Moretum is an herb cheese spread that the Ancient Romans ate with bread. A typical moretum was made of herbs, fresh cheese, salt, oil, and vinegar. Optionally, different kinds of nuts could be added. The ingredients were crushed together in a mortar, for which the dish is named.

Recipes

A recipe can be found in the poem of the same name in the Appendix Vergiliana. De re rustica, book XII of Columella contains further recipes for moretum. The variant with pine nuts is considered to be a precursor of pesto.