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In ancient Rome:
Mentioned by Theophrastus, Apicius, and
Pliny in their works, and also called
laserpicium and laser by the Romans,
Solphion was the first exotic spice to arrive in
Rome. It was imported from Cyrene (in Libya),
where its importance to the economy is
underscored by the fact that its image was
stamped on all the coins of the region from the
sixth century BC. The cultivation of
Solphion
was a measure of the wealth of Cyrene, but by
the time of Nero, the plant had become extinct,
probably as a result of overgrazing and over
cropping. Ferula asa-feotida L., a
similar but inferior quality plant that grew in
abundance in Persia, Media and Armenia, was
imported, and dishonest vendors passed off
products as
Solphion that were actually based on
the resin of other plants,
sometimes with ground
beans mixed in. |
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In the writings of Apicius he advised his
readers:
"To have an uncia of
Solphion
always ready: put the
Solphion in a sufficiently
capacious glass container with around twenty
pine nuts; every time you want to use some
Solphion, grind some of the pine nuts and you
will be surprised by the flavor it gives the
food; ever time replace the number of pine nuts
you have used in the container." (Apicius ).
Botanists theorize that the laser
parthicum
that replaced
Solphion when it disappeared was
ferula asafoetida, asafetida. Based on
this, and Apicius's references to the use of
asafoetida when
Solphion was not available, a
few drops of garlic juice is sometimes used as a
substitute in modern adaptations of ancient
recipies as asafetida extract apparently
provides an unusual, rather bitter and garlicky
flavor.
Extinction:
The reason for
Solphion's
supposed extinction is not entirely known. The
plant grew along a narrow coastal area, about
125 by 35 miles, in
Cyrenaica (in present-day
Libya). Much of the speculation about the
cause of its extinction rests on a sudden demand
for animals that grazed on the plant, for some
supposed effect on the quality of the meat.
Overgrazing combined with over harvesting may
have led to its extinction.
The climate of the
maghreb has been drying over the millennia,
and
desertification may also have been a factor.
Another theory is that when
Roman provincial governors took over power
from Greek colonists, they over-farmed
Solphion
and rendered the soil unable to yield the type
that was said to be of such medicinal value.
Theophrastus reports that the type of ferula
specifically referred to as "Solphion" was odd
in that it only grew in the wild, but could not
be successfully grown as a crop in tilled soil.
The validity of this report is questionable,
however, as Theophrastus was merely passing on a
report from another source. Pliny reported that
the last known stalk of
Solphion was given to
the Emperor
Nero "as a curiosity".
Demographic studies suggest that
the Roman world should have had a population
explosion due to a low disease rate, plentiful
food, and relatively few civilian war deaths.
Some have seized on the fact that it didn't as
evidence that people of the era had access to
effective birth control. Although
Solphion is no
longer around, modern studies of the closely
related plant asafetida show a 50 percent
success rate in preventing implantation of
fertilized eggs in rats, and it's nearly 100
percent effective when fed to them within three
days of mating. Likewise, studies of wild carrot
have shown that it blocks production of
progesterone, necessary for the uterus lining to
maintain the fetus. The seeds of Queen Anne's
lace are still used as a birth control method
today. Plausible as all this sounds, one can't
help raising a few objections,
the most
obvious being that positing a successful,
society-wide planned-parenthood program that
endured for centuries on the basis of a few rat
experiments is a mighty long leap. Whether it
was effective or not,
Solphion certainly was a
popular plant. Almost impossible to cultivate,
it became the main source of economic power for
Cyrene, a Greek colony in what's now Libya,
where it grew wild. Given the difficulty
of growing it, the size of the contraceptive
dose, and the number of people using the plant
for other reasons, it was clear even to the
ancients that it was headed for extinction, and
the Cyreneans laid down strict rules regarding
the
Solphion harvest.
Nonetheless,
by the end of the first century AD
Solphion was
no more. (The last piece reputedly was eaten by
the emperor Nero, evidently unclear on the
concept of menstrual flow.) After
Solphion
disappeared asafetida was used as a replacement,
imported from what are now Iran, Iraq, and
Syria. Already used by the poor because it
was cheaper and more plentiful than
Solphion,
asafetida was considered inferior from both a
culinary and medicinal standpoint.
Solphion may
not have vanished from the face of the earth,
though; some believe it was the plant now known
as Ferula tingitana, a giant fennel
that has returned to North Africa. Experiment if
you like on your next trip to Libya.
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information |
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Silphion:
In ancient Roman cookbooks, the spice was termed
Solphion,
silphium
or laserpicium
(also laser
or lasar);
later, the last name was transferred to
asafetida (which was considered an inferior
substitute).
Used plant part:
Some kind of resin obtained by
cutting the root or the stalk;
occasionally, leaves and root were eaten as a
vegetable.
Plant family:
Apiaceae( parsley
family).
A minority of scholars considers
the assignment of ancient
Solphion into
the parslay family as errorneous and, based on
ancient depictions, includes
Solphion rather
into the daisy family; the New World genus
Silphium
was explicitly named after the ancient herb.
Sensory quality:
Unknown, but extremely pleasing.
Solphion was not only used
as a spice, but also as a powerful
herbal medicine and even for birth control.
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Main constituents:
Unknown. Given that ancient
Solphion was eventually replaced by the Central
Asian
asafetida (which was also termed “Iranian
Solphion”), we may assume that both plants had
similar flavour and, thus, similar constituents.
Origin:
Northern Africa, about today's Libya. Several
North African cities controlled the
Solphion
trade and built their wealth thereon (Carthage,
Kyrene); apparently, the product became known
only after the foundation of Kyrene in the 7.th
cen.
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