Grape syrup

The ancient Greek name for grape syrup is siraios (σιραίος), in the general category of hepsema (ἕψημα), which translates to 'boiled'.

[5] The fifth-century BC Athenian playwright Aristophanes also makes a reference to it, as does Roman-era Greek physician Galen.

As James Grout explains in its Encyclopedia Romana,[8] authors informed different reductions, as follows:The elder Cato, Columella, and Pliny all describe how unfermented grape juice (mustum, must) was boiled to concentrate its natural sugars.

"A product of art, not of nature," the must was reduced to one half (defrutum) or even one third its volume (sapa) (Pliny, XIV.80),[9] although the terms are not always consistent.

[10] Isidore of Seville, writing in the seventh century AD, says that it is sapa that has been reduced by a third but goes on to imagine that defrutum is so called because it has been cheated or defrauded (defrudare) (Etymologies, XX.3.15).

For instance, the original research was done by Jerome Nriagu, but was criticized by John Scarborough, a pharmacologist and classicist, who characterized Nriagu's research as "so full of false evidence, miscitations, typographical errors, and a blatant flippancy regarding primary sources that the reader cannot trust the basic arguments.

Sources describing the Muslim conquest of the Levant in 636 note that when Jews met with Rashidun caliph Umar, who camped in Jabiyah, southern Golan, they claimed that due to the harsh climate and plagues, they had to drink wine.

They boiled grape juice until two-thirds evaporated and presented it to Umar, who noted it reminded him of an ointment for camels.

Rabbi Joseph Tov Elem, who lived in Jerusalem around 1370, proposed that the honey mentioned in the Bible is actually grape syrup.

Obadiah of Bertinoro also mentioned grape syrup among various types of honey sold in Jerusalem, and Meshullam of Volterra described it as "hard as a rock and very fine."

In the 19th century, Hebron exported significant quantities of grape syrup to Egypt, as documented by Samson Bloch and Samuel David Luzzatto.

Before the wide availability of inexpensive cane sugar, petimezi was a common sweetener in Greek cooking, along with carob syrup and honey.

From late August until the beginning of December, many Greek bakeries make and sell dark crunchy and fragrant petimezi cookies, moustokoúloura (μουστοκούλουρα).

[22] In Iranian cuisine, grape syrup (in Persian: شیره انگور) is used to sweeten ardeh (tahini), which is consumed at breakfast.

Saba, (from the Latin word sapa, with the same meaning), vincotto or vino cotto is commonly used in Italy, especially in the regions of Emilia Romagna, Marche, Calabria, and Sardinia, where it is considered a traditional flavor.

In North Macedonia, a form of grape syrup known as madjun (Macedonian: Гроздов маџун) has been produced for centuries, commonly used as a sweetener, but also as traditional medicine.