Click on the image, above to submit to Pinterest.

Tybaris (Celery with Vinegar)

Tybaris (Celery with Vinegar) is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for a snack of celery boiled in vinegar. The dish is sharp, resembling a modern pickle and goes well with fish and fatty meats. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Tybaris.

prep time

10 minutes

cook time

10 minutes

Total Time:

20 minutes

Serves:

10-12

Rating:

Tags : Wild FoodVegetarian RecipesVegetable RecipesAncient Roman Recipes

Original Recipe

Tybaris (from Julius Pollux' Onomasticon)

Julius Pollux (2nd century CE) was an Alexandrian grammarian and sophist who taught at Athens, where he was appointed professor of rhetoric at the Academy by the emperor Commodus. Pollux was the author of the Onomasticon, a Greek thesaurus or dictionary of Attic synonyms and phrases, arranged not alphabetically but according to subject-matter, in ten books. It supplies in passing much rare and valuable information on many points of classical antiquity— objects in daily life, the theatre, politics and quotes numerous fragments of lost works. Though working in Egyptian and writing in Greek Julius Pollux was a learned member of the Roman empire (Greek being the second language of the Roman Empire) and it is fair to assume that the food described by Pollux would have been known across the Empire. It is also good to have someone apart from Apicius as a source of recipes!

Translation

And they used to call this 'seasoning'. They used to dub salad 'green purées'. The side dish the Dorians called tybaris, namely celery in vinegar.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

1 head of celery [alexanders for a more authentic version]
125 ml white wine
125 ml white wine vinegar

Method:

Wash the celery then slice into thin sections. Add the chopped celery to a pan along with the white wine and white wine vinegar. Bring to the boil then simmer gently until the celery is tender (about 10 minutes).

This dish is rather sharp on the tongue but it is an excellent accompaniment to fatty meats such as goose and duck. This celery dish can be served either hot or cold.