Food is such an important facet of human culture and a great way to connect with others. It's also a fabulous way to make a long-ago culture feel more real.

I've shared about Minoan food and cooking before, here and here. Today, I'm going to go all "ancient food blogger" on you with an actual recipe.

First, the background. My latest novel (a gentle gay historical romance) is set in the Minoan city of Phaistos, with a main character (Adelphos) who really loves his food. His mother and sister run a tavern, and his housekeeper is a great cook.

I've included a lot of food descriptions in the book. One of them in particular is especially important to me: the sweetmeats that Adelphos buys from a vendor in the marketplace.

One aspect of my fiction that you may not be aware of is that much of it is inspired by past life memories. Go ahead, roll your eyes. I'll wait.

These sweetmeats are a powerful sense memory for me. Ever since I wrote about them in the book, I've been haunted by cravings for them. So I worked out the recipe. And I'm sharing it with you now.

Adelphos's Favorite Sweetmeats

Ingredients:
250 gm (about 9 ounces) dates
60 gm (1/2 cup) sesame seeds, divided
30 gm (1/4 cup) finely chopped pistachios
3/4 tsp ground coriander (toast a teaspoon of whole coriander seeds and grind them if you like)

To make the sweetmeats:
Toast the sesame seeds, either in a small pan on the stove or on a sheet pan in a 350˚F / 180˚C oven, until they're gently brown and smell toasty. Watch carefully so they don't burn. Don't skip this step; the toastiness is an important component of the flavor.

Finely chop the dates, either by hand or in a food processor. If you're using a food processor, you might want to coarsely chop them first to make it easier on the machine. Put the dates in a large bowl and add 2 tablespoons of the sesame seeds, all the pistachios, and the coriander. Mash and knead the mixture together well with your hands until the ingredients are evenly mixed.

Take teaspoon amounts of the mixture and roll them into balls. You can also use a teaspoon-sized food scoop for this. Put the rest of the sesame seeds into a small bowl. Roll each ball in the sesame seeds, pressing it into a thick disk and being sure to coat all surfaces. Be generous with the sesame seeds so the sweetmeats won't be sticky and so the toasty sesame flavor can balance the sweetness of the dates.

I think I got about two dozen sweetmeats out of this amount of ingredients, but my family kept eating them as I was making them, so it was hard to keep count.

If you'll be carrying them in your belt pouch the way Adelphos does after he buys them at the market, take his advice and wrap them in a scrap of linen so they don't stick to the pouch.

Bon appétit!