Silphium: Ancient Rome's Lost Aphrodisiac

Follow Tasting History here:
Reddit: r/TastingHistory

LINKS TO INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENT**

LINKS TO SOURCES**

**Amazon offers a small commission on products sold through their affiliate links, so each purchase made from this link, whether this product or another, will help to support this channel with no additional cost to you.

Subtitles by Jose Mendoza

SAUCE WITH HERBS FOR FRIED FISH
ORIGINAL ROMAN RECIPE (From De re coquinaria)
“Sauce with herbs for Fried Fish: Whatever fish you like, clean, salt, fry. Pound pepper, cumin, coriander seed, silphium root, oregano, rue, pound. Moisten with vinegar, add dates, honey, defrutum, oil, liquamen. Pour into a pot, let it boil, when heated pour over the fried fish. Sprinkle pepper and serve.”

MODERN RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
- 1 Whole Fish or Filet
- Salt for seasoning
- ½ teaspoon ground Black Pepper
- ½ teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- ½ teaspoon Coriander Seed
- ½ teaspoon optional Asafoetida powder
- 1 teaspoon Fresh Oregano; cut that it half if you want to use dried.
- ½ teaspoon Dried Rue OR 1 teaspoon Fresh Rue.
- 3 Tablespoons Red or White Wine Vinegar
- 3 Minced Dates
- 2 Tablespoons Honey
- 1 Tablespoon Mosto Cotto or reduced grape juice
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil plus more for frying
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce such as Colatura di Alici

METHOD
1. Clean and gut the fish, then make several diagonal slices on each side and season with salt.
2. Add 1/2 inch oil to a frying pan and heat it over medium high heat. Then set the fish in and fry on one side, undisturbed. Then flip and fry the other side. Then place on a wire rack to drain.
3. For the sauce, grind and mix the herbs, then add the remaining ingredients. Transfer to a small saucepan and heat over medium low heat until boiling. Serve hot.

PHOTO CREDITS

#tastinghistory #ancientrome #silphium

[TastingHistory]

What are some of the more difficult to find ingredients you enjoy cooking with?

[wyatt]

My first thought about that “black rain” that magically grew silphium is a volcanic eruption. The ash rained down, carrying a bunch of minerals that helped the plants grow.

[swolerat]

This man is single handedly keeping me alive during quarantine

[griffix]

Exciting news: they may have rediscovered silphium! They found a plant that matched its description and medicinal properties in Turkey, a known home to Ancient Greeks back in the day. The theorized that they managed to transport and transplant some silphium to Turkey where they were just forgotten.

[elennapointer]

Things I knew about Pliny the Elder before this video: he observed the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79 and was suffocated by the fumes.
Things I know about Pliny the Elder now: he thought snakes exploded after drinking wine.

This channel is an education in so many ways.

[legatvsdecimvs]

"Silphium" was likely a naturally occurring hybrid of North African Giant Fennel and Asian Asafoetida, both related plants from different parts of world. But this hybrid likely produced sterile seeds and could not grow outside its own environment. Asafoetida was potentially brought to North Africa by Phoenicians or Egyptians, and was probably planted near Giant Fennel fields. Cross pollination probably created the Silphium hybrid plants. But decades of over-harvesting for Rome probably caused its extinction.

It is possible experiments with Ferula species could recreate Silphium in a controlled environment if botanists and biologists wanted to.

[Latchfpv]

Oh Pliny the Elder, I love him, he was so wrong about so much! The fact that he wrote it all down is why we can enjoy it in delight to this day. He's a regular feature on Sawbones.

[Astralfirework]

“Causes serpents to burst” - I just had this mental image of a snake wine-tasting and suddenly;
“Oh yes, this merlot is quite fine, quite deli-“
*explodes*

[Modcrew]

No one:

Pliny: Don't feed alcoholic snakes silphium, they'll explode

[whereisthatbustlingmarketp]

Imagine if Silphium was just growing on some random guy's backyard

[aidanfarnan]

Pliny: "Well, I'm bored. Off to go rub Silphium on that bull's snout and watch the drunk snakes explode... Nothing interesting ever happens here in Pompeii..."

[JonWithNooH]

the romans really said "add salt, fermented salt, extra salt, salt sauce, and a fishy salt sauce and oregano"

[phoenixskyward]

@Tasting History with Max Miller ~ I am a Libyan, from Benghazi. I am not so sure about Silphium, but there is a plant that grows wild near the green mountain in the east of Benghazi that cannot be cultivated no matter what. It is similar to the Egyptian Artichoke but much smaller and very spiky. We usually burn the spiked edges off on a fire for a little bit and pick it. the end of it contains a small little bulb of meat. Then after we remove the top half which is like feathers and eat the bottom meaty part which contains a huge amount of iron. Like I said, it's quite similar to artichoke but very small and a lot rougher. It is wild. I hope this was informative.

[profmcthicccums]

You are the first person I've seen ever start their channel with such quality. The hosting, humor, relaxation, and research are all top notch. I'm just happy to watch and support however I can.

[mstalcup]

Similarly to laserpicium, asafoetida is made from the resin extracted from the taproot of a plant. Because asafoetida is made from fennel and because silphium is probably a close relative of fennel, asafoetida is probably an excellent substitute.

[behringerm]

Your picture with Hippocrates was actually Hermès (Mercury) staff. The staff of Aesculapius was a staff with only one snake twined around it.
Sincerely, a physician who study Latin & classical history in college

[JolienM]

Tasting History has to be one of the best new channels to come in 2020. I enjoy watching every video you make, and it's nice to see how you've become more comfortable in front of the camera since the start. I love food, and now I also love history, keep it up!

[Summer-itwh]

I feel like most things, if rubbed on the muzzle of a bull, will irritate him to an extraordinary degree.

Bulls just be like that, honestly.

[ciceroaurelius]

you teach more history in your cooking show then most teachers in their history classes. Bravo good sir bravo.

[monsternside]

Little know fact, Snakes love of wine is the real reason wine is stored in barrels, they can't open them.