Must
Encyclopedia
Grape juice
Grape juice is obtained from crushing and blending grapes into a liquid. The juice is often sold in stores or fermented and made into wine, brandy, or vinegar. In the wine industry, grape juice that contains 7-23 percent of pulp, skins, stems and seeds is often referred to as "must"...
) that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The solid portion of the must is called pomace
Pomace
Pomace , or marc , is the solid remains of grapes, olives, or other fruit after pressing for juice or oil. It contains the skins, pulp, seeds, and stems of the fruit....
; it typically makes up 7%–23% of the total weight of the must. Making must is the first step in winemaking. Because of its high glucose
Glucose
Glucose is a simple sugar and an important carbohydrate in biology. Cells use it as the primary source of energy and a metabolic intermediate...
content, typically between 10 and 15%, must is also used as a sweetener in a variety of cuisines. Unlike commercially sold grape juice, which is filtered and pasteurized, must is thick with particulate matter, opaque, and comes in various shades of brown and/or purple.
Winemaking
The length of time that the pomace stays in the juice is critical for the final character of the wine. When the winemakerWinemaker
A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes:*Cooperating with viticulturists...
judges the time to be right, the juice is drained off the pomace which is then pressed to extract the juice retained by the matrix. Yeast
Yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...
is added to the juice to begin the fermentation, while the pomace is often returned to the vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
or orchard
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...
to be used as fertilizer
Fertilizer
Fertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...
. A portion of selected unfermented must may be kept as Süssreserve, to be added prior to bottling as a sweetening component. Some winemakers create a second batch of wine from the used pomace by adding a quantity of water equivalent to the juice removed, letting the mixture sit for 24 hours, and draining off the liquid. This wine may be used as a drink for the employees of the winemaker or as a basis for some pomace brandies
Pomace brandy
Pomace brandy is a liquor distilled from pomace. Examples include the Croatian / Montenegrin / Serbian lozovača , Cypriot zivania, French marc, Georgian chacha, German Tresterbrand, Greek tsipouro, Hungarian törköly, Italian grappa, Bulgarian grozdova, Portuguese aguardente, Romanian rachiu de...
. Grappa
Grappa
Grappa is an alcoholic beverage, a fragrant, grape-based pomace brandy of Italian origin that contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume...
, however, by law, must be produced only from the pomace solids, with no water added.
In cookery
Must was commonly used as a cookingCooking
Cooking is the process of preparing food by use of heat. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, reflecting unique environmental, economic, and cultural traditions. Cooks themselves also vary widely in skill and training...
ingredient in ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
. It was boiled down in lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
or bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
kettles into a milder concentrate called defrutum
Defrutum
Defrutum, carenum, and sapa were reductions of must used in Ancient Roman cuisine. They were made by boiling down grape juice or must in large kettles until it had been reduced to two-thirds the original volume, carenum;...
or a stronger concentrate called sapa. It was often used as a souring agent and preservative, especially in fruit dishes. Reduced must is used in Balkan and Middle Eastern cookery, either as a syrup known as pekmez or dibis
Pekmez
Pekmez or dibs is amolasses-like syrup obtained after condensing juices of fruit must, especially grape, fig or mulberry, by boiling it with a coagulant agent. It is used as a syrup or mixed with tahini for breakfast....
or as the basis for confections where it is thickened with flour: moustalevria
Moustalevria
moustalevria or moustopita is a sort of pudding made of grape must mixed with flour and boiled until thick...
, soutzoukos, churchkhela
Churchkhela
Churchkhela , soutzoukos , soutzouki or rojik , are traditional sausage-shaped candies originating from the Caucasus. It is popular in Georgia, Russia, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey...
. Moustokoúloura ("must cookies") is a popular Greek variety of soda
Sodium bicarbonate
Sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate is the chemical compound with the formula Na HCO3. Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda . The natural mineral form is...
cookies or biscuits whose sweet dough is made by kneading flour, olive oil, and must. They are made in various shapes and sizes, and they are dark brown in color because of the must.
Roman lead poisoning theory
Geochemist Jerome Nriagu published an article in the New England Journal of MedicineNew England Journal of Medicine
The New England Journal of Medicine is an English-language peer-reviewed medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It describes itself as the oldest continuously published medical journal in the world.-History:...
in 1983 hypothesizing that defrutum and sapa may have contained enough lead acetate
Lead(II) acetate
Lead acetate , also known as lead acetate, lead diacetate, plumbous acetate, sugar of lead, lead sugar, salt of Saturn, and Goulard's powder, is a white crystalline chemical compound with a sweetish taste. It is made by treating lead oxide with acetic acid. Like other lead compounds, it is toxic...
to be of danger to those who consumed them regularly. This theory has been thorougly criticized by, among others, pharmacologist John Scarborough.
For mead production
This term is also used by meadmakers for the unfermented honey-water mixture that becomes meadMead
Mead , also called honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by fermenting a solution of honey and water. It may also be produced by fermenting a solution of water and honey with grain mash, which is strained immediately after fermentation...
. The analogous term in beer brewing is wort
Wort (brewing)
Wort, , is the liquid extracted from the mashing process during the brewing of beer or whisky. Wort contains the sugars that will be fermented by the brewing yeast to produce alcohol.- Production :...
.
In Christian liturgy
In Roman CatholicRoman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
Eucharistic liturgy
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
, must may be substituted for sacramental wine
Sacramental wine
Sacramental wine, Communion wine or altar wine is wine obtained from grapes and intended for use in celebration of the Eucharist...
, on condition that the ordinary
Ordinary
In those hierarchically organised churches of Western Christianity which have an ecclesiastical law system, an ordinary is an officer of the church who by reason of office has ordinary power to execute the church's laws...
has granted permission for the benefit of a priest or lay person who should not, usually because of alcoholism, ingest wine; but in normal circumstances it may not be used in place of wine.
Official Roman Catholic documents define must (mustum in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
) precisely as "grape juice that is either fresh or preserved by methods that suspend its fermentation
Fermentation (wine)
The process of fermentation in wine turns grape juice into an alcoholic beverage. During fermentation, yeast interact with sugars in the juice to create ethanol, commonly known as ethyl alcohol, and carbon dioxide...
without altering its nature (for example, freezing)," and it excludes pasteurized
Pasteurization
Pasteurization is a process of heating a food, usually liquid, to a specific temperature for a definite length of time, and then cooling it immediately. This process slows microbial growth in food...
grape juice.
This teaching goes back at least to Pope Julius I
Pope Julius I
Pope Saint Julius I, was pope from February 6, 337 to April 12, 352.He was a native of Rome and was chosen as successor of Mark after the Roman seat had been vacant for four months. He is chiefly known by the part he took in the Arian controversy...
(337–352), who is quoted in Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...
's Summa Theologica
Summa Theologica
The Summa Theologiæ is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas , and although unfinished, "one of the classics of the history of philosophy and one of the most influential works of Western literature." It is intended as a manual for beginners in theology and a compendium of all of the main...
as having declared that in case of necessity, but only then, juice pressed from a grape could be used. Aquinas himself declared that it is forbidden to offer fresh must in the chalice, because this is unbecoming owing to the impurity of the must; but he added that in case of necessity it may be done.
Aquinas himself declared:
- Must has already the species of wine, for its sweetness ["Aut dulcis musti Vulcano decoquit humorem"; VirgilVirgilPublius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
, Georg.GeorgicsThe Georgics is a poem in four books, likely published in 29 BC. It is the second major work by the Latin poet Virgil, following his Eclogues and preceding the Aeneid. It is a poem that draws on many prior sources and influenced many later authors from antiquity to the present...
i, 295] indicates fermentation which is "the result of its natural heat" (Meteor. iv); consequently this sacrament can be made from must. ... It is forbidden to offer must in the chalice, as soon as it has been squeezed from the grape, since this is unbecoming owing to the impurity of the must. But in case of necessity it may be done: for it is said by the same Pope Julius, in the passage quoted in the argument: "If necessary, let the grape be pressed into the chalice."
Liturgical norms
The latest document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the FaithCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition , and after 1904 called the Supreme...
on the matter, issued on 24 July 2003, gave the following norms, which simplify those previously in force:
- The OrdinaryOrdinaryIn those hierarchically organised churches of Western Christianity which have an ecclesiastical law system, an ordinary is an officer of the church who by reason of office has ordinary power to execute the church's laws...
is competent to give permission for an individual priest or layperson to use mustum for the celebration of the Eucharist. Permission can be granted habitually, for as long as the situation continues which occasioned the granting of permission (e.g. the priest is an alcoholic).
- When the principal celebrant at a concelebration has permission to use mustum, a chalice of normal wine is to be prepared for the concelebrants.
- Given the centrality of the celebration of the Eucharist in the life of a priest, one must proceed with great caution before admitting to Holy Orders those candidates unable to ingest alcohol without serious harm.
- Attention should be paid to medical advances in the area of alcoholism and encouragement given to the production of unaltered mustum.
Further reading
- Baldy, Marian W. The University Wine Course: A Wine Appreciation Text & Self Tutorial, 2nd Edition. San Francisco, Calif.: The Wine Appreciation Guild, 1995. ISBN 0-932664-69-5.
- Gozzini Giacosa, Ilaria. A Taste of Ancient Rome. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. ISBN 0-226-29032-8.
- Herbst, Ron, and Sharon Tyler Herbst. Wine Lover's Companion. Hauppauge, N.Y.: Barron's, 1995. ISBN 0-8120-1479-0.
- Nriagu, Jerome O. "Saturnine Gout Among Roman Aristocrats: Did Lead Poisoning Contribute to the Fall of the Empire?" New England Journal of Medicine 11, no. 308 (17 March 1983): 660–3.
- Whittaker, John. Winemaking Made Easy. Edmonton: Lone Pine Publishing, 1993. ISBN 1-55105-030-7.
External links
- Further information from the USCCBUnited States Conference of Catholic BishopsThe United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops and United States Catholic Conference, it is composed of all active and retired members of the Catholic...
's Committee on Divine Worship - Further information from the Liturgy Office of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and WalesCatholic Bishops' Conference of England and WalesThe Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales is the episcopal conference of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales.-About:...