Conditum Paradoxum

Roman spiced honey wine with white pepper, cloves, bay, saffron and mastic: from the kitchen of Apicius, 1st century CE

Origin: Rome, Roman Empire

From the journey of Cloves.

Conditum paradoxum (the remarkable spiced wine, or the paradoxical preparation, depending on how you translate paradoxum) is one of the most specific recipes in De Re Coquinaria, the collection of Roman cooking attributed to Apicius and compiled in the first century CE. The recipe calls for fifteen Roman pounds of honey to be combined with two sextarii of wine, then heated with crushed pepper, mastic (resin of the lentisk tree), bay leaf, saffron, and roasted date flesh, then clarified with charcoal and strained. The result is a concentrated, spiced, honey-sweet wine served at the beginning of the Roman meal as a gustatio (appetiser course), alongside olives, salt fish, and radishes. The cloves in the recipe are among the earliest documented uses of the spice in Mediterranean cooking. By the first century CE, cloves had travelled more than eight thousand miles from the Maluku Islands via the Indian Ocean trade routes to reach Rome's spice markets, where their price reflected that journey. Pliny the Elder complained in his Naturalis Historia that Rome was haemorrhaging gold to the east for spices that were nothing but luxuries, and Pliny was right about the gold, if wrong about the luxury. Conditum paradoxum as described by Apicius has been reconstructed by food historians and found to be genuinely delicious: a complex, aromatic fortified wine that sits somewhere between a modern mulled wine and a spiced vermouth, warm in the mouth and lingering with the flavour of spices that still feel exotic two thousand years later.

Ingredients

Wine

750 ml dry white wine (a full-bodied style such as white Rioja, Viognier, or a Greek white)
150 ml good runny honey

Spices

½ tsp whole white peppercorns, lightly crushed
6 whole cloves
2 fresh bay leaves
¼ tsp mastic crystals, roughly ground in a mortar (or substitute with ½ tsp ouzo or a small amount of pine resin wine/retsina)
1 small pinch of saffron threads (about 10 threads), soaked in 2 tbsp warm wine for 10 minutes
2 Medjool dates, stones removed and flesh chopped fine
¼ tsp ground cinnamon (the Roman recipe used costus root: cinnamon is the closest modern substitute)

Method

Combine the honey and half the wine in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir until the honey is completely dissolved. Add the white peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves, mastic, dates, and cinnamon. Heat very gently until just below a simmer (do not boil) for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the saffron with its soaking wine and the remaining wine. Stir to combine. Allow to cool to room temperature, then strain through a fine sieve lined with muslin or a clean tea towel, pressing the solids to extract all liquid. Discard the solids.
Transfer to a clean bottle or jar and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. The flavours will meld and deepen significantly on resting: the fresh preparation tastes good; the rested preparation tastes remarkable.
Serve cold or at cellar temperature in small glasses as an aperitif, or warm gently (do not boil) and serve as a mulled wine in the Roman style. Accompany with olives, good cheese, and salted almonds.

Notes

Mastic is the resin of Pistacia lentiscus, a tree native to the Greek island of Chios. It has a distinctive piney, slightly medicinal flavour unlike anything else (it is the defining flavour of Greek loukoum and mastiha liqueur. It is available in Greek and Middle Eastern grocery stores. If completely unavailable, a small dash of retsina wine mixed in at the end approximates the resinous quality. The recipe scales easily and keeps refrigerated for 2 weeks. Use a decent-quality dry white) the honey and spices will amplify any off-notes in a cheap wine.

The Gastrographer

Name: Conditum Paradoxum
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Roman Empire
Ingredients: 750 ml dry white wine (a full-bodied style such as white Rioja, Viognier, or a Greek white); 150 ml good runny honey; ½ tsp whole white peppercorns, lightly crushed; 6 whole cloves; 2 fresh bay leaves; ¼ tsp mastic crystals, roughly ground in a mortar (or substitute with ½ tsp ouzo or a small amount of pine resin wine/retsina); 1 small pinch of saffron threads (about 10 threads), soaked in 2 tbsp warm wine for 10 minutes; 2 Medjool dates, stones removed and flesh chopped fine; ¼ tsp ground cinnamon (the Roman recipe used costus root: cinnamon is the closest modern substitute)

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control