Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A fish-sauce much prized by the ancients, made of small fish preserved in a certain kind of pickle; also, a pickle prepared from the gills or the blood of the tunny.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A sauce made of small fish. It was prized by the ancients.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A fish sauce popular in Ancient Rome.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin garum, from Ancient Greek γάρον (garon, "the fish whose intestines were originally used in the condiment's production").

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Examples

  • Nowadays everyone eats it, every day, on everything -- or at least they eat something they call garum, whether it's worthy of the name or not.

    The Devil's Bedpost 2010

  • Nowadays everyone eats it, every day, on everything -- or at least they eat something they call garum, whether it's worthy of the name or not.

    Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine 2003

  • Asian Fish Pastes and Sauces Asian fermented fish pastes and sauces are vital manifestations of a preparation that has mostly disappeared in Europe but was once well known as garum or liquamen, the fish sauce of Rome see box, p.

    On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Harold McGee 2004

  • Asian Fish Pastes and Sauces Asian fermented fish pastes and sauces are vital manifestations of a preparation that has mostly disappeared in Europe but was once well known as garum or liquamen, the fish sauce of Rome see box, p.

    On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Harold McGee 2004

  • The famous pickle of the ancients, called garum, was made of the gills and blood of the tunny, or thynnus.

    Travels through France and Italy 2004

  • They likely also controlled the fishery and saltery where the famous fish sauce of the Romans known as garum was made from the guts of fish left to ferment in the hot Mediterranean sun.

    Portus Cosanus 2003

  • The best was called garum sociorum, a term of which we have seen no satisfactory explanation, and sold for 1,000 sesterces for two congii, about $20 a gallon.

    Museum of Antiquity A Description of Ancient Life

  • In his book of 'British Fishes,' Mr. Yarrell states that 'the anchovy is a common fish in the Mediterranean, from Greece to Gibraltar, and was well known to the Greeks and Romans, by whom the liquor prepared from it, called garum, was in great estimation.'

    The Book of Household Management Isabella Mary 1861

  • Greeks and Romans, by whom the liquor prepared from it, called garum, was in great estimation.

    The Book of Household Management Isabella Mary 1861

  • In their wealth of amphorae, the vessels carried goods from North Africa, Italy and Spain. These included wine, olive oil, fruit and garum, a pungent fish sauce used in Roman cooking.

    Ancient Shipwrecks Found Off Central Italy's Coast 2010

Comments

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  • Fish sauce dating of Vesuvius eruption

    October 28, 2008

  • "The find revealed that the last Pompeian garum was made entirely with bogues (known as boops boops), a Mediterranean fish species that abounded in the area in the summer months of July and early August."

    Boops boops :-)

    October 28, 2008

  • Book recommendation warning!

    Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky. Seen here.

    Edit: Wait. I don't understand that article. Are they saying that they figured out that the eruption was August 24, 79 based on the garum? Because the garum takes a while to ferment, and keeps for quite a while as well, so how could they pinpoint the date that closely? Couldn't the garum have been in there for a long time before the eruption, thus skewing the date?

    October 28, 2008

  • Usage note in comment on spikenard.

    Another on acetum.

    November 30, 2016

  • "Rome's taste for pungent flavours was typified by its favourite condiment, liquamen--or <i>garum</i> or <i>muria</i>, as it was also called--a murky-brown, salty relish made from fermented fish. Liquamen enhanced the taste of other foods and, sharing the putrid whiff of asafoetida, distinguished Roman cuisine more than any other ingredient. It was used liberally in recipes and added to salads, meats or seafood as frequently as we might turn to ketchup: Worcestershire sauce, which has a little asafoetida and much anchovy essence, or the Asian fish sauces <i>num pla</i> and <i>nuc nam</i> are probably the closest we come today to a taste anything like it."

    --Kate Colquhoun, Taste: The Story of Britain Through Its Cooking (NY: Bloomsbury, 2007), 30

    January 6, 2017