All who attended the Harvest day went home with a little jar of moskonfyt from the 2010 vintage. Here is a little information on this traditional product and a recipe for you to try out from our restaurant.

Moskonfyt, or grape must jam, has been made since the days of the beginning of the old Cape. Quite logically, it started being produced as soon as the cape started producing grapes. Grape must is the mixture of pressed grape juice, skins seeds and pulp. This mixture is reduced down until it has the consistency of light syrup.

The reduction of grape must goes as far back Ancient Rome when it was commonly used as a cooking ingredient. It was boiled down in lead or bronze kettles into a milder concentrate called defrutum or a stronger concentrate called sapa. It was often used as a souring agent and preservative, especially in fruit dishes.  To quote form Wikipedia,

Pliny the Elder recommended that defrutum only be boiled at the time of the new moon, while Cato the Censor suggested that only the sweetest possible must should be used. Both writers advised against the use of bronze or copper kettles, as the metals would react with the acids in the defrutum and give the finished product an unpleasant metallic taste. The preferred vessels for boiling and storing defrutum were made of (or lined with) lead, which leached lead acetate crystals into the must when it was boiled, progressively sweetening the mix.” There is an argument to suggest that the continued indigestion of small amounts of lead, which leads to infertility and high infant-mortality, was one of the main causes in the decline of Rome.

 

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