What were the most important crops in ancient Rome?

Answer 1

Two crops that became major trading goods for Ancient Romans were olives and grapes. Olive Oil and Wine were produced and used throughout the Mediterranean and the soil was best suited for these crops, not wheat.
Two crops that became major goods for the Romans were olives and grapes. Olive oil and wine were the most important goods and led Italy's exports.
Wheat, emmer, spelt and barley
olivis and graps

Answer 2

In the way of crops there is probably one that is bigger than the rest and that is grain. The city of Rome imported vast amounts of grain to feed its massive population. Half of it came from Egypt. Tunisia, Sicilia and Sardinia were other major producers. The city even had a grain dole which was distributed to the poor.

The second most important crop was olives. The Romans made abundant use of olive oil. The city of Rome imported so much of it that her disposed olive oil-containing amphorae fragments formed an artificial hill (it is now called Mount Testaccio) near the port of the river Tiber.

The third most important crop was grapes. They were used to eat, and to make Grape Juice, wine (the Romans were keen wine drinkers) and artificial sweeteners.

The Romans used honey as a sweetener, but it took a large amount to sweeten something and it was often in short supply. Roman winemakers found boiling unfermented grape juice created a sweeter liquid known as defrutum or sapa. Defrutum was made by boiling off half the volume of must (grape juice) while sapa was obtained by reducing the volume of must by one-third. This started when the wine makers started to use lead pots instead of brass ones. It was led acetate which created the sweetening effect. The boiling process involved long hours and high temperatures, causing lead to seep out of the container, artificially sweetening the liquid. The sweet taste is due to acetic acid in the wine converting to its hydrolysed form, acetate. This combined with lead particles leached from the containers, forming lead acetate. This created led poisoning, which was a big problem in ancient Rome. The Romans also found a way to make a crystalline (solid) form of led acetate. They also used defrutum and sapa to sweeten wine. Romans might drink a litre of wine in a day, and with sweetened wine would ingest up to 20 mg of led.

Answer 3

platano