Libum

Libum was a cake prepared in antiquity that was closely associated with honey, and the word later came to be used for cakes in general. When it names a specific cake, it appears to have been the most common offering of all Roman cakes, and its name comes from the Latin libare, to offer to the gods. Ovid describes it as an offering to Vesta, goddess of the hearth. Because sugar was not yet available and butter was regarded only as a healing balm, honey served as the sweetener and cheese as the source of fat. Preparations varied, one described by Ovid containing millet and another mentioned by Athenaeus containing itriya, a shaped proto-pasta of wheat flour. The only recipe preserved from antiquity is by Cato the Elder in his treatise De agri cultura, about 160 BCE, which combines flour and cheese curds and bakes the cake on bay leaves. Modern cooks who tried it describe a savoury cheesecake with a golden crust and soft centre.