Murri (condiment)

Background

Historical recipes describe two types of murrī. The Iraqi-style, from the 10th-century Kitab al-Tabikh and the 13th-century Kitab Wasf al-Atima al-Mutada, was made by wetting ground flatbread, barley flour (budhaj flour), and salt, then allowing it to ferment. The Maghrebi style, detailed in Kitab Wasf, used only barley flour and was flavored with carob, fennel stems, citron, pine nuts, mixed spices, and bitter orange wood, with a consistency similar to treacle. Kitab Wasf also mentions a 'Byzantine murri' made with toasted bread and caramelized honey.

Some Arabic lexicographical texts suggested murrī might be of foreign origin, leading modern scholars to speculate it could derive from the Greek halmyris ('a salty thing') and relate to the Roman condiment garum. Charles Perry notes that while both are fermented, salty liquid seasonings, it is unknown whether the technique or culinary use originated with the Greeks. David Waines clarifies that the most common form of murrī was made from cereal grain, not fish, despite confusion linking it to garum. A 13th-century Latin text, Liber de Ferculis et Condimenti, mistranscribed the recipe by omitting the fermentation stage.