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Kykeon (Barley Water)

Kykeon (Barley Water) is a traditional Ancient Roman recipe for drink made with barley water and flavoured with white wine and honey. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Ancient Roman version of: Kykeon.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

100 minutes

Total Time:

120 minutes

Serves:

4

Rating:

Tags : Vegetarian RecipesAncient Roman Recipes

Barley water is known from the foodstuffs sent to and received by Roman soldiers. It seems to have been a staple part of their drinking requirements. The version presented here is slightly more 'high class' in that it contains wine. But with with that addition it's almost no different from what the standard Roman grunt would have drunk.

Kykeon (from Hesychius' Lexicon)

Hesychius was a fifth century grammarian, hailing from Alexandria. His work survives as a corrupt fifteenth century copy that represents he richest lexicon of unusual and obscure Greek words that has survived. The work itself includes approximately 51,000 entries, a copious list of peculiar words, forms and phrases, with an explanation of their meaning, and often with a reference to the author who used them or to the district of Greece where they were current. As a result the work represents a late recipe for kykeon and specifically describes this as a drink (the original version of this was probably a thick barley gruel used as a soup).

Translation

Kykeon: a drink mixed from wine and honey and water and barley groats.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

60g pearl barley
125ml sweet white wine
1.2l water
2 tbsp honey

Method:

First the barley needs to be prepared. To do this, place the barley in a large saucepan and add the 1.2l of water (do not add salt). Bring to the boil then cover the pot and allow to simmer for 1½ hours.

Strain-off the juice into a jug or bottle and discard the boiled barley. When the juice has cooled, add to it the honey and water and top-up with water to make 1.2l in total. Chill and serve.