Garum ( lat. Garum ; also liquamen ) - fish sauce in Roman cuisine, popular among all classes of Rome. According to the cookbook Apice IV century AD. e., garum was part of most recipes (Apitsy uses the second name of the sauce - liquamen , which means "liquid").
Garum was prepared from the blood and viscera of fish by fermentation. Fishermen sorted the catch, separately exposing different types of fish and its parts, so that the sauce producers could choose the necessary ingredients themselves [1] . Anchovies (hamsa) , tuna , mackerel , and sometimes clams in combination with aromatic herbs were used most often. Fermentation was carried out in large stone baths under the action of the sun for 2-3 months. The garum sauce was a clear liquid that formed on the surface of the fish substance [2] . Vinegar , salt and olive oil , pepper or wine were also added to the sauce, and it was used as a seasoning for various dishes. Garum was also considered a drug and was used for dog bites, boils, diarrhea.
Due to the strong peculiar smell, cooking of the garuma was prohibited in the cities . The finished sauce was sealed in small earthen vessels and in this form was delivered to the Roman provinces. In some regions, the garum completely replaced the cooks with salt .
One of the main suppliers of the garume in the Roman Empire was the city of Lixus [3] .
Biologist and anthropologist Pierce Mitchell suggests that the garum was one of the sources of mass diseases of the ancient Romans by intestinal parasites - helminths , such as a wide tapeworm [4] .
A similar recipe for cooking fish and oyster sauces exists in our day among the peoples of Southeast Asia .
Notes
- ↑ Curtis, Rober I. The Garum Shop of Pompeii. Cronache Pompeiane XXXI. - 1979. - p. 5–23. - 94 s.
- ↑ Curtis, Robert I. In Defense of Garum. - The Classical Journal, 78 (3). - 1983. - p. 232–240.
- ↑ Lixus (English) .
- ↑ Mitchell, Piers D. Human Parasites in the World: Parasitology: journal. - 2017. - Vol. 144 , no. 1 . - P. 48—58 . - DOI : 10.1017 / S0031182015001651 .
Links
- Wikimedia Commons Garum Media
- Garum // Real Dictionary of Classical Antiquities / ed.-comp. F. Lubker ; Edited by members of the Society of Classical Philology and Pedagogy F. Gelbke , L. Georgievsky , F. Zelinsky , V. Kansky , M. Kutorgi and P. Nikitin . - SPb. 1885.
- Encyclopaedia Romana. Garum