Mulsum

Origin: Roman      Period: Traditional

Original Recipe

Conditum Paradoxum (from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria)

Conditi paradoxi compositio: mellis pondo XV in aeneum vas mittuntur, praemissis vini sextariis duobus, ut in coctura mellis vinum decoquas. quod igni lento et aridis lignis calefactum, commotum ferula dum coquitur, si effervere coeperit, vini rore compescitur , praeter quod subtracto igni in se redit. cum perfrixerit, rursus accenditur. hoc secundo ac tertio fiet, ac tum demum remotum a foco post pridie despumatur. tum ‹mittes› piperis uncias IV iam triti, masticis scripulos III, folii et croci dragmae singulae, dactilorum ossibus torridis quinque, isdemque dactilis vino mollitis, intercedente prius suffusione vini de suo modo ac numero, ut tritura lenis habeatur. his omnibus paratis supermittis vini lenis sextaria XVIII. carbones perfecto aderunt [duo milia].

Translation

The composition of this excellent spiced wine is as follows. Into a copper bowl put 6 sextarii of honey and 2 sextarii of wine; heat on a slow fire, constantly stirring the mixture with a whip. At the boiling point add a dash of cold wine, retire from stove and skim. Repeat this twice or three times, let it rest till the next day, and skim again. Then add 4 ounces of crushed pepper,2 3 scruples of mastic, a drachm each of nard or laurel leaves and saffron, 5 drachms of roasted date stones crushed and previously soaked in wine to soften them. When this is properly done add 18 sextarii of light wine. To clarify it perfectly, add crushed charcoal twice or as often as necessary which will draw the residue together.

The recipe above gives a means of making a fine spiced wine, however the description for mixing wine and honey is precisely the way of making mulsum. This is more complex than needed in modern terms as modern honey is more refined and does not contain those pieces of comb and other impurities that ancient honey would have done. As a result I have redacted the recipe as below:

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

200ml Honey
White wine (dry or medium dry)

Method:

This is the classic Roman drink, made by adding 200ml of honey to a bottle of white wine. Make on the day of serving, keep in the refrigerator and serve well chilled. For this drink the honey should be married to the wine. An acacia honey for a Chardonnay or something more flowery like a clover honey for a Pinot Grigio. Orange blossom honey could be married to just about any wine.

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