Tiger Nut Honey Cones (Sweetmeats of the Tomb)
Small sweet pyramids of ground tiger nut (chufa), bound with honey and perfumed with cinnamon, no cooking. Compact, energizing, they keep and travel well: the ancient energy bar.
Small sweet pyramids of ground tiger nut (chufa), bound with honey and perfumed with cinnamon, no cooking. Compact, energizing, they keep and travel well: the ancient energy bar.
You prepare a long journey, perhaps the longest of all? Know, traveler, that it is I who inscribes your name upon arrival. So take these cones that my faithful shaped for their dead: the tiger nut is ground until it yields its sweet milk, kneaded with golden honey, and raised into small pyramids as painted on the walls of the Theban tombs. Light to carry, sweet to the mouth: enough to sustain you until the hall of judgment.
- •Dried ground tiger nut (chufa) — two handfuls (base)
- •Honey — by the ladle (sweet binder)
- •Cinnamon (cassia) — a pinch (spice)
- •Pounded dates — a handful (binder)
Tiger Nut Honey Cones (Sweetmeats of the Tomb)
Small sweet pyramids of ground tiger nut (chufa), bound with honey and perfumed with cinnamon, no cooking. Compact, energizing, they keep and travel well: the ancient energy bar.
Why this dish? Thoth, who guides souls and inscribes the verdict of the weighing of the heart, presides over the journey to the afterlife. The Egyptians placed in tombs — for this great journey — cones of ground tiger nut bound with honey, whose manufacture is shown in scenes from the tomb of Rekhmire. A sweet literally made for the final departure.
You prepare a long journey, perhaps the longest of all? Know, traveler, that it is I who inscribes your name upon arrival. So take these cones that my faithful shaped for their dead: the tiger nut is ground until it yields its sweet milk, kneaded with golden honey, and raised into small pyramids as painted on the walls of the Theban tombs. Light to carry, sweet to the mouth: enough to sustain you until the hall of judgment.
Ingredients (period version)
- Dried ground tiger nut (chufa) — two handfuls (base)
- Honey — by the ladle (sweet binder)
- Cinnamon (cassia) — a pinch (spice)
- Pounded dates — a handful (binder)
Ingredients
- Tiger nut (chufa) powder or rehydrated and blended tubers — 200 g
- Honey — 4 tbsp (sweet binder)
- Pitted dates — 80 g, made into paste (binder)
- Ground cinnamon — 1/2 tsp (spice)
Method
- Grind the tiger nuts into a fine powder (or use tiger nut flour).
- Blend the dates into a smooth paste.
- Mix tiger nut, date paste, honey, and cinnamon until a moldable mass forms.
- Shape small cones or pyramids by hand.
- Let firm up for 1 hour in a cool place before serving or packing for travel.
How it was made : The tomb of Rekhmire (18th Dynasty) shows servants grinding tiger nuts and mixing them with honey to shape conical sweets. Tiger nuts, rich and nourishing, were cultivated as early as the Old Kingdom and placed as offerings in tombs — a true confectionery attested by archaeology.
The contemporary twist : Roll the cones in toasted sesame seeds and present them on a sheet of dried papyrus — your "scribe's pyramids," perfect for a school snack.
Sources : Scenes from the tomb of Rekhmire (TT100), Thebes, 18th Dynasty · William J. Darby, Paul Ghalioungui & Louis Grivetti, Food: The Gift of Osiris (1977)
Thoth · Charactorium
