Ancient Roman Recipes with Sapa

Cooking with Sapa: Recipes from Ancient Rome

Experience the authentic flavors that once graced Roman tables, from Caesar's banquets to soldiers' campfires. These recipes use traditional Sapa - the same concentrated grape syrup we craft today.

🐟 Salmo Melitae in Sapa et Pinguedo Porci

Salmon with Honey and Sapa, Finished in Bacon Drippings

Ingredients:

  • 4 cuts of fresh river salmon or sea fish, firm-fleshed
  • 3 spoonfuls sapa (boiled grape must)
  • 2 spoonfuls Melitaean honey (or local wildflower honey)
  • 2 spoonfuls rendered pork fat (from smoked or salt-cured belly)
  • Ground peppercorns (from India if available)
  • A little salt or garum (fish sauce)
  • Optional: a pinch of lovage or ground fennel seed

Method:
Heat your iron pan over a coal fire. First, melt the pig's fat until clear and fragrant. Lay in the fish, flesh down. While it sears, mix your honey and sapa together into a dark glaze. After turning the fish once, spoon the mixture over it, letting it bubble and thicken. Finish with a crack of pepper and a whisper of garum. Serve hot, with sauce pooled beneath it and a branch of rosemary if available.

🥬 Viridia Amara Elixata cum Sapa et Allium

Sautéed Bitter Greens with Garlic and Sapa Drizzle

Ingredients:

  • A bundle of bitter greens (brassica, mustard, beet leaves, or chard)
  • Several cloves of garlic, crushed beneath the flat of a knife
  • Olive oil, pressed fresh
  • 1 spoonful of sapa
  • Salt, or a touch of garum
  • Optional: dried silphium (if your province still has it) or coriander seed

Method:
Wash your greens well in spring water. Heat olive oil in a wide pan and cook the garlic until golden. Add greens and stir well; cover with a clay lid and allow to wilt down. Remove from heat and finish with a fine drizzle of sapa. Let it rest a moment before serving.

🥗 Acetaria Rustica cum Sapa, Oleum, et Limon Persicum

Country Salad of Good Greens with Sapa, Olive Oil, and Sour Fruit Juice

Ingredients:

  • Gathered greens (arugula, mallow, lettuce, young chicory)
  • Slices of ripe tomato or oxheart
  • A small handful of basil or mint leaves
  • Slivers of onion or leek
  • Olive oil, pressed first from the stone
  • Sapa
  • Juice of the Persian lemon (or sour pomegranate juice if in the East)
  • Pinch of salt

Method:
In a shallow bowl, lay your greens and herbs. Scatter tomatoes and onion across them. Mix olive oil, sapa, and lemon juice into a bright dressing and pour over. Let it sit while the fish rests. Serve with torn barley bread or flatbread from the campfire.

🥄 Ius Sapae ad Piscem

A Dipping Sauce of Sapa for Fish or Greens

Ingredients:

  • 1 spoonful sapa
  • 1 spoonful olive oil or pork fat
  • A squeeze of lemon or splash of vinegar
  • Pinch of black pepper or mustard seed, if near the borderlands

Method:
Stir over low flame until thick. Serve warm with fish for added sweetness and tang.

🍮 Dulcia Domestica

Stuffed Dates with Nuts, Cooked in Honey and Sapa

"Dates from Syria, sweet as the Nile's water, filled with the strength of nuts and kissed by fire, were served to generals, gods, and gluttons alike."
— Gaius Lucullus, Camp Cook, Legio XIII

Ingredients:

  • A dozen large dates (Medjool or similar)
  • A handful of ground walnuts or pine nuts (almonds if inland)
  • 1–2 spoonfuls of honey
  • 1 spoonful of sapa
  • Pinch of salt
  • Optional: a little black pepper or ground cinnamon (if imported)

Method:
Pit the dates by slicing them down the side, but do not cut all the way through. Stuff each date with crushed or ground nuts, mixed with a touch of honey and a whisper of salt. Arrange in a small clay or bronze pan, then pour the remaining honey and sapa over them. Roast over coals until caramelized.

Thus prepared, this meal honors the vine, the harvest, and the toil of Rome's hand. May it give strength to your limbs, clarity to your thoughts, and warmth to your belly.

Shop our authentic Sapa products to recreate these ancient flavors in your modern kitchen.