Revenge of the Nard Food

Two thousand years ago, one of the most sought-after ingredients in the Mediterranean was nard, also known as spikenard. You can still find it at some Middle Eastern shops under the name “valerian root.” It looks like a tangle of brown wires and has an attractive musky, tarry, resinous aroma that would probably make you think of hair tonic.

In fact, it is used in some hair tonics for its aroma, and that was pretty much its ancient use too. Jesus was anointed with a costly preparation of nard just a few days before the Last Supper.

But it has occasionally been used in foods and beverages. There are medieval Iraqi recipes for fish flavored with herbs, spices and nard, and even some sweets, including honeyed dates. Nard was one of the favorite aromatics of Moorish Spain, where one 13th century cookbook called for it in more than 100 recipes, particularly in chicken dishes but also for sausages, vegetable stews and sweets. One reason is that nard was no longer an expensive import from India, because it was grown in Spain.

The use of nard spread as far north as England during the Middle Ages, and we can find a couple of 14th century recipes--including one in King Richard II’s cookbook, “The Forme of Cury,” written in French, meaning that it had been lifted from some forgotten French cookbook--calling for “spikenard of Spain.”

They’re both for wine doctored with spices and nard. Which means that 14th century people apparently wanted their wine to smell like hair tonic. And who knows? Maybe it was an improvement.