Good Food Never Spoils, Right?

In this day and age, the diverse array of products on supermarket shelves is often taken for granted. In an era overflowing with convenience and a cornucopia of choices, it’s easy to forget that our ancestors didn’t have the luxury of sliced bread (introduced in 1928), or peanut butter (invented in its modern form in the late 19th century). Eel Pie and roast beaver tail, on the other hand, were often consumed by early American colonists.

Travel back even further in time and it becomes difficult to imagine what the ancient Romans and Egyptians may have eaten. But archaeological findings have given us some idea of what was served for dinner hundreds and even thousands of years ago—and perhaps surprisingly, some of the foods aren't all that different from what we eat today.

And while we all know that wine tastes better with age, not everything we consume benefits from the relentless march of time. We're big fans of good food and today we’ve uncovered a delectable assortment of the oldest once-edible items ever discovered. Edible relics that offer a fascinating glimpse into the tastes and flavors that stood the test of time, defying decay and offering a taste of the past. So, fasten your seatbelts and loosen your belts, as we embark on an epicurean odyssey through time.

The World’s Oldest Edible Ham:

Originally cured in 1902 by the Gwaltney Foods meat company, it was lost in storage before being rediscovered two decades later by Pembroke D. Gwaltney Jr. Junior made the piece of pork his “pet ham.” He put a brass collar on it and paraded it around various expositions to prove to customers his meat could be kept without being refrigerated.

The ham is housed in a climate-controlled display case with two other hams in the Isle of Wight County Museum in Smithfield, Virginia. A nonstop, live-streamed “ham cam” allows anyone to keep up to date with the preserved pork, and of course, the ham has its own Twitter account.

The World’s Oldest Peanut: Housed in the same museum as the world’s oldest ham you will find the world’s oldest peanut on display as well!

And just so you don’t think we’re making this up, both the ham and the peanut have been certified by Ripley’s Believe It or Not.

Mummy Cheese: No, not something to be served at your next Halloween party, this is cheese that was found inside a 3,300 year-old tomb in Saqqara, Egypt. The cheese was a “powdery, whitish mass likely made from a mixture of cow milk and goat milk,” researchers said.

And though the pharaohs may not curse you for consuming the ancient cheese, you would probably wind up with something pretty unpleasant since strains of bacteria were found on the cheese residue. So, please do not eat the mummy cheese.

Bog Butter:

In Ireland 3000 years ago, you had limited options for storing your barrels of butter. Archeologists were grateful that some ancient residents chose to sink theirs into a County Kildare peat bog—and then forgot about it—when they discovered a container of “bog butter” in 2009. Mostly intact, the oak barrel was still full of butter, though it had lost its creamy richness in the interceding millennia, having turned into a fatty white substance called adipocere. Housed in The National Museum of Ireland, it’s considered a national treasure. So, if you plan to visit the museum, please leave your toast at home.

Jurassic Jerky:

We all know that jerky travels well, so it makes sense that 2,000 years ago, someone from Wanli, China would bring it into a tomb. Archeologists weren’t sure what it was since, over the millennia, it turned into a less than appetizing shade of dark green due to the carbonization, but it hadn’t shrunk at all which proved it had been dried before being placed in the tomb.

Ancient Honey:

Ceramic jars containing the world’s oldest known honey – about 5,500 years old – were discovered in the tomb of a noblewoman near Tbilisi, Georgia. Now they say that honey never expires, but we’re guessing that even Winnie the Pooh would want nothing to do with this batch.

The Primal Noodle:

Thanks to a discovery at the Lajia archeological site on China’s Yellow River, the debate over where noodles originated may be over. No other historic pasta has even come close in age to Lajia’s 4,000-year-old cache. At that time in history, an ancient earthquake suddenly flooded the Yellow River valley, and one unfortunate diner left a bowl of millet noodles overturned in their haste to escape. According to the archeologist, it was this unique combination of factors that created a vacuum or empty space between the top of the sediment cone and the bottom of this bowl that allowed the noodles to be preserved.

Shipwrecked Salad Dressing:

The contents of a jar recovered from an ancient shipwreck in the Aegean Sea wouldn’t seem out of place in a modern Mediterranean recipe. Discovered off the coast of the Greek island Chios, the sunken ship dates back to 350 BC. The contents of the ship were recovered and analyzed the following year, at which time archaeologists learned that one of the amphoras (a type of jar used by ancient Greeks and Romans) contained olive oil mixed with oregano. Indeed, it’s a recipe designed to stand the test of time.

Petrified Pita:

In 2018, archaeologists unearthed the oldest piece of bread ever discovered from a stone fireplace in Jordan’s Black Desert. The 14,400-year-old flatbread looked a bit like a pita, except it was made from wild cereals similar to barley and oats. Tubers from an aquatic plant were another key ingredient, reportedly lending the bread a gritty texture and salty taste.

Prehistoric Bison Stew:

Beef aging is quite common, sometimes spanning fifteen years to get the meat just right. Like aged Scotch, you’ll pay good money for a good piece of aged meat. And sometimes the best culinary delights are the ones we just happen upon. Well, from an aging perspective, nothing compares to the culinary adventures of R. Dale Guthrie and his team after they found a 36,000-year-old bison in the ice of Alaska.

After uncovering the completely frozen bison, Guthrie and his team had the chance to try a piece of the meat and they took it. Cutting off a piece of meat from the neck, they put it into a stew of (fresh) vegetables which they paired with a, not so old, bottle of wine. We’re told that the meat had a strong aroma and was “earthy” but delicious. Nobody, it seems, asked for seconds.

In case any of our readers would be interested in trying their own bison stew, here’s a link to a recipe that you might want to try. (We suggest using fresh bison, not the 30,000+ year old kind…) https://www.mashed.com/464899/crock-pot-bison-chili-recipe/

Tell us about your favorite experiences with aged meat or wine or anything else for that matter in the comments below. Or better yet, head over to the Food or Beverage sections of our Forums. And remember to check those expiration dates in your refrigerator!

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