Rediscovering the Ancient Roman Fish Sauce Called Garum
A 4th century BC condiment brought back from the dead — and a recipe
Fish sauce is from Asia, right? Well yes and no.
It was actually developed somewhat simultaneously in China (about 2300 years ago) and in Ancient Greece (around the 4th century BCE), food archeologists believe. But this funky tasting umami rich sauce was especially popular in the Roman Empire. And the most prized fish sauce of all was Garum Gaditano — garum made in present day Cadiz Province, Andalusia, Spain . The Romans were practically swimming in it, according to records and remnants of the sauce found in Pompeii, where much of our knowledge of Ancient Rome comes from. They liked it on everything.
It is thought that the Cádiz variety was so delicious because of the region’s incredible access to high quality almadraba red tuna, which is the main ingredient in the fermented sauce from this area. The fish parts were marinated with spices and aromatic herbs and salted during the hottest months of the year. The heat caused a series of biochemical reactions to take place that triggered the decomposition of the fish, so that it released the golden water — both disgusting and highly coveted.
So if garum is so good, why don’t we use it today?
Well, the exact recipe has been lost to time, a little less than twenty centuries ago, despite the fact that the tradition of using the sauce was widespread throughout the Mediterranean for a thousand years.
The recipe and the taste for garum in Andalusia was lost with the end of the Roman Empire in Spain, around 460 AD, archeologists think. But a team of researchers at the University of Cadiz, led by Professor Victor Palacios, has located some old stone vats where garum was fermented in at Baelo Claudia, an ancient Roman ruin town on the beach near Tarifa, and they are using science to reconstruct the old recipe that gave Gades imperial gastronomic fame.
Work is still being done to figure out exactly what made this garum so special, but meanwhile, garum is already being produced again in Andalusia, for the first time since the residue of ancient garum was uncovered in the Pompeii archeological site, buried in 79 AD.
This garum — called Flor de Garum — was developed with the input of Andalusian chefs. The producers freely admit that their recipe most likely inferior to the lost Cadiz variety, and they are waiting on the new science to reveal the exact proportions of the finer Cadiz version, so they can produce it once again.
There was a lot of lack of culture around the garum, because it was said that it was rotten fish, which cannot be possible since salt has a high conservative power and avoids any type of microbiological contamination,” explains Joaquín Gómez Beser, managing director of El Majuelo, whose company produces Flor de Garum.
“When the project started, the researchers wanted to know if garum, adapted to the tastes of the 21st century, made sense and if their tastes and ours were very different. The result has been that we do not have so many differences, since the product, in the pilot scale, came out spectacular, yes, with many tests, because from the remains we can deduce the components, but not the quantities . So many tests had to be done , with different amounts of fish and spices until we came up with a product that we liked. We cannot know if it is exactly the same as the one they made at that time because we do not know the exact quantities.”
Joaquín explains that, at the El Majuelo facilities, “we have had to adapt the equipment to try to recreate how it was done at the time. In this way, a special room has been set up for this, where we mix the fish and spices in a heat-insulated container and leave it to marinate for two months so that the garum and alec are separated.” The garum is, after all, the water of the fish mixed with all the aromas of the spices and the flavor and fat of the fish.
In addition, El Majuelo also sells garum as a seasoning or salt with aromas, garum paté, oxigarum, which is a vinegar mixed with garum that was also made in Roman times, and one of the latest creations — saucemare — their most popular seller, which is a sweet garum. The saucemare is made from a recipe of garum, herbs and spices including oregano, black pepper, rosemary, thyme, sea salt, Jerez vinegar, and natural caramel from grape must.
Most of the garum production that comes out of El Majuelo travels to Asian countries such as Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines where, traditionally, gastronomy has been closely linked to fish-based sauces. But they also export to the United States and England. In Spain, the market is still small. “It is a very particular product,” says Gómez Beser, “because its application in the kitchen is still difficult. At a domestic level, there are many people who buy it, but they are usually in love with Roman history or in love with cooking in general, but it is not a mass consumer product. It is used a lot in haute cuisine restaurants and we have verified that whoever tries it, has it again.”
But the production of garum, regardless of the production and commercial work, has an unquestionable touch of romanticism insofar as it is helping to recover a very important part of our history. “When we made the first preparations, all the researchers from the University came, and no wonder,” says Joaquín. “We are recovering a recipe from 2,000 ago that had stopped being made. When the Roman Empire fell, the elaboration of garum disappeared.” It is what is called “archeogastronomy,” a movement that recovers flavors from bygone times, especially from Roman times, such as cheeses or wines made with 1,000-year-old techniques.
Once they perfect the recipe, the Jerez de la Frontera-based Andalusian company that produces Flor de Garum is excited and ready to ferment the sauce with the high quality ingredients that only Spain’s Atlantic coast provides. For now, try a bottle of their Pompeii derived recipe.
Spaghetti with Garum, Tomatoes & Lemon Zest
Serves 4 in only 10 minutes cooking time.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon sea salt
400 grams dry spaghetti
8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
4 tablespoons garum
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 untreated lemon, zest
Handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
Method:
Bring a big pot of water to a boil, add the rock salt then follow with the dry spaghetti. Cook the spaghetti following the number of minutes suggested in the package (usually it is about 10 minutes). Lessen 1 minute from the number of minutes suggested.
In a large saucepan in medium fire, warm up 1/3 of the extra virgin olive oil. When it’s hot, add the garlic, leaving it to turn lightly golden and aromatic. Discard.
Add the tomatoes and toss for about 6 minutes.
Add the garum and lemon juice then turn off the heat.
Mix in the cooked spaghetti to the sauce then add the remaining ingredients: lemon zest, parsley and remaining extra virgin olive oil.
Serve immediately.