IMMEDIATELY AFTER THEY ARE FRIED POUR HOT VINEGAR OVER THEM

Dann. Exactly as we today with fried herring and river lamprey.

[14] TO KEEP OYSTERS _OSTREA UT DIU DURENT_

FUMIGATE A VINEGAR BARREL WITH PITCH [1], WASH IT OUT WITH VINEGAR AND STACK THE OYSTERS IN IT [2]

[1] Tor. _vas ascernum_, corrected on margin, _ab aceto_. List. _vas ab aceto_, which is correct. G.-V. _lavas ab aceto_; V. the oysters? unthinkable! Besides it would do no good.

[2] Goll. Take oysters out of the shell, place in vinegar barrel, sprinkle with laurel berries, fine salt, close tight. V. Goll's authority for this version is not found in our originals.

V. There is no way to keep live oysters fresh except in their natural habitat--salt water. Today we pack them in barrels, feed them with oatmeal, put weights on them--of no avail. The only way English oysters could have arrived fresh in Imperial Rome was in specially constructed bottoms of the galleys.

[15] MAKING A LITTLE LASER GO A LONG WAY _UT NUCIA _[1]_ LASERIS TOTO TEMPORE UTARIS_

PUT THE LASER [2] IN A SPACIOUS GLASS VESSEL; IMMERSE ABOUT 20 PINE KERNELS [pignolia nuts]

IF YOU NEED LASER FLAVOR, TAKE SOME NUTS, CRUSH THEM; THEY WILL IMPART TO YOUR DISH AN ADMIRABLE FLAVOR. REPLACE THE USED NUTS WITH A LIKE NUMBER OF FRESH ONES [3]

[1] List. and G.-V. _uncia_--ounce. Making an ounce of laser go a long way. Tor. _nucea_; Tac. _nucia_. Lister, fond of hair-splitting, is irreconcilably opposed to Tor., and berates Caspar Barthius for defending Tor. List. _Quam futilis sit in multis labor C. Barthii ut menda Torini passim sustineat, vel ex hoc loco intelligere licet: Et enim lege modo uncia pro nucea cum Humelbergio, & ista omnia glossemata vana sunt._

V. both readings, _uncia_ or _nucia_ are permissible, and make very little difference. We side with Tor. and Tac. because it takes more than an ounce of laser to carry out this experiment.

[2] _Laser_, _laserpitium_, cf. dictionary.

[3] V. This article illustrates how sparingly the ancients used the strong and pungent laser flavor [by some believed to be _asa foetida_] because it was very expensive, but principally because the Roman cooks worked economically and knew how to treat spices and flavors judiciously. This article alone should disperse for all time all stories of ancient Rome's extravagance in flavoring and seasoning dishes. It reminds of the methods used by European cooks to get the utmost use out of the expensive vanilla bean: they bury the bean in a can of powdered sugar. They will use the sugar only which has soon acquired a delicate vanilla perfume, and will replace the used sugar by a fresh supply. This is by far a superior method to using the often rank and adulterated "vanilla extract" readily bottled. It is more gastronomical and more economical. Most commercial extracts are synthetic, some injurious. To believe that any of them impart to the dishes the true flavor desired is of course ridiculous. The enormous consumption of such extracts however, is characteristic of our industrialized barbarism which is so utterly indifferent to the fine points in food. Today it is indeed hard for the public to obtain a real vanilla bean.

Cf. also notes regarding flavoring to Nos. 276-7, 345 and 385.

[16] TO MAKE HONEY CAKES LAST _UT DULCIA DE MELLE DIU DURENT_

TO MAKE HONEY CAKES THAT WILL KEEP TAKE WHAT THE GREEKS CALL YEAST [1] AND MIX IT WITH THE FLOUR AND THE HONEY AT THE TIME WHEN MAKING THE COOKY DOUGH.

[1] Tor. and Tac. _nechon_; G.-V. _cnecon_; Dann. _penion_.

[17] SPOILED HONEY MADE GOOD _UT MEL MALUM BONUM FACIAS_

HOW BAD HONEY MAY BE TURNED INTO A SALEABLE ARTICLE IS TO MIX ONE PART OF THE SPOILED HONEY WITH TWO PARTS OF GOOD HONEY.

List. _indigna fraus_! V. We all agree with Lister that this is contemptible business. This casts another light on the ancients' methods of food adulteration.

[18] TO TEST SPOILED HONEY _MEL CORRUPTUM UT PROBES_

IMMERSE ELENCAMPANE IN HONEY AND LIGHT IT; IF GOOD, IT WILL BURN BRIGHTLY.

[19] TO KEEP GRAPES _UVÆ UT DIU SERVENTUR_

TAKE PERFECT GRAPES FROM THE VINES, PLACE THEM IN A VESSEL AND POUR RAIN WATER OVER THEM THAT HAS BEEN BOILED DOWN ONE THIRD OF ITS VOLUME. THE VESSEL MUST BE PITCHED AND SEALED WITH PLASTER, AND MUST BE KEPT IN A COOL PLACE TO WHICH THE SUN HAS NO ACCESS. TREATED IN THIS MANNER, THE GRAPES WILL BE FRESH WHENEVER YOU NEED THEM. YOU CAN ALSO SERVE THIS WATER AS HONEY MEAD TO THE SICK.

ALSO, IF YOU COVER THE GRAPES WITH BARLEY [bran] YOU WILL FIND THEM SOUND AND UNINJURED.

V. We keep grapes in cork shavings, bran and saw dust.

[20] TO KEEP POMEGRANATES _UT MALA GRANATA DIU DURENT_ [1]

STEEP THEM INTO HOT [sea] WATER, TAKE THEM OUT IMMEDIATELY AND HANG THEM UP. [Tor.] THEY WILL KEEP.

[1] Tor. _conditura malorum Punicorum_; Tac. _mala granata_; G.-V. _mala et mala granata_.

[21] TO KEEP QUINCES _UT MALA CYDONIA DIU SERVENTUR_

PICK OUT PERFECT QUINCES WITH STEMS [1] AND LEAVES. PLACE THEM IN A VESSEL, POUR OVER HONEY AND DEFRUTUM [2] AND YOU'LL PRESERVE THEM FOR A LONG TIME [3].

[1] V. Excellent idea, for the stems, if removed, would leave a wound in the fruit for the air to penetrate and to start fermentation. Cf. also the next formula.

[2] G.-V. _defritum_, from _defervitum_; _defrutum_ is new wine, spiced, boiled down to one half of its volume.

[3] This precept would not keep the fruit very long unless protected by a closefitting cover and sterilization. Cf. No. 24.

[22] TO PRESERVE FRESH FIGS, APPLES, PLUMS, PEARS AND CHERRIES _FICUM RECENTEM, MALA, PRUNA, PIRA, CERASIA UT DIU SERVES_

SELECT THEM ALL VERY CAREFULLY WITH THE STEMS ON [1] AND PLACE THEM IN HONEY SO THEY DO NOT TOUCH EACH OTHER.

[1] See the preceding formula.

[23] TO KEEP CITRON _CITRIA UT DIU DURENT_ [1]

PLACE THEM IN A GLASS [2] VESSEL WHICH IS SEALED WITH PLASTER AND SUSPENDED.

[1] Tor. _conditura malorum Medicorum quæ et citria dicuntur_. V. Not quite identified. Fruit coming from Asia Minor, Media or Persia, one of the many varieties of citrus fruit. Probably citron because of their size. Goll. Lemon-apples; Dann. lemons (oranges). List. _Scilicet mala, quæ Dioscorides Persica quoque & Medica, & citromala, Plinius item Assyria appellari dicit_.

[2] G.-V. _vas vitreum_; Tac. and Tor. _vas citrum_; V. a glass vessel could not be successfully sealed with plaster paris, and the experiment would fail; cf. note 3 to No. 21.

[24] TO KEEP MULBERRIES _MORA UT DIU DURENT_

MULBERRIES, IN ORDER TO KEEP THEM, MUST BE LAID INTO THEIR OWN JUICE MIXED WITH NEW WINE [boiled down to one half] IN A GLASS VESSEL AND MUST BE WATCHED ALL THE TIME [so that they do not spoil].

V. This and the foregoing formulæ illustrate the ancients' attempts at preserving foods, and they betray their ignorance of "processing" by heating them in hermetically sealed vessels, the principle of which was not discovered until 1810 by Appert which started the now gigantic industry of canning.

[25] TO KEEP POT HERBS [_H_]_OLERA UT DIU SERVENTUR_