Latin Texts & Translations

Among the juices, those of a vinous ^[Note] flavour belong to the pear, the mulberry, and the myrtle, and not to the grape, a very singular fact. An unctuous taste is detected in the olive, ^[Note] the laurel, the walnut, and the almond; sweetness exists in the grape, the fig, and the date; while in the plum class we find a watery ^[Note] juice. There is a considerable difference, too, in the colours assumed by the various juices. That of the mulberry, the cherry, the cornel, and the black grape resembles the colour of blood, while in the white grape the juice is white. The humour found in the summit of the fig ^[Note] is of a milky nature, but not so with the juice found in the body of the fruit. In the apple it is the colour of foam, ^[Note] while in the peach it is perfectly colourless, and this is the case, too, with the duracinus, ^[Note] which abounds in juice; for who can say that he has ever detected any colour in it?

Smell, too, presents its own peculiar marvels; in the apple it is pungent, ^[Note] and it is weak in the peach, while in the sweet ^[Note] fruits we perceive none at all: so, too, the sweet wines are inodorous, while the thinner ones have more aroma, and are much sooner fit for use than those of a thicker nature. ^[Note] The odoriferous fruits are not pleasing to the palate in the same degree, seeing that the flavour ^[Note] of them does not come up to their smell: hence it is that in the citron we find the smell

so extremely penetrating, ^[Note] and the taste sour in the highest degree. Sometimes the smell is of a more delicate ^[Note] nature, as in the quince, for instance; while the fig has no odour whatever.