World Flavors Cookbook

Symposium Spiced Wine (Oenomel)

Name: Symposium Spiced Wine (Oenomel)
Cook time: 10 min
Cuisine: Ancient World
Ingredients: dry red wine, water, honey, cinnamon or cassia bark, thyme, optional: anise or fennel seeds

Wine mixed with honey, water, and spices — the oenomel served at Greek philosophical dinner parties, always diluted with water as drinking undiluted wine was considered barbaric.

Cuisine: Ancient World

Ingredients

dry red wine, water, honey, cinnamon or cassia bark, thyme, optional: anise or fennel seeds

Instructions

Warm wine with an equal volume of water — Greeks never drank wine undiluted. Add honey to taste. Add cinnamon, thyme, and optional anise. Warm until honey dissolves (do not boil). Strain through cloth. Serve warm in clay cups at the symposium.