Nucatum is a Vulgar Latin term for a dessert made with walnuts, honey, and egg white. Various webpages claim that a recipe for it is recorded in Apicius' de re culinaria, but I have not been able to find any such recipe in any copy of Apicius. A recipe for nucato is found in Anonimo Toscano, Libro della Cocina, a manuscript from the late 14th to early 15th century, translated by Ariane Helou (link below).
She translates the 14th century recipe as follows:
Honey boiled with walnuts, called nucato. Take boiled and skimmed honey, with walnuts chopped slightly and spices, cooked together; dip your hands in water and spread it out; let it cool and serve it. And you can use almonds and hazelnuts in place of walnuts.
It is proposed by various writers that this dish is ancestral to modern nougat (also called torrone). The word is derived from Latin nux, meaning "nut."

Categories: Candy and Confections
Characteristic of: Ancient Roman cuisine
From see also: Nougat
References:

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