Honey and Sesame Cakes for the Dead
Small balls of toasted sesame bound with honey, scented with sweet wine. An offering sweet, simple and luminous, placed in memory of the departed.
Small balls of toasted sesame bound with honey, scented with sweet wine. An offering sweet, simple and luminous, placed in memory of the departed.
My son, you found me among the shades, and you tried to embrace me three times without grasping anything but wind. If you cannot hold me against you, at least place these honey and sesame cakes on the earth for the dead. Pour also a little sweet wine. These are the gifts the living owe to the shades — not to satisfy us, for we no longer eat, but so that your love may reach me here. Remember me, and that will suffice.
- •Sesame — a good measure, toasted (base, funerary and nuptial ingredient)
- •Honey — enough to bind (binder and sacred sweetness)
- •Sweet wine — a few drops (flavor and libation)
Honey and Sesame Cakes for the Dead
Small balls of toasted sesame bound with honey, scented with sweet wine. An offering sweet, simple and luminous, placed in memory of the departed.
Why this dish? Anticlea dies of grief and her shade (skia) awaits Odysseus in the Underworld, where he meets her during his descent: one of the most poignant scenes of the Odyssey. These small honey and sesame cakes evoke the offerings that the living placed to appease the shades of the dead — a tender gesture addressed to a mother whom death took before the reunion.
My son, you found me among the shades, and you tried to embrace me three times without grasping anything but wind. If you cannot hold me against you, at least place these honey and sesame cakes on the earth for the dead. Pour also a little sweet wine. These are the gifts the living owe to the shades — not to satisfy us, for we no longer eat, but so that your love may reach me here. Remember me, and that will suffice.
Ingredients (period version)
- Sesame — a good measure, toasted (base, funerary and nuptial ingredient)
- Honey — enough to bind (binder and sacred sweetness)
- Sweet wine — a few drops (flavor and libation)
Ingredients
- Sesame seeds — 200 g (base)
- Honey — 120 g (binder and sweetness)
- Sweet wine (like muscat) or cooked wine — 1 tbsp (flavor)
- A pinch of salt — 1 pinch (balance)
Method
- Toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan until golden and fragrant, then let cool slightly.
- Gently heat the honey with the sweet wine and a pinch of salt, without boiling, until it becomes more fluid.
- Mix the sesame into the flavored honey to form a sticky mass.
- Let cool for a few minutes, then shape into small balls or lozenges with moistened hands.
- Let harden at room temperature.
- Arrange on a leaf or a cup; symbolically pour a few drops of wine beside as a memorial.
How it was made : In the Greek world, the dead were fed: libations of wine, honey, milk, and deposits of cakes (especially sesame and honey) during funerary rites and festivals of the dead. Sesame, associated with both weddings and funerals, symbolized fertility and passage. These offerings (enagismata) appeased the shades, as Odysseus offers blood and libations to the dead in Book 11 of the Odyssey.
The contemporary twist : These sesame-honey balls are the direct ancestor of Greek pasteli: serve today as a small energy sweet, as a gourmet homage rather than funerary.
Anticleia · Charactorium