The Delicious Legacy

Who were the heavy drinkers of Post-Roman Western Europe? What did Kings, monks and bishops did to curb the excess of wine consumption and violence in what is now France, Germany and England?Find out on the newest episode of The Delicious Legacy...I hope you enjoy the start of our wine series so far!Happy Listening!With the so-called collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Europe was in turmoil. Or so the traditional narrative goes. Certainly there was de-centralised powers emerging.What did this do to wine cultivation and production? Who drunk wine? What happened in the years between 500 and 1000 AD?Listen to find out on part five of this exploration of the history of wine!And of course I'm delighted to say that the listeners get a 15% discount from Maltby and Greek deli in London,when you shop online using the code "delicious" here: maltbyandgreek.com/deliciousYou can follow and listen to everything my friends Partial Historians do here: https://linktr.ee/ThePartialHistoriansMusic by Pavlos Kapralos.Thanks!Thom & The Delicious LegacySupport the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes! https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcasthttps://www.patreon.com/c/thedeliciouslegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An interview with Aghiles Ourad from the project The Other Grape.From around 800 BCE ancient Phoenician merchant sailors created commercial hubs and trading stations all over North Affrica and Spain. Doubtless they exported their wine making and grape growing there more than 2600 years ago...The Mediterranean is for all intends and purposes a lake as much as a sea. The trade and commerce of the peoples living on her shores happened through the sea for millennia. The climate is very similar and the exchange of ideas, foods, and culture almost free-flowing. And yet, nowadays, when we talk about wine we only think of French, Spanish, Italian, perhaps Greek and ...that's about it! We completely forget the other half of the Med. The southern shores, the lands of North Africa and the Middle East. A vast area of any fertile lands, that played important roles in the rise and fall of countless empires! The grape was first cultivated and wine drunk in the East. In the Anatolia lands, in modern Turkey but also in Iran and Iraq, and Lebanon. Ancient Egypt too, had a very important wine production.The proper old, old world wines!Why this blindness persists in our globalised age? And what is the colonial legacy of the wine making and vine growing on these lands?Yet today we tend to ignore of the wine production of the predominately Muslim countries. Well today we'll try and rectify that!I hope you'll enjoy our discussion! Thom & The Delicious LegacyMusic by Pavlos KapralosAghiles wine adventure is https://theothergrape.co.uk/Support the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes! https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcasthttps://www.patreon.com/c/thedeliciouslegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello!"...For filled with that good giftsuffering mankind forgets its grief; from itcomes sleep; with it the oblivion of the troublesof the day. There is no other medicine for misery."Wine. More than medicine. More than nourishment. A gift from the Gods...Though wild grapevines have grown on the Italian peninsula since prehistory, historians are unable to determine precisely when domestic viticulture and winemaking first occurred.The earliest recorded evidence of Greek influence dates to 800 BC. Viticulture was widely entrenched in Etruscan civilization, which was centred around the modern winemaking region of Tuscany.For most of Rome's winemaking history, Greek wine was the most highly prized, with domestic Roman wine commanding lower prices. The 2nd century BC saw the dawn of the "golden age" of Roman winemaking and the development of grand cru vineyards (a type of early first growth in Rome). The famous vintage of 121 BC became known as the Opimian vintage, named for consul Lucius Opimius. Remarkable for its abundant harvest and the unusually high quality of wine produced, some of the vintage's best examples were being enjoyed over a century later.For the most part wine was fermented in sealed amphoras. Small holes permitted carbon dioxide to escape during fermentation, but after the process was complete they were blocked up. The wine was not always racked or filtered and when it was not it was syphoned or run through a sieve as it was poured out to be consumed.Cato recommended drying grapes in the sun for two to three days, while Virgil advised a different means to the same end of increasing sugar content: leaving grapes on the vine until they were exposed to frost. The products of Virgil’s method were the forerunners of modern late- harvest wines.Cato also said that during the thirty days of fermentation the insides of wine jars should be regularly scraped with brooms made of elm twigs to stop the dregs sticking to the sides. This process was the equivalent of batonnage and other methods of ensuring that the less stay in contact with the must during fermentation. Depending on the grapes used, it should have ensured a darker and more tannic wine. The jars were then sealed until spring when the wine was racked off into clean amphoras for ageing.Cato provided several recipes for *Greek', 'Coan' (that is, from Cos) and other wines, including this one which he described as suitable 'for the handsto drink through the winter:Pour into a jar ten quadrantals of must, two quadrantals of sharp vinegar, two quadrantals of boiled must, fifty quadrantals of fresh water. Stir with a stick thrice a day for five consecutive days. Then add sixty-four sextarii of old sea-water, cover the jar, and seal ten days later. This wine will last you until the summer solstice; whatever is left over will be a very sharp and excellent vinegar.That and a lot more on this weeks episode!Enjoy!The Delicious LegacySupport the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes! https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcasthttps://www.patreon.com/c/thedeliciouslegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wine, because no great story started with a salad!Hello!Today we shall explore the legacy of ancient Greece and her wines.Symposiums, ancient Greek grape varieties and wines, like Lemnio, Savvatiano, Assyrtiko, Thassian and Chian wines...And what about the ancient Greek drinking vessels? Which ones did they use?"In ancient Greece, the master of the house would open the festivity known as an agape (meaning literally ‘love’ in the sense of friendship) by pouring a libation of wine. For once, the wine was served neat, without water, and very little of it was drunk. Before any of the guests raised it to their lips the host emptied a cup of wine on the sacred family hearth, as the share for the gods, those of the hearth and the others. Then everyone sang a hymn to Dionysus."Sit back, relax, open a bottle of wine and listen!Remember if you want to enjoy the extra content with exclusive recipes why not join me on Patreon and become my patrons there? Tonnes of lovely material to enjoy as well as extra content on the episodes!Thanks!The Delicious LegacySupport the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes! https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcasthttps://www.patreon.com/c/thedeliciouslegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Nothing more excellent nor more valuable than wine was ever granted to mankind by God.” – PlatoHello!Today on this first part of the History of wine, we’ll go back into the past to trace the beginnings, from prehistory and also see some Greek myths about the legendary god Dionysus.Let me ask you this: and be honest with me. When I say ‘wine’ what do you think?What’s the first thing that comes to mind? Or rather to give a clue, what country comes first to your lips when one says wine?Is it perhaps, by any chance, France? Well today we're not discuss anything about the history of French wine! heh...The history of wine is steeped into peril, danger and many many myths and controversies!Let's find out!Thanks, and happy listening!The Delicious LegacySupport the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes! https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcasthttps://www.patreon.com/c/thedeliciouslegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The spice trade episode was an epic undertaking and I am so pleased with it, but sadly we have reached the end!On this final part we are examining a number of other spices -namely black pepper, cardamom and ginger- and we learn about the demise of the Nabateans in the early centuries of our common era. We also see how the clever tribes enhanced the selling of their incense and spices by weaving elaborate stories, with monsters and dangerous birds guarding the valuable trees!The ancient world was highly globalised and the Arabian traders were in the middle of a lucrative route; incense and spices and precious, exotic luxury goods were coming from the East and used in the West, for many millennia. For rituals, for food and seen as items that bestowed power and authority to the person who possessed them. Were the magical tears of Frankinsence, much coveted by the Egyptian Nobility, the thing that kick-started the global race for spices?Enjoy!Music by Epidemic Sound and Motion Array exceptTheme of The Delicious Legacy and end song by Pavlos KapralosFree Mily by Miltos BoumisVoiceover actors appearing in order : Mark Knight, Baron Anastis, Jim Bryden, Rachael Louise Miller.Sources:The Periplous of the Erythraean Sea (ancient unknown author),Roman Arabia by BowersockCumin, Camels and Caravans - A Spice Odyssey by Gary Paul Nabhan Food in the Ancient World from A to Z by Andrew Dalby.Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Roman_trade_relationshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Islamic_Arabiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Ocean_tradeSupport the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes! https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcasthttps://www.patreon.com/c/thedeliciouslegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Making this episode was an epic adventure, "travelling" through the ancient world and through time, so I had to divide it into three parts.Today in part two of our adventure amongst other things we follow the trails of frankinsence and who were the Nabataeans?The ancient spice route is inextricably linked with the Arabian peninsula. At first, this seems a little bit odd perhaps, and a little baffling. Why this inhospitable desert, is connected with the spice trade so closely?In today's part two of our trilogy about the ancient history of the spices and spice trade, we'll talk about the Frankincense and other spices introduced to the temples and plates of ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.Let's delve a bit deeper to the history of aromatics and spices, their use in ancient Greece and EgyptThe ancient world was highly globalised and the Arabian traders were in the middle of a lucrative route; Incense and spices and precious, exotic luxury goods were coming from the East and used in the West, for many millennia. For rituals, for food and seen as items that bestowed power and authority to the person who possessed them.Enjoy!Music by Epidemic Sound and Motion Array exceptTheme of The Delicious Legacy and end song by Pavlos KapralosFree Mily by Miltos BoumisVoiceover actors appearing in order : Mark Knight, Baron Anastis, Jim Bryden, Rachael Louise Miller.Sources:The Periplous of the Erythraean Sea (ancient unknown author),Roman Arabia by BowersockCumin, Camels and Caravans - A Spice Odyssey by Gary Paul Nabhan Food in the Ancient World from A to Z by Andrew Dalby.Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Roman_trade_relationshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Islamic_Arabiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Ocean_tradeSupport the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes! https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcasthttps://www.patreon.com/c/thedeliciouslegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's episode is an epic so I had to divide it in three parts!Part One today and then part two next week, and the final part the week after.The ancient spice route is inextricably linked with the Arabian peninsula. At first, this seems a little bit odd perhaps, and a little baffling. Why this inhospitable desert, is connected with the spice trade so closely?In today's part one of our trilogy about the ancient history of the spices and spice trade, we'll get introduced to the climate, region and the people who inhabited the Arabian peninsula. The ancient world was highly globalised and the Arabian traders were in the middle of a lucrative route; Insence and spices and precious, exotic luxury goods were coming from the East and used in the West, for many millennia. For rituals, for food and seen as items that bestowed power and authority to the person who possessed them. Were the magical tears of Frankinsence, much coveted by the Egyptian Nobility, the thing that kick-started the global race for spices?Enjoy!Music by Epidemic Sound and Motion Array exceptTheme of The Delicious Legacy and end song by Pavlos KapralosFree Mily by Miltos Boumis Voiceover actors appearing in order : Mark Knight, Baron Anastis, Jim Bryden, Rachael Louise Miller.Sources: The Periplous of the Erythraean Sea (ancient unknown author), Roman Arabia by Bowersock Cumin, Camels and Caravans - A Spice Odyssey by Gary Paul Nabhan  Food in the Ancient World from A to Z by Andrew Dalby.Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Roman_trade_relationshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Islamic_Arabiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Ocean_tradeSupport the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes! https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcasthttps://www.patreon.com/c/thedeliciouslegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm very excited to share this episode with you!Also this hot, hot weather makes one thirsty! There's only one thing that can sort our thirst: Beer!Beer indeed is the answer. A pint of cold, clear, crispy happiness. An almost universal pasttime, African, Asian, European and South American civilisations all had a version of this delightful alcoholic beverage, to enjoy with friends, and family around the fire. Water, malt, hops and yeast is all there is and yet we’ve managed to produce countless different delicious drinks from these simple four ingredients.In this episode I'm delighted to have as my guest Pete Brown, the beer writer, and all around delightful human, to ask him all the important questions:When did humans started making beer? And why? Where's the birthplace of beer-making?How did the first beer tasted like? And can we try it now?Is beer the drink of the commoners or actually a great social leveler anyway?What is a lambic beer?We sat around and ate some ancient Greek inspired BBQ, drunk some delicious beers both modern and some old school ones too and we discussed all of the above, for your curious ears!Pete Brown is an expert writer of all things degustatory, but most of all passionate for the convivial drink that we call beer! And his expertise helped to match great beers, with some fantastically marinated bbq meats.Join us for an adventure that begins in the neolithic era, as we travel through to ancient Mesopotamia, and China then to modern-day subsaharan Africa in our quest to quell our thirst for ancient beer!You can find Pete's books on all good bookshops, and he has a website with articles and other useful stuff here:https://www.petebrown.net/Music on this episode is by Pavlos Kapralos. You can find his music at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzgAonk4-uVhXXjKSF-Nz1A?app=desktopThis episode comes with the welcome support of Maltby and Greek, and you can find some really taste Greek beer here:https://www.maltbyandgreek.com/collections/beers-spiritsEnjoy!Thom & The Delicious LegacySupport the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes! https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcasthttps://www.patreon.com/c/thedeliciouslegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is Silphium and why was it so valuable for ancient Greeks and Romans alike?In today's episode I am exploring the long history of the mysterious plant Silphium, how is it connected with the prosperous ancient Greek colony of Cyrene, in modern day Libya, and I try to answer the question if indeed went extinct!Join me for another archaeogastronomical adventure into the deep Meditarannean past; let's taste some ancient recipe with Silphium and see if we can unravel the mystery of its supposed disappearance and how we today can we get a taste of it...!It's all very intriguing! You won't regret it! I even try some raw asafoetida powder for you!Herodotus passage read by the superb Mark KnightMusic by the amazing Pavlos KapralosSound design created with Soundtoys and UAD Plugins as well as Spitfire Synths.Don't forget to review and rate the podcast on all platforms you listen to! It helps to get us out there! And please share with three of your friends who haven't heard it yet!Enjoy!The Delicious LegacySupport the podcast on Ko-Fi and Patreon for ad-free episodes! https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcasthttps://www.patreon.com/c/thedeliciouslegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.