Jars excavated in Jerusalem. It's thought some contained wine possible enriched with vanilla.Credit: Photographed by Sasha Flit, Tel-Aviv University / Sourced from PloS One study.
Posted on 04/06/2022 8:17:50 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Wine enriched with vanilla may have been popular among royals and high society in Jerusalem more than 2,500 years ago, suggest researchers in a new study.
Researchers examining remnants of jars dating back to the kingdom of Judah found evidence that royal elites in Jerusalem may have been drinking wine ‘flavoured with vanilla’.
It’s already known that wine has a long history in the region, and some studies suggest wines contained added spices or herbs.
Yet researchers said they were surprised to find traces of vanillin in some of the ancient storage jars, which were excavated from debris caused by the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem...
As a highly prized import, vanilla was probably the preserve of high society at the time. Several jars examined by the researchers contained a rosette stamp linking them to the kingdom of Judah’s royal economy.
‘Residues of vanilla, discovered in some of the jars, attest to the great prestige of the wine and to the drinking habits of the elite residents of Jerusalem,’ said the study’s authors.
They said the findings indicated vanilla was used ‘as a wine additive by the kings of Judah and their entourage’.
They added the vanilla was likely imported from India or East Africa. ‘Both areas were connected to the Levant by the desert roads which originated ether in South Arabia or Egypt,’ they said.
The news comes only a few months after a ‘huge’ winery complex dating back 1,500 years was discovered by archaeologists working for the Israel Antiquities Authority near the city of Yavne.
(Excerpt) Read more at decanter.com ...
Jars excavated in Jerusalem. It's thought some contained wine possible enriched with vanilla.Credit: Photographed by Sasha Flit, Tel-Aviv University / Sourced from PloS One study.
Apologies to M_Continuum, I failed to save your name into the ping list until now. [blush]
I bought a bottle of the vanilla crown royal recently it’s okay but I’ll stick with the regular whiskey from now on
It makes complete sense. I fully suspect that taste buds haven’t changed much in millennia. Same goes for man’s curiosity ... “Hmm, what if I put this or that in my wine. I wonder what that will taste like?”
There's also the aspirational factor, getting something others don't have and/or can't get, has always been popular. :^)
Probably helped cover the bad taste of many wines back then. Wine was very inconsistent then.
It is what you make artificial vanilla flavoring out of and can be found in oak.
So they found wine that had been aged in oak barrels.
I’ll try it and let you know. I think only a few drops...
Makes more sense and why wines naturally taste like vanilla.
Strike my earlier post. I have no intention of putting vanilla in my wines
Wine in the ancient Mediterranean was in a more viscous state and was customarily watered before drinking. Banquet scenes in the Iliad and the Odyssey always described adding and mixing water with wine in a bowl, a little then sprinkled on the ground as share for the Gods, before serving it out to the participants. Imbibed in sufficient quantity, the result was still strong enough to get everybody drunk. Drinking un-watered wine was considered a faux pas and barbaric. But adding flavorings to cheap or bad wine was how one got past the taste.
The wine drank by the Greeks and Romans was actually pretty bad and usually had water added - basically the equivalent of lite beer.
Mingling water and wine had more to do with making the water safe to drink, but was a common enough practice to show up in the Odyssey. If they were concerned about how wine tasted, the Greeks wouldn’t to this day have Retsina as the national drink. ;^)
Thanks!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla
OTOH:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1038045/posts?page=99#99
Nothing new under the sun...
Modern “elites” drink wine infused with adrenochrome. /s
Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hills Forever!
I thought Vanilla was a New World plant?..................
its good with a few cubes of vanilla ice
Oak was used in so many things that using it just to store wine would have been a luxury.
Vanillin is also found in some pine barks.
It is not a real unusual chemical compound in nature. What makes the vanilla bean so unusual is the high amount found in it.
It is sort of like maple sap. All tree sap has sugar in it. The sap from the sugar maple just has more then usual.
Yes, and I vote for this:
A call for caution in the analysis of lipids and other small biomolecules from archaeological contexts
Organic Residue Analysis (ORA) of lipids is widely used in archaeological science.
• Common misconceptions and pitfalls in applying of ORA are discussed.
• Issues discussed include the incorrect use of biomarkers and analytical techniques.
• Best practice advice is offered to ensure high quality of studies using ORA.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440321000674
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