flipItría — Honey-Sesame Cakes
Itría — Honey-Sesame Cakes
Why this dish? **Ptolemy** traveled to observe the sky — to **Rhodes**, perhaps farther, to verify latitudes and astronomical phenomena. Sesame compacted in honey is the quintessential ancient travel snack: dense, energy-rich, long-lasting, easy to slip into a nomadic scholar's luggage.
Thin cakes of toasted sesame seeds bound in cooked honey, crunchy then melting — the direct ancestor of Greek *pasteli*, a travel and festival sweet.
When I had to go to Rhodes for my observations, I carried little beyond my instruments, my scrolls, and a few of these cakes. Toasted sesame and honey keep in all weathers, and a single one can sustain a man bent for hours over his measurements. I would toast the seeds until golden, bind them with honey barely browned, then press them thin before they hardened. Believe me: whoever intends to count the stars needs a little sweetness in his pack.
- •Sesame seeds — a large handful (crunchy base)
- •Honey — enough to coat (sweet binder)
- •Pinch of poppy seeds (optional) — a little (flavoring)
Itría — Honey-Sesame Cakes
Thin cakes of toasted sesame seeds bound in cooked honey, crunchy then melting — the direct ancestor of Greek *pasteli*, a travel and festival sweet.
Why this dish? **Ptolemy** traveled to observe the sky — to **Rhodes**, perhaps farther, to verify latitudes and astronomical phenomena. Sesame compacted in honey is the quintessential ancient travel snack: dense, energy-rich, long-lasting, easy to slip into a nomadic scholar's luggage.
When I had to go to Rhodes for my observations, I carried little beyond my instruments, my scrolls, and a few of these cakes. Toasted sesame and honey keep in all weathers, and a single one can sustain a man bent for hours over his measurements. I would toast the seeds until golden, bind them with honey barely browned, then press them thin before they hardened. Believe me: whoever intends to count the stars needs a little sweetness in his pack.
Ingredients (period version)
- Sesame seeds — a large handful (crunchy base)
- Honey — enough to coat (sweet binder)
- Pinch of poppy seeds (optional) — a little (flavoring)
Ingredients
- Sesame seeds — 200 g (base)
- Honey — 120 g (binder)
- Water — 1 tbsp (helps cook the honey)
- Lemon zest or poppy seeds (optional) — to taste (flavoring)
Method
- Toast sesame seeds in a dry pan until lightly colored, stirring constantly.
- In a saucepan, heat honey with water until it bubbles and lightly browns (about 5 min).
- Off heat, quickly stir in sesame seeds (and optional flavoring).
- Spread the hot mixture onto parchment paper, press to 5 mm thickness, mark portions, and let harden before breaking apart.
How it was made : Sesame-and-honey cakes (*itría / itrion*) are mentioned as early as Classical Greece as offerings and festival treats. Without refined sugar, honey was the only sweetener; their long shelf life made them a travel and provisioning staple.
The contemporary twist : Pour into round molds and stamp with a disc evoking the celestial circles of the geocentric system: the "Pasteli of the Stars."
Claudius Ptolemy · Charactorium
