Mulsum, the Honeyed Wine of Banquets
Wine mixed with honey, scented with spices, served chilled at the start of the banquet. Sweet, fragrant, slightly tart: the 'aperitif wine' of wealthy Romans.
Wine mixed with honey, scented with spices, served chilled at the start of the banquet. Sweet, fragrant, slightly tart: the 'aperitif wine' of wealthy Romans.
Raise your cup. Before the meats, we drink mulsum: good wine married to honey, into which I like to slip a little pepper and nard leaf, as they bring back from the East. It is sweet on the tongue but loosens tongues—and a loosened tongue betrays its thoughts. At my table, they drank, they laughed, and I listened. So drink, but remember: in Rome, every shared beverage is a matter of power.
- •Wine — a reduced amphora (base)
- •Honey — a good quarter by volume (sweetness)
- •Pepper, nard, saffron — a pinch (luxury spices)
Mulsum, the Honeyed Wine of Banquets
Wine mixed with honey, scented with spices, served chilled at the start of the banquet. Sweet, fragrant, slightly tart: the 'aperitif wine' of wealthy Romans.
Why this dish? Mulsum opened grand meals and flowed at receptions where Fulvia wove alliances for her husband. This drink of honey and wine, a mark of Roman luxury and hospitality, accompanied the political evenings where, in the murmurs of the triclinium, the fate of the Republic was decided.
Raise your cup. Before the meats, we drink mulsum: good wine married to honey, into which I like to slip a little pepper and nard leaf, as they bring back from the East. It is sweet on the tongue but loosens tongues—and a loosened tongue betrays its thoughts. At my table, they drank, they laughed, and I listened. So drink, but remember: in Rome, every shared beverage is a matter of power.
Ingredients (period version)
- Wine — a reduced amphora (base)
- Honey — a good quarter by volume (sweetness)
- Pepper, nard, saffron — a pinch (luxury spices)
Ingredients
- Fruity red or white wine — 75 cl (base)
- Honey — 150 g (sweetness)
- Black peppercorns — 4 grains (spice)
- Bay leaf or pinch of saffron — 1 (fragrance (substitute for nard))
Method
- Gently warm part of the wine without boiling, dissolve the honey in it while stirring.
- Add the peppercorns and bay leaf (or saffron), cover and infuse for 15 minutes.
- Pour in the remaining cold wine, mix, and strain to remove spices.
- Let cool for a few hours, or overnight.
- Serve chilled, in small cups, at the start of the meal.
How it was made : Mulsum (honeyed wine) was an iconic Roman drink, served as an aperitif ('promulsis'). Pliny and Apicius mention these honeyed, spiced wines; Romans, who always cut their wine, prized this sweet mixture with imported spices as a sign of refinement.
The contemporary twist : Served over ice with a strip of bitter orange zest, mulsum becomes a 'proto-vermouth' for the aperitif hour.
Sources : Apicius, De re coquinaria · Pliny the Elder, Natural History, XIV
Fulvia · Charactorium
