Garum, similar to
liquamen,
[1] was a type of fermented
fish sauce condiment that was an essential flavour in
Ancient Roman cooking, the supreme
condiment.
[2]Although it enjoyed its greatest popularity in the Roman world,[3] it originally came from the Greeks, gaining its name from the Greek words garos or gáron (γάρον), which named the fish whose intestines were originally used in the condiment's production.
For the Romans it was both a staple to the common diet and a luxury for the wealthy. After the liquid garum was ladled off of the top of the mixture, the remains of the fish, called allec, was used by the poorest classes to flavour their staple porridge. While among the rich the best garum fetched prices for which the historian of food Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat found no parallel in caviar but rather with the precious essences used in perfumery.[4]Garum appears in most of the recipes featured in Apicius, a Roman cookbook, which, however, offers a technique to render palatable garum that had gone bad. The sauce was generally made through the crushing and fermentation in brine of the innards of various fishes such as mackerel,[5] tuna, eel, and others. While the finished product was apparently mild and subtle in flavor, the nobile garum of Martial's epigram,[6] the actual production of garum created such unpleasant smells as to become relegated to the outskirts of cities so that the neighbors would not be offended by the odour.
When mixed with wine (oenogarum, a popular Byzantine sauce), vinegar, black pepper, or oil, garum was served to enhance the flavor of a wide variety of dishes, including boiled veal and steamed mussels, even pear-and-honey soufflé. Diluted with water (hydrogarum) it was distributed to Roman legions. Pliny remarked that it could be diluted to the colour of honey wine and drunk;[7] as such a tonic, garum was also employed as a medicine—ancient Romans considered it to be one of the best cures available for many ailments, including dog bites, dysentery, and ulcers— and as an ingredient in cosmetics. It was used for numerous unusual ailments, based mostly of superstition. They included removing unwanted hair, and freckles. Garum was used to ease chronic diarrhea and to treat constipation. [8]
