Figs with honey and sesame for the gods
Fresh or tender figs coated in warm honey, rolled in toasted sesame. Tender, fragrant, frankly sweet: a bite of offering, simple and luminous, expressing the generosity due to gods and guests.
Fresh or tender figs coated in warm honey, rolled in toasted sesame. Tender, fragrant, frankly sweet: a bite of offering, simple and luminous, expressing the generosity due to gods and guests.
Before the cup passes, let us never forget the gods: to them goes the first and sweetest portion. Take these figs from our orchards, pour over them the golden honey, roll them in toasted sesame — and place them on the altar of Messon before you taste them yourself. He who honors the gods with a sincere sweetness has nothing to fear, neither from the tyrant nor from fate.
- •Fresh or dried Lesbian figs — a basket (base)
- •Honey — to coat (sweetness, offering)
- •Toasted sesame seeds — a handful (coating)
- •Fresh thyme (optional) — a few leaves (scent)
Figs with honey and sesame for the gods
Fresh or tender figs coated in warm honey, rolled in toasted sesame. Tender, fragrant, frankly sweet: a bite of offering, simple and luminous, expressing the generosity due to gods and guests.
Why this dish? Before drinking, a libation is poured and the best of the table is offered to the gods. Alcaeus sang of the deities of Lesbos at the sanctuary of Messon; figs, honey, and sweet cakes were among the most common sweet offerings in Greece. This sweet, inspired by these gifts, opens or closes the banquet under the gods' protection.
Before the cup passes, let us never forget the gods: to them goes the first and sweetest portion. Take these figs from our orchards, pour over them the golden honey, roll them in toasted sesame — and place them on the altar of Messon before you taste them yourself. He who honors the gods with a sincere sweetness has nothing to fear, neither from the tyrant nor from fate.
Ingredients (period version)
- Fresh or dried Lesbian figs — a basket (base)
- Honey — to coat (sweetness, offering)
- Toasted sesame seeds — a handful (coating)
- Fresh thyme (optional) — a few leaves (scent)
Ingredients
- Fresh figs (or rehydrated dried figs) — 8 large figs (base)
- Liquid honey — 4 tbsp (sweetness)
- Sesame seeds — 3 tbsp (coating)
- Fresh thyme leaves — 1 tsp (scent)
- Water — 1 tbsp (to thin the honey)
Method
- Toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan until fragrant, set aside.
- Cut the figs in half (if dried, plump them in hot water for 10 minutes first).
- Warm the honey with a spoonful of water and the thyme to make it pourable.
- Arrange the figs, drizzle with warm honey.
- Sprinkle generously with toasted sesame and serve warm.
- For the offering gesture, symbolically reserve the most beautiful fig before sharing the rest.
How it was made : Greece did not know sugar: honey was the great sweetener, and figs, dates, nuts, and honey cakes formed the tragemata, the sweets served at drinking time. Cakes and fruits were also offered to the gods during libations. Lesbos was proud of its figs.
The contemporary twist : Present them on a fig leaf like an offering, honey still steaming and sesame shards: a deceptively simple dessert that tells a whole ritual.
Sources : Athenaeus of Naucratis, The Deipnosophists, book XIV (on tragemata and honey sweets) · Alcaeus, Fragments (hymns to the gods of Lesbos; trans. D. A. Campbell, Greek Lyric I, Loeb)
Alcaeus · Charactorium