Moretum

Moretum

Moretum in the mortar
Type	Spread
Place of origin	Ancient Rome
Main ingredients	Herbs, fresh cheese, salt, oil, vinegar

Moretum is a type of herb cheese spread that the Ancient Romans ate with bread. A typical moretum was made of herbs, fresh cheese, salt, oil and some vinegar. Optionally, different kinds of nuts could be added. The contents were crushed together in a mortar, hence the name.

A recipe can be found in the poem of the same name in the Appendix Vergiliana.De Re Rustica, book XII of Columella contains further recipes of moretum. The variant with pine nuts is very similar to modern pesto.