 2 cloves of garlic/alium peeled and cleaned

1tsp. Salt/salis

½ to ¾ bunch of washed and dried fresh flat parsley leaves/apium

½ to 1 tsp liquid bitters/ruta

1tbs. Whole coriander seeds/coriandrum

1 lb. Feta or other semi soft or fresh cheese/caseus

3 tsp extra virgin olive oil/oleum

2 tsp very good wine vinegar/acetum

In a mortar crush the garlic to a paste. To the garlic add the parsley and coriander seed. Pulverize the herbs until they are well incorporated with the garlic. Add the bitters and mix well. In a large mixing bowl crumble feta and add oil and vinegar. Blend with a potato masher or your hands to from a smooth paste. Add more oil or a small quantity of vinegar as needed to make adjustments to the texture. Add the herbs and salt, if needed, and blend again. Place a sheet of plastic wrap or a piece of muslin on a cutting board and put the moretum in the center. Shape into a round ball and wrap to cover the entire ball. You can place this in a bowl to help form and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before serving. Bring to room temperature and serve with Panis Romanvm or other country style bread.

Notes on Redaction:

4 heads of garlic would make this overpowering. By cutting the garlic quantity to cloves and halving the amount called for, I still got a very predominate flavor without the force. Virgil gives us no information to the size of the heads that Symilus pulls. Being freshly dug would affect the flavor as well since the garlic we purchase is dried and aged for several months. Speculatively, I feel that the heads might have been equivalent to an average size clove. We must consider the time of year as well, winter. Garlic is generally harvested in early summer and planted in late fall.[iii] If feta is too strong on it’s own for your taste, you can use half feta and half cream cheese. This will affect the flavor of the finished dish and you will need to adjust oil and vinegar contents to get the proper consistency. It has been suggested that rue may cause serious problems in early pregnancy. To emulate the flavor of the herb, I use liquid bitters. These can be bought at most groceries or markets. If you choose to use rue, please consult a modern herbal for contraindications and handle this fresh herb with care. It is a very strong skin irritant that can cause painful blistering in people who are allergic. Add salt sparingly and carefully to this recipe. The quantity needed will be greatly influenced by the freshness of the feta. Fresher cheese can take more salt than feta that has brined longer.

A Word On Roman Cheeses

By looking into the consumption of cheese in ancient Rome, we can select the best modern cheese to use for this dish. In the Introduction, part II, of The Roman Cookery Book, Elisabeth Rosenbaum gives a general discussion on commonly used cheeses during the Roman Empire. She quotes Columella’s work, De Re Rustica; VII, viii, for contents, preparation and health issues concerning consumption and the production of processed dairy products. He discusses cheeses that were to be eaten young. They were,” taken out of the basket and dipped into salt and brine and then dried a little in the sun.” What Columella is suggesting is that after the milk is mixed with a clotting agent, it was poured into lined baskets so that the whey could drain off. Instead of allowing them to age, these young cheeses were removed from the separating baskets, salted, and brined and allowed to dry slightly in the sun. Given the correlation of this process and Virgil’s mention of cheese that is “hard from taking up the salt”, we can logically deduce that a cheese such as feta or another brined cheese product would probably have been used to make moretum. Columella also tells us that the Romans ate a large variety of cheeses, but they most preferred fresh or thin cheeses. These fresh cheeses vary greatly from what we consider a fresh cheese today. To the Imperial Romans, fresh cheese consisted of products not unlike or modern yogurt, sour cream, or kefir. They were made by using dilute milk and were best consumed as soon as made because they would not keep. Homer, ca. 1184 BC, refers to cheese being made in the mountain caves of Greece from the milk of sheep and goats. Indeed one variety called 'Cynthos' was made and sold by the Greeks to the Romans at a price of about 1p per lb. This could well have been the Feta cheese of today.[iv]

Internet sources cited:

Dr. John A. Smith Cheese making in Scotland, A History. Published by The Scottish Dairy Association, June 1995. Public on line document. Nov.20, 2003 http://www.ebs.hw.ac.uk/SDA/cheese1.html

P. Vergilius Maro. Appendix Vergilliana; Moretum

http://virgil.org/appendix/moretum.htm May31, 1998

Edited by David Wilson-Okamura Public on line document. Nov.20, 2003

Bibliography

Ruth Anne Beebe. Sallets Humbles &Shrewsbury Cakes; A Collection of Elizabethan Recipes Adapted for the Modern Kitchen. (Boston, MA. David R. Godine Pub. 1976 First Printing)

Karan Davis Cutler. Burpee- The Complete Vegetable and Herb Gardner; A Guide to Growing Your Garden Organically. ( New York, NY. Simon & Schuster 1997)

John Edwards. The Roman Cookery of Apicius; A Treasury of Gourmet and Herbal Cookery Translated and Adapted for the Modern Kitchen. (Washington. Hartley & Marks Pub. 1984)

Barbara Flowers and Elizabeth Rosenbaum. The Roman Cookery Book; A Critical translation of The Art of Cooking by Apicius. For use in study and kitchen. (London & New York, Peter Nevill LTD. 1958)