Mola salsa

"Mola" means "mill", "millstone", and by extension, "flour".

"Salsa" is the matching bit of the adjective "salsus" meaning "salted".

So "mola salsa" is "salted flour".

BUT

Just as mola means flour *by extension*, so too could we conjecture that cakes made from mola salsa would bear the same name.

I suggest that "mola salsa" can mean "salted flour" AND the cakes made from it.

For our honored ancestors, fully aware of the uses, there would have been no confusion. When we read of mola salsa "sprinkled" I imagine the salted grain. If it is "offered", it could be either, I suppose. I suggest that we have to look at the sources and see what light can be shed.

Salt was used for purification, and also for making Mola Salsa, ("MOW-la SAWL-sa"- a purified cake made with a mixture of flour, water and salt.) Mola salsa was offered to Vesta both at home Larariums and also by the Vestal Virgins on behalf of Rome itself.

To make Mola Salsa with salt from the Salinum, mix a small portion of spelt flour (a variety of flour used in ancient Rome, available in most health-food shops) with a small amount of water until it becomes a paste. Add some salt and 'knead' it a bit with your fingers. Flatten it into small, round wafer-like cakes, the thinner the better. The cakes can be burned in the Turibulum as an offering to the Gods.