Food Resources and their Transformation - Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Islamic Societies - page 191

Kōhēn al-Aār devotes a section of his
treatise to describing the techniques for
verifying the authenticity of this simple
( imtiān al-zafarān ). Most of the falsifica-
tions were done by using the curcuma rhi-
zome (sc. that of Curcuma longa L ., kurkum )
or the bastard saffron ( Carthamus tinctorius
L ., ufur ), because of their close resem-
blance to genuine or medicinal saffron.

refer to oil extracted (after crushing?) by
means of hot water. On the other hand,
in the dietetic treatise of the Andalusī
author Abū Marwān Abd al-Malik b.
Zuhr (d. 557/1162), he says that the very
best olive oil is taken from ripe olives that
have not been mixed with salt or other
substance, as this adulterates the fruit's
moist elements and unbalances its nature;
this may reflect a traditional Iberian taste
for the more acidic grades of the oil.
Ibn abīb's (d. 238/853) small medical
compendium preserves a couple of sayings
attributed to the Prophet Muammad
indicating the several uses of olive oil
and its magical property of protecting
from Satan for forty days anyone who
is anointed with it. The composition of
olive oil was described as hot and moist
in the first degree. In the mediaeval Arab
culinary tradition, represented by the
anonymous Kanz al-fawāid , olive oil was
employed in a variety of preparations. As
a frying agent, it was also occasionally
replaced by sesame oil ( īra ), as in the
preparation of fish; in egg preparations,
the two oils were often used together. Oil
sprinkled over a prepared condiment lent
its flavour to the dish. A mixture of salt,
water and oil was used to clean chicken
before cooking it, and oil was used in a
herbal-based mixture in which to mari-
nate fish.

(D. Waines, F. Sanagustin)

Olive Oil

The Arabic word zayt , in the classical
lexicon, denotes the oil or expressed juice
of the olive ( zaytūn , botanical name Olea
europaea L. ), although it could apply today
to any oil. Here only the use of olive oil
will be discussed. In his Book on Dietetics
( K. al-Aiya ), al-Isrāīlī (d. ca. 935) adds
that oil extracted from any plant other
than the olive was called duhn .
Cultivated throughout the Mediterra-
nean basin since about 3,000 B.C., the
fruit of the olive tree was used for cooking,
as food, as a cosmetic and for lamp oils. It
is in this last usage that zayt occurs in the
famous urānic “Verse of Light” (XXIV,
35). This reference gave rise to Traditions
from the Prophet who approved its use
because it came from “a blessed tree”.
Graded according to the acidic content,
the very best “virgin” oil would contain
1% of oleic acid, while poor oil with acid-
ity too high for eating would be used as
lamp oil. The term zayt masūl (“washed
oil” or alternatively zayt al-mā) might refer
either to the Roman technique of remov-
ing a bitter glucoside from the fruit by first
soaking it in a solution of lye followed by
a thorough washing, or by crushing the
olives and then purifying the liquid by
floating it on water. Al-Isrāīlī again notes
that both the previously-mentioned terms

(D. Waines)

Sesame

Simsim (Ar.) is sesame, a family of plants
with some 16 classes, of which sesamum
indicum or sesamum orientale, Pedaliaceae , pri-
marily qualifies for consideration. Sesame
is an ancient cultivated plant, whose habi-
tat is probably in Central Asia and which
spread in the tropics and sub-tropics.