The World That Was - Ancient Akkadian Mersu

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was!



Today, Ill be showing you how to make a simple yet tasty Bronze-Age snack - the Akkadian mersu! This dish has only two ingredients - dates and nuts - which were listed on the clay tablet found in Mari in the 1940s. The methodology is pretty basic, but that's to be expected from something like this! You can follow along with my Youtube video above!

In any case, lets take a look at The World That Was!

Ingredients:
250g / 2 cups dates, pitted (or figs, or raisins)
250g / 2 cups pistachios (or walnuts, or almonds)

Directions:
1 - Prepare the Nuts
First, you'll need to shell your nuts of choice (if they need shelling at all!), so do this and place the shelled nuts into a mortar and pestle. Grind these into a fairly uniform powder. If you don't have a mortar and pestle, you can easily grind these up by putting the nuts into a ziplock bag, and crushing it with a rolling pin!
Divide your mix in half, keeping 1 cup for combining, and 1 cup for decorating. Put your ground-up pistachio portions aside for later.

2 - Prepare the Dates
Now, take your dates and check if they've been pitted correctly! If they're pit-free, mash these into a paste using a mortar and pestle, or wooden spoon in a bowl. Toss your mashed dates into a large, clean bowl, and get ready to mix it up!

3 - Combine Everything
Toss a cup of your ground-up pistachios into the bowl with your dates, and mix everything together. This is a little difficult using a spoon or spatula, so I'd recommend using your hands to knead everything together! Knead everything until if comes together, and most of the pistachio mix is incorporated into the date mash.

4 - Decorate and Plate Up
Pour your other cup of ground pistachios onto a plate or tray next to your bowl. Take about a tablespoon's worth of the date and nut mix into your hands and form it into a ball! Cup and roll your hands to smooth it off. Then, roll the mersu around on the plate of pistachios to decorate this!
This step is optional, and you could just as easily have used all your pistachios in step 3, but I find that this makes the mersu look a little nicer and more presentable!

This recipe is fast, simple, and fun to make! The idea of this recipe is somewhat continued in Iraqi cuisine today, with nut-stuffed dates still being prepared and eaten daily! If you'd like to recreate this at home, I'd highly recommend it as an easy way to look back at the food of the past!

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