I thought I'd give this one another try, as it's a simple summery dish, and 'tis the season. I tweaked the proportions a bit and like this version much better, though it's probably still a bit of an acquired taste. The Latin and English, as refresher:
VII. PEPONES ET MELONES. piper puleium mel uel passum liquamen acetum. interdum et silfi accedit.
3.7. LONG AND ROUND SWEET MELONS: pepper, pennyroyal, honey or passum, liquamen, vinegar. Sometimes silphium is added.
Again, watermelons are in fact Old World, being native to southern Africa.
These are the proportions I used this time, though I bent the rules a bit by using both honey and passum, as I had it. And again, I substituted peppermint for the pennyroyal, as pennyroyal's a little dicey, toxicity-wise (and I had plenty of mint).
2 cups diced watermelon
A few peppercorns (I used exactly 5)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh peppermint
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon passum (raisin wine)
1/4 teaspoon liquamen (Thai fish sauce)
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
A very tiny pinch of ground asafoetida
Grind the peppercorns in a mortar; add the chopped mint and the pinch of asafoetida and grind to a paste. Add the honey and mix, then the passum, liquamen and vinegar and mix/grind until smooth. Pour over the watermelon and garnish with a sprig of mint if you're feeling extra fancy (I was).
This was much more balanced than the last version. It was a strange and complicated mix of contrasting flavors, being all at once sweet and sour, sweet and salty, and spicy hot and cool; but I think it worked. If I were to tweak anything it would be to use even less of the liquamen. It wasn't overly salty, mind you, but I think I just wasn't expecting there to be salt in it at all; like I said, this recipe is perhaps an acquired taste. Still, I'll put it in with the keepers, though under the salad heading as it's not something I'd quite call a dessert. It was certainly interesting.
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