BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Byzantine Spiced Wine

Festive flavors from late antiquity

Byzantine spiced wine. Courtesy John Gregory Drummond, BAS

For this recipe, we travel to ancient Constantinople (modern Istanbul), the capital of the mighty Byzantine Empire. Founded in the seventh century BCE as a Greek colony known as Byzantion, the city prospered for centuries as a trading hub. In 330 CE, the Roman Emperor Constantine I—who famously legalized Christianity—“refounded” the city, renaming it Constantinople and establishing it as the eastern capital of the Roman Empire. When Rome and the western empire fell in 476, Constantinople continued as the capital of the Byzantine Empire for nearly a thousand years, until its fall to the Ottomans in 1453.

Despite this long and prosperous history, we do not have any culinary recipes from the Byzantine Empire itself. We do have some medical texts that mention foods and drinks, however, as well as a few texts from Byzantine citizens who lived in foreign lands. This recipe, which comes from the March section of a medieval-era dietary calendar attributed to Hierophilus the Sophist, simply reads: “Your sweet wine should be spiced, including pepper, cinnamon, spikenard, and cloves.”

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Only one ingredient may prove troublesome to obtain. Spikenard, an oil that was often used in perfumes, is derived from a flowering honeysuckle plant that grew in the mountains of East Asia. This oil was a luxury in the ancient Mediterranean; it is often referred to as “nard” in biblical texts such as John 12:3, where Mary of Bethany pours the expensive oil on Jesus’s feet before wiping them with her hair. If you can’t find spikenard, honeysuckle tea is an alternative.

Spiced wine can be served hot or cold but is probably best served warm on a cold night. So grab a mug and enjoy as you cuddle up with the latest issue of BAR!

BAR’s Recipe

• 1 bottle of red wine (or 3 cups of grape juice, apple juice, cider, or similar)
• 6 black peppercorns
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 tsp spikenard or 3 honeysuckle teabags
• 6 whole cloves

Instructions

1. Pour the bottle of wine into a pot or crockpot.
2. Add all of the above ingredients and stir.
   
   

   Byzantine spiced wine cooking on the stovetop. Courtesy John Gregory Drummond, BAS

3. Allow the wine to heat for about 20 minutes, but do not boil.
4. Serve in mugs and enjoy the warming flavors.
   
   

   Courtesy John Gregory Drummond, BAS

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