Date Milk.

When I came across a reference recently to ‘date milk’, I assumed that it was something made from steeping or emulsifying dates in a liquid – something therefore along the lines of almond ‘milk’ or a date milkshake. I don’t know how I could have gotten to the age I am, and done the reading I have on all sorts of food topics, without coming to the knowledge that date milk is more along the lines of maple syrup. Sometimes my own ignorance astounds me.

This is how date milk comes about:

A white liquor known by the name of date-milk is drawn from the palm tree. To obtain it, all the branches are cut from the summit of one of these trees; and after several incisions have been made in it, they are covered with leaves, in order that the heat of the sun may not dry it: the sap then drops into a vessel placed to receive the liquor. The milk of the date tree has an agreeable sweet taste when new; it is very refreshing and is given even to sick people.
The companion for the orchard: An historical and botanical account of fruits known in Great Britain, Henry Phillips, 1831.

Naturally, this sweet sap lends itself beautifully to fermentation and distillation. Date wine may also be is made by fermenting a either mixture of dates soaked in water, or a syrup made by boiling dates. Distillation of the fermented beverage produces a form of ‘toddy’, or in the case of the sap, a very potent beverage sometimes called ‘cream of the valley.’

A very famous date wine was apparently produced in Egypt in ancient times, and exported to Rome where it was enjoyed at the best tables. Marco Polo (or his ghost-writer) mentioned Egyptian date wine in his Travels, and noted that it had spiced added “and very good it is.” Some biblical scholars also suggest that the ‘strong drink’ of the Bible may have been date (or palm) wine.


For the recipe of the day, I do not give you the specific instructions for making date wine, but instead have chosen one of the delights included in the Date Cook Book, published in 1919 by May Sowles Metzler – a book originating in Coachella Valley, “The American home of the date”.

Syrian Method of Preserving Dates.
Take the largest dates obtainable, preferably before they are entirely ripe; peel them with a sharp knife, put them in a pot, add a little more than enough water to cover them, boil until they are soft; then slip the seeds out and put an almond or pistachio, with a clove, in the cavity; boil dates in syrup with a little lemon peel until the proper consistency; take them off the fire and let them stand overnight; then bring to a boil again and put in glass jars.

Quotation for the Day.

Men become passionately attached to women who know how to cosset them with delicate tidbits.
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1859)

A peppercorn ransom.

Today, August 24^th …

History, they say, is written by the victors. In the case of ancient history, it is also often written long after the event, and therefore of dubious accuracy especially when it comes to such specific things as calendar dates. To clinch the pre-story disclaimer, I would like to remind you, faithful readers, that a real historian I am not. I do not know exactly if this is the anniversary of the final sacking of Rome by Alaric the Visigoth (damn fine name, that, for a conqueror) 1,597 years ago. Either history or legend says that it is, and either will serve us well enough for introducing the topic of pepper – and particularly its price and value.

By the year 410 the barbarian (Alaric) was literally at the gate of Rome, the hub of a now crumbling empire. His ransom, it is said was the usual victor’s demand of land, gold, silver etc – and also 3,000 pounds of pepper. Certainly, the Visigoths were hungry, but the pepper was not to spice up the spoils of their pillaging and foraging. Pepper was an enormously valuable spice (at times it was literally worth its weight in gold), and was often actually used as currency.

The love of pepper seems to be part of being human – and it has been suggested that we have learned to like spices because they are good for us. ‘Spice’ is a culinary term, not a botanical one, and the foods we call ‘spicy’ are plant foods, and it seems that the ‘spiciness’ we perceive comes from chemicals which plants have developed as defence mechanisms against insects and infecting agents. The theory is that when we eat these foods, we are ‘borrowing’ some of the protective ability, thus conferring an evolutionary advantage over our more culinarily-challenged human competitors. We are all familiar with the general theory of anti-oxidants, but here is also some tantalising (but as yet unconfirmed) evidence for specific foods being protective of specific diseases – cinnamon in diabetes and turmeric in dementia for example. So, if you needed any excuse to eat Indian food, there you have a new one: it may well be good for your health.

The intense desire for spices drove much if not most of the early voyages of discovery and conquest. Pepper originated in India, in what is now called Kerala, and it has been traded since very ancient times – to this day is the most widely traded spice in the world. Alaric would have been confident that the Romans would have had good stocks of pepper - they clearly loved the spice: in the only surviving Roman cookbook De re coquinaria it is used in 349 of 468 recipes. They even used it in sweetmeats.

Home-made Sweets (Dulcia Domestica)
Little home confections (which are called dulciaria) are made thus: Little Palms (or as they are ordinarily called) Dates are stuffed – after the seeds have been removed – with a nut or with nuts and ground pepper, sprinkled with salt on the outside and are candied in honey and served.

And we think that salted toffee is a new fashion!

Also from this cookbook: we have previously featured recipes from this book for Flamingo , and for Green Sauce for Fowl, and Stuffed Dormouse.

Monday’s Story …

Roots, by request.

Quotation for the Day ….

The army from Asia introduced a foreign luxury to Rome; it was then the meals began to require more dishes and more expenditure . . . the cook, who had up to that time been employed as a slave of low price, become dear: what had been nothing but a métier was elevated to an art. Livy (Titus Livius), Roman historian (59-17 B.C.)

Life with Dates.

Today, June 12^th …

Today is the feast day of Saint Onuphrius, who, like the rest of the Saints I have featured in this blog, is only on my radar on account of a food connection. Saint Onophrius was a hermit, as Saints are wont to be, and lived during the 4^th Century in Egypt. He lived entirely, it is said, on dates. He could have made a worse choice (athough there may not have been too many choices in 4^th C Egypt) – because dates are not only nutritious (high fibre, high carb, almost zero fat, and lots of vitamins and minerals etc etc etc), they are delicious.

The date palm is native to North Africa and the Middle East, and is one of the oldest food plants cultivated by humans. It appears that we have been growing it for at least 7000 years in one of the world’s most challenging environments – the hot dry desert. The plant must have developed some spectacular survival mechanisms to have been so successful, and in a truly amazing example of time-warp gardening, a botanist in Israel has managed to germinate a 2000 year-old seed from a Judean date tree that was thought to be extinct. Perhaps one day we might be able to eat dates with a direct link to biblical times, which would be an amazing example of time-warp eating!

There is an old saying that there are as many ways of using dates as there are days in the year, and I don’t doubt that is true. They were certainly known and enjoyed by Europeans in the 13^th century, no doubt thanks to returning crusaders. They were enjoyed only by the wealthy of course, who must have relished their sweetness in the centuries before sugar became cheap. I have chosen two medieval recipes for you featuring dates, either of which would be perfect for today.

The first is from an Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century, translated Charles Perry, and is for a sort of date and nut paste or cake that would be excellent on a cheese platter.

A Sweet of Dates and Honey.
Take Shaddâkh dates. Clean them of their pits and pound a ratl of them in a mortar. Then dilute with water in a tinjir on a gentle fire. Add the same amount of skimmed honey. Stir it until it binds together and throw in a good amount of peeled almonds and walnuts. Put in some oil so it doesn't burn and to bind firmly. Pour it over a greased salâya (stone work surface). With it you make qursas (round cakes). Cut it with a knife in big or little pieces.

The second is a Lenten tart from the first English cookbook, the Forme of Cury (about 1390). As a Lenten dish it contains no milk or eggs. The instructions are strange to us today, but it seems that a thick ‘custard’ of almond milk and rice flour is made and allowed to set, then cut into pieces and layered with cut up figs and dates in the pastry ‘coffin’, and finally more almond milk is poured in before it is baked.

For To Make Flownys [flans] In Lente.
Tak god Flowr and mak a Past and tak god mylk of Almandys and flowr of rys other amydoun and boyle hem togeder' that they be wel chariaud wan yt is boylid thykke take yt up and ley yt on a feyr' bord so that yt be cold and wan the Cofyns ben makyd tak a party of and do upon the coffyns and kerf hem in Schiveris and do hem in god mylk of Almandys and Figys and Datys and kerf yt in fowr partyis and do yt to bake and serve yt forth.

Tomorrow’s Story …

Pleasure and Health.

Quotation for the Day …

The first of all considerations is that our meals shall be fun as well as fuel. Andre Simon.