Taken from Marcus Gravius Apicius: De Re Coquinaria
The recipe calls for:
1 kg of firm, ripe apricots
200 ml of white wine (in this case red wine)
250 ml of Passum (very sweet wine sauce, made by boiling either new wine -in this case grape juice) to thicken it, and adding a little honey to do so).
One cup of peppermint, pepper, salt, cornstarch and a little vinegar.
Procedure:
1. Wash the apricots
2. Cut and stone them
3. Place them in a pan
4. Collect mint (in this case fresh, but dried also works)
5. Collect the red wine, salt, ground pepper, grape juice and honey
6. Place grape juice in a pan
7. While the apricots are in the pan, add some olive oil
8. Add the mints and the ground pepper into the pan with the apricots
9. Pour the grape juice, red wine, vinegar and the honey into the pan with the apricots
10. Finally, add the salt
11. Cook for approximately 20 minutes on a small, moderate heat.
12. Once it’s cooked, place it in a Mason Jar (or any jar you own -maybe even some ancient Roman amphora you happen to own and feel like putting jam inside).
And there you have it! An ancient Roman jam to eat!
Giulia and the Ancients 