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Ad Digestionem (An Aid to Digestion)
Ad Digestionem (An Aid to Digestion) is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for a classic mix of spices, fruit, honey and vinegar that can be used as a dressing for lettuce or as an aid to digestion after dinner. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: An Aid to Digestion (Ad Digestionem).
prep time
10 minutes
cook time
10 minutes
Total Time:
20 minutes
Serves:
4
Rating: 
Tags : Sauce RecipesSpice RecipesHerb RecipesAncient Roman Recipes
Original Recipe
Ad digestionem et inflationem et ne lactucae laedant: cuminum unc. II, gingiber unc. I, rutae viridis unc. I, dactilorum pinguium scripulos XII, piperis unc. I, mellis unc. IX, cuminum aut Aethiopicum aut Syriacum aut Libycum. tundes cuminum et postea infundes in aceto. cum siccaverit, postea melle omnia comprehendes. cum necesse fuerit, dimidium cochlearum aceto et liquamine modico misces aut post cenam dimidium cochlearem accipies.
Translation
An aid to digestion and a preventative against flatulence so that lettuce will not harm you. 60g of cumin, 30g of ginger, 30g of green rue, 16g of plump dates, 30g of pepper, 270g of honey. The cumin should either be Ethiopian, or Syrian or Lybian. Crush the cumin then mix with vinegar. [Drain] and when it has dried, blend all the ingredients with the honey. When required, mix half a spoonful with vinegar and liquamen and take half a spoonful after dinner.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
2 tbsp
cumin seeds
1 tbsp ground
ginger
1 tbsp fresh
rue leaves (or rosemary)
2 plump dates, seeds removed and finely chipped
1 tbsp freshly-ground
black pepper
135ml honey
white wine vinegar
Method:
Pound the cumin seeds in a mortar. Add enough vinegar to just moisten then spread on foil and dry in the sun or in a cool over. Scrape off the cumin and mix with the ginger, rue leaves, chopped dates and black pepper in a mortar. Pound to a smooth paste then mix with the honey and store.
To use as a dressing, combine 1/2 tsp of the honey mix with 2 tbsp white wine vinegar and 1 tsp fish sauce (liquamen), pour over lettuce leaves and toss to combine.
Find more recipes from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria, part of this site's Ancient Roman recipes collection.
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