mentions the use of radish seeds to produce oil and considered eating radishes to have health benefits. Wild herbs were collected and eaten uncooked or cooked. These are known to have included garden rocket and mallow, and both leaf chicory and endive. Wild lettuce, known as chazeret, was a leafy herb with prickly, red tinged leaves that became bitter as they matured. It was cultivated from around 800 BC. Sweeter head-lettuce was only developed and introduced by the Romans. Bitter herbs eaten at the Passover sacrifice with the unleavened bread, matza, were known as merorim. Chazeret is listed in the Mishna (Pesahim 2:6) as the preferred bitter herb for this Passover ritual, along with other bitter herbs, including chicory or endive (ulshin), horehound (tamcha), reichardia or eryngo (charchavina), and wormwood (maror). Mushrooms, especially of the Boletus type, were gathered in many areas, particularly when plentiful after a major rainfall. The Talmud mentions mushrooms in connection with their exemption from tithes and as a dessert at the Passover seder. Sesame seeds were used in the preparation of oil, were eaten dry, or were added to dishes such as stews as a flavoring; the leftovers after pressing out the oil were eaten in a cake form. The Hebrew for sesame, shumshum, is related to the Akkadian samassammu, meaning "oil plant", as the seeds contain about 50% oil, which was pressed from the seeds. Sesame is not mentioned in the Bible, but the Mishna lists sesame oil as suitable for lighting the Sabbath lights, and the oil was also used for frying. Fruit Fruit was an important source of food for the Israelites, particularly grapes, olives, and figs. Grapes were grown mostly for wine, although some were eaten fresh at harvest time, or dried as raisins for storage, while olives were grown exclusively for their oil, until the Roman period. Other fruits that were eaten were the date, pomegranate, and sycamore fig. The ancient Israelites built terraces of leveled areas in the hill country for planting a variety of crops, including grains, vegetables, and fruit trees. All the trees, with the exception of the olive, produced fruit that could be eaten fresh or juiced while in season. Fruit was also processed for later use in a variety of ways: fruit with high sugar content was fermented to make alcoholic beverages; grapes were most commonly used for this. Fruit was also boiled down into