Word: squill
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...leading Greek war correspondents, was particularly interested in the problem of food. In one of his reports, discussed by Dr. Pan S. Codellas of the University of California Medical School in the Bulletin of the History, of Medicine, Philo describes the preparation of the Greek Ks: "Take squill [a bulb root, shaped like an onion], which, after having been boiled down, is ... cut into the thinnest possible pieces. Afterwards it is mixed with one-fifth of sesame and one-fifteenth of opium poppy. When all of these have been pounded together in a mortar to a fine mass, knead...
Even today, Dr. Codellas points out, the pellets would "merit respect" on a "nutritional and utilitarian" basis. The honey gives carbohydrates, and, with the sesame oil, takes care of caloric values. Protein from the sesame supplies the nitrogen need of the body, the squill serves as a mild heart stimulant, and the opium deadens the stomach's hunger pains...
Gourmets were disappointed last week when the largest imports from Italy since the war arrived in New York Harbor. Instead of anchovies, olive oil and cheeses, the stevedores trundled out 96,000 Ibs. of red squill, 224,000 Ibs. of argols, 90,000 Ibs. of bergamot oil, 74,000 Ibs. of lemon oil, 1,000 Ibs. of orange oil, 20,000 Ibs. of onion seed, 5,500 bags of briarwood, 66.000 gals, of wine...
These were staples of prewar Mediterranean imports. Red squill, a plant that resembles the onion, is dried and processed into rat poison. Argols, scales that form on the lining of old wine vats, are a crude form of potassium bitartrate. Bergamot oils are used in perfumes and soaps...