My life as a farmer in ancient mesopotmiaOne sunny morning, I woke up. I said tiredly. I had a lot of work to today! I got up to eat breakfast, which was one of the first things to do on my to-do list. Today, I had apples, melons, onions, dates, and grapes. “Yum!,” I said happily. The next thing I had to do was feed the barn animals. On my way there, I stopped to smell the fresh air one more time. When I get to the barn, I always smell this very bad smell, so now I’ve learned to enjoy the air before I got there. When I arrived, I made sure the cow were eating their grass, and gave the donkeys and the other animals food. After I did all of that, I went to the river to hunt for fish so my family could have enough food for dinner. I walked a mile then to see the nice big area of water. I smelled the air again. “Oh yay, so much better smell than the barns!,” I exclaimed. I got the fish, and by then it was already the afternoon! Time for lunch, I thought. For lunch, I made the whole family plums, dates, figs, and sesame seeds. After that, I needed to walk to the crops and make sure they were okay, which will take a long time because its so far. Sometimes I wish I had something to ride around with, but I was okay. While I was walking, I looked around me. It was a very sunny day, so I could tell it was almost evening because it was becoming darker. I walked a couple miles farther, and by then it was completely dark, so it was hard to see the crops. I decided it was too dark and walked home. By the time I was back, it was already eight! I made fish for dinner for my whole family, and by then I was exhausted! Before I went to sleep, I thought, Man, I love farming! Then I went straight to bed. Mersu with Wine (Must Syrup) Ingredients 2 cups Deglet Noor dates 1 cup unsweetened pomegranate or grape juice (must be 100% juice) Raisins (for stuffing) (optional) Ground almonds, pinenuts, hazelnuts or semolina (for light coating) (optional) Method In a small saucepan, bring the fruit juice to a boil and immediately reduce the heat to a low simmer and stir well. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the juice reduces to a syrup. Pour onto a plate and let cool so that you can work with the syrup (or you will burn your fingers). While the syrup is reducing, make the date balls. Pulse the dates in a food processor until they are soft. Bit by bit, roll the pounded dates into small balls. You will have to wet your hands, and wash them several times to keep the dates from sticking to them. My date balls were about 2/3rds of the size of a ping-pong ball, and the two cups made 15 balls. Chill in the freezer for 5-10 minutes before rolling in warm syrup, or the balls will begin to disintegrate. The pomegranate syrup hardened up a lot quicker than the concord grape syrup – so you will have to work more quickly with that. The upside is it is a lot less messy than the concord grape syrup. Roll the date balls in syrup, or spoon the syrup onto the balls and place on a rack to drain and harden up a bit. If desired, when the first layer is hardened, warm the syrup (in a microwave) and spoon a second layer over the date balls. If you serve slightly chilled, the syrup coating will be firm enough not to be messy. However, if you want to serve room temperature or warm, place a light coating of ground nuts – almonds or pinenuts would have the least flavor impact. If you like the flavor of the nuts, lightly pan roasting them prior to coating will emphasize their flavor – but I found that this greatly diminishes the flavor of the syrup. Alternately, if you cannot eat nuts or don’t like the flavor of the types listed here that the Mesopotamians would have had, a light dusting of semolina will also coat the date balls rolled in syrup, making them easier to eat. One cup of juice made enough syrup to roll about 5 date balls in two layers of syrup. I coated the leftover five balls in two things – grated parmesan cheese and roasted hazelnuts. Both were amazing! Source: http://www.silkroadgourmet.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Mersu-with-Wine-Must-Syrup-small.jpg Source: http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2004/01/07/fd_driedfruit_1.jpg Source: http://www.silkroadgourmet.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Mersu-with-Cheese-small.jpg
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