[Preparation] Recreating Conditum Paradoxum (Ancient Roman Spiced Wine) from "Apicius" #2

For the background leading up to the preparation, please see the previous article (Preparation Phase).

This time's recipe and work process

Once again, here is the recipe and work process for this time.
Since there is a step where the reduced wine and honey must sit overnight, this will be done over two days.

Recipe

• Wine for mixing with honey and heating (A): approx. 24.7ml

• Wine to blend at the end (B): approx. 222.6ml

• Honey: approx. 112g

• Pepper: approx. 2.5g

• Mastic: approx. 0.08g

• Valerian: approx. 0.1g

• Saffron: approx. 0.1g

• Date: approx. 0.11 pieces

Work process

1. Add wine (A) and honey to a pot and reduce while stirring. Repeat the process of cooling and heating three times, then let it sit overnight. (This concludes the first day)

2. Soak the date in wine. Roast and dry the seeds.

3. Grind the measured pepper, mastic, valerian, saffron, and dates.

4. After skimming the scum off the surface of 2, add 3.

5. Add wine (B).

6. Filter through a coffee filter to finish.

Now, let's get cooking!

0. Roast the date pits and chill the mastic

Since I only have one pot, I cannot roast the pits if I put the wine and honey in the pot. Therefore, I will roast the date pits first.

Also, the mastic felt soft and sticky at room temperature in the summer, so I will put it in the refrigerator. (The instructions included when I bought the mastic also stated that for cooking, you should put it in the refrigerator to harden it before crushing it to use.)

Aside: The taste of mastic

By the way, I tried eating the mastic, and it had the taste of a dried herb that I felt I had eaten somewhere before (vague).
Considering that many recipes use fennel seeds as a substitute, I wonder if it is close to fennel? (I have never eaten fennel by itself)
Personally, I also feel a lemongrass-like flavor.

The texture is like a mixture of beeswax and Hi-Chew. If you eat only a small amount, it sticks to your teeth quite a bit (if it sticks to your teeth, increasing the amount will improve it).
Like regular gum, it does not dissolve and disappear, so please either swallow it as is or throw it away.

1. Add wine and honey to a pot and boil down.

Repeat "heat until it bubbles -> let cool" three times and leave it overnight.

I will write about this in more detail later, but "mixing something with an alcohol content of less than 20% with other ingredients and leaving it without drinking it immediately" is a violation of the Liquor Tax Act. (The wine I am using this time has an alcohol content of 12%.)
However, if I heat it three times, the alcohol will evaporate, and this is wine-flavored honey! I will proceed with this interpretation.

When I tried to taste it, I licked the spatula with the tip of my tongue and it was naturally hot, so I got burned, so please be really careful.

The taste is... I know it is sweet, but there is almost no honey or wine feel. I was imagining something like syrup, but it has the viscosity of dagashi-style taffy. I will leave this in a cool, dark place overnight as is. (Mixing in the spices seems like it will be tough...)

That night, I mixed honey and water into the wine I bought and drank it, and I started to think that it might be enough just like this without trying so hard.

I will do my best tomorrow too.

2. Preparing the dates

I grate the dates I roasted yesterday. I also cut the fruit into tenths.
After this, there is a step where the fruit is soaked in wine, and I wondered if this might be a gray area regarding liquor tax laws, but I told myself, "It's only while preparing the spices! I'll use it right away!" and proceeded with the work.

I suspect this step exists because dates back then were rock-hard, but since modern ones still have a fair amount of moisture, I think it would probably be fine even without soaking them.

3. Measuring and mixing the spices

I was thinking, "I don't really want to buy a scale just to measure 0.1 grams..." when a savior appeared.

A spoon that can measure 0.1cc~ (though 0.1cc is not equal to 0.1g)

I am seriously grateful. With this, I measured out the mastic and valerian roughly.
※I measured the mastic after cooling it in the refrigerator to harden it and then grinding it.

In addition, I also cut the pepper, saffron, and roasted date seeds into tenths.

Aside 1: The flavor of valerian

Regarding valerian, the website said, "The flavor is strong, so it is basically used in blends," and indeed, even a single piece is enough to feel the aroma.

I put about two pieces in water and drank it as valerian water; the aroma is quite sensual, or rather, it's hard to describe, but it's a scent that is somehow captivating. The impression is close to musk. (The scent itself is completely different from musk, but the way it makes you feel enchanted is similar.)

Aside 2: Date seeds that won't grate

The task I struggled with the most this time was grating the date seeds.
Since I don't have a mortar, I tried my best with a kitchen knife, but this was the limit. I think it's probably down to about a fifteenth. (Actually, a tenth is required.)

4. Add the spices and dates to the wine-flavored honey after skimming the scum off the surface and mix

I added the measured spices and the dates.

I tasted the honey in this state before adding them, and I could feel a nuance a bit like apple; it felt more like candy than honey. I have the impression that maybe I can feel the flavor of wine in the distance.

It was very viscous and didn't mix well, so although it wasn't in the recipe instructions, I heated it slightly over low heat.

With this, the spiced honey is complete!
Adding wine to this completes the Conditum Paradoxum, but let me talk about the Liquor Tax Act again here.

Storing this "spiced honey" in a state mixed with wine violates the Liquor Tax Act. If you cannot drink the entire amount, store it as spiced honey and mix it with wine as needed when you drink it.

A brief overview of the Liquor Tax Act

Under the Liquor Tax Act, adding something else to alcohol is considered making new alcohol. Since a license is required to make alcohol, it is illegal for someone without a license to do so.

As an exception,
if you use alcohol with an alcohol content of 20% or higher that has already been taxed and mix in items other than those prohibited by the Liquor Tax Act (such as grains or grapes), it is exceptionally not considered a manufacturing act. For example, fruit liqueurs made at home, such as plum wine, fall under this category.

However, since this is wine, it is definitely under 20% alcohol content.
But even in this case, there is a provision that "it is okay to mix it immediately before drinking for personal (including family) consumption".

For example, I sometimes mix sake with cider at home to drink, but this is okay because it satisfies "for my own consumption" and "mixing immediately before drinking."
However, putting sake and cider mixed together in a bottle and storing it in the refrigerator is not allowed.

5. Adding wine to the spice syrup

If you make it according to this recipe, you will end up with about 300ml of super sweet spiced wine with a 2:1 ratio of wine to spiced honey.

This is way too sweet, so considering that I'll probably dilute it with water to drink, if I dilute it by half, that's about 600ml. I definitely can't finish that in one day = violation of the Liquor Tax Act!.

Therefore, I decided to make two-thirds of the recipe amount. I took one-third of the spiced honey out of the pot, and (by eye) added two-thirds of the "wine to be added later" into the pot to finish it.

6. Strain and finish

I strained it with a coffee filter after this, but it takes too long, so it's better to use something with a coarser mesh. (If you use a cloth, the saffron color will come through beautifully, so use one you don't mind getting dirty.)

After this, I was messing with the coffee filter to speed up the straining, and the filter tore, so I had to start over.
In the end, I arrived at the idea that "the original recipe used charcoal, so it wasn't being strained, and isn't it fine if the spices are in it?," so I stopped using the coffee filter halfway through and finished it while removing the spices.

And here is what I finally finished!

The taste report will be in the next 'Tasting' section.