this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2024
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History repeats itself (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 60 points 2 months ago (3 children)

The explanation is practically perfect, so focusing on two small tidbits:

Defrutum is not a jelly, it's more like a syrup: grape juice reduced to a half of its volume, to concentrate flavours and as a preservation method. I'm almost sure that it was available for a wide range of people, not just wealthy ones.

(It's also easy to prepare at home. And as long as you do it in a normal cooking pot it's completely safe. Great to use over vanilla ice cream.)

Lead itself isn't sweet; lead acetate is. There's a bit of acetic acid even in grape juice, and as you boil it in the lead container both things react together.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Defrutum is not a jelly, it’s more like a syrup: grape juice reduced to a half of its volume, to concentrate flavours and as a preservation method. I’m almost sure that it was available for a wide range of people, not just wealthy ones.

I've seen it referred to by various terms and I'm not culinarily educated enough to tell the difference between any of the words. Syrup, jelly, must; it's all Greek to me! I'll fix it in my explanation though!

It was available to a wide range of people, but it was a frequent visitor primarily to the tables of the wealthy.

Lead itself isn’t sweet; lead acetate is. There’s a bit of acetic acid even in grape juice, and as you boil it in the lead container both things react together.

I'll correct that too.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Syrup, jelly, must; it’s all Greek to me!

The main difference is texture: a jelly is firm and lumpy enough that you can hold it with the side of a knife and spread over something else (like a toast), but you'd have a really hard time pouring jelly over something by tilting the container. In the meantime a syrup is a thick liquid, so it's runny and you can pour it over.

Traditionally, the source of that difference in texture is a substance called pectin, found in plenty fruits. Grapes do have pectin, but once you squeezed them into juice most pectin went to waste with the pomace and skins, so even if you reduce the juice for defrutum it'll be still a runny liquid.

Must is simply grape juice, ready to be fermented into wine, although in Latin the word mustum also sometimes pops up for young wines. Additionally, in the context of Catholic masses it's grape juice suitable for communion.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 months ago

Details and extra information like this are why I come to these topics.