Honey and Coriander Travel Wine
Wine sweetened with honey and scented with coriander and a few berries, a mixed drink in the ancient style. Honey preserves it, spices warm it: it is the cup shared before setting sail, or offered to the guest at the palace threshold.
Wine sweetened with honey and scented with coriander and a few berries, a mixed drink in the ancient style. Honey preserves it, spices warm it: it is the cup shared before setting sail, or offered to the guest at the palace threshold.
Bring your cup near, stranger, before you take again to the sea road. This wine we mix with honey so that it holds up to long crossings, and with a little crushed coriander so that it warms the sailor's belly. At the threshold of the palace of Aia, no guest ever leaves with a dry throat—such is the law of the sons of the Sun. Drink slowly: it is strong, and the Black Sea does not forgive those who stagger on the deck.
- •Wine — one krater (base)
- •Honey — by the ladleful (sweetener and preservative)
- •Coriander seeds — a pinch, crushed (spice)
- •Myrtle or juniper berries — a few (flavour)
- •Water — to cut, as per custom (dilution)
Honey and Coriander Travel Wine
Wine sweetened with honey and scented with coriander and a few berries, a mixed drink in the ancient style. Honey preserves it, spices warm it: it is the cup shared before setting sail, or offered to the guest at the palace threshold.
Why this dish? Absyrtus pursues the Argo along the coasts of the Pontus and the Istros: his life turns into a maritime chase. This honeyed and spiced wine, which keeps well and warms the body, is the traveller's and sailor's cup—the one you take when you leave the shore of Aia, as Medea and Jason did.
Bring your cup near, stranger, before you take again to the sea road. This wine we mix with honey so that it holds up to long crossings, and with a little crushed coriander so that it warms the sailor's belly. At the threshold of the palace of Aia, no guest ever leaves with a dry throat—such is the law of the sons of the Sun. Drink slowly: it is strong, and the Black Sea does not forgive those who stagger on the deck.
Ingredients (period version)
- Wine — one krater (base)
- Honey — by the ladleful (sweetener and preservative)
- Coriander seeds — a pinch, crushed (spice)
- Myrtle or juniper berries — a few (flavour)
- Water — to cut, as per custom (dilution)
Ingredients
- Red or medium-sweet white wine — 750 ml (base)
- Honey — 4–5 tbsp (sweetener)
- Coriander seeds — 1 tsp, crushed (spice)
- Juniper berries — 5–6 (flavour)
- Water (optional, to dilute) — 100 ml (dilution)
Method
- Gently warm the wine without boiling.
- Stir in the honey until dissolved.
- Add the crushed coriander seeds and juniper berries.
- Infuse over very low heat for 10–15 minutes.
- Strain, then serve warm or chilled; dilute with a little water in the ancient style for a lighter version.
How it was made : The Greeks rarely drank wine straight: they mixed it with water in the krater and often flavoured it with honey (oinomeli) and spices. These honeyed wines kept better and accompanied libations, departures, and the hospitality due to a guest (xenia).
The contemporary twist : Served warm in winter like an ancestral mulled wine, in copper cups; or chilled in summer with a citrus slice—the 'Argonaut's cup'.
Sources : Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae (honeyed and spiced wines) · Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica (hospitality and voyage of the Argonauts)
Absyrtos · Charactorium