Andrew Dalby, The Tastes of Byzantium: the cuisine of a legendary empire, Prospect Books, London, 2003
The Taste of Byzantium gives a comprehensive picture of the digestive underpinnings of the Byzantine Empire — its food, smells and tastes of the city, the people’s customs, city food trading systems, water supply, gastronomic etiquette and recipes.
Alongside an introduction to the culinary orientation of Constantinople — The Tastes of Byzantium features a set of medical ‘handbooks’ that describe humoral theories and a dietary calendar.
In all, an intriguing inventory of Ancient Aegean approaches to simple local food such as flower bulbs (grape-hyacinth), young shoots of trees prepared in brine (rowan, hawthorn, birch, linden), or fermented milk (kumis) and special honey and wine -based potions which were used as bases for medicinal infusions.
Konditon, excellent for bladder stone. Honey 1 pint, wine 5 pints, burnet saxifrage, spikenard, ginger, cubebs (a type of wild pepper), signel, cassia, parsley, yellow flag iris, gentian, carrot seed, 4 scruples each. Combine the dry ingredients with the skimmed honey and the wine and leave in a jar for 10 days to mature. —Oribasius (Greek Medical writer), Medical Collections 5.33.