Preservation

Your grapes are cooking on the vine, observed Pliny the Elder.

Well spotted, I replied. Have you tried eating any?

Yes, he said, they were extremely hot and unpleasantly soft, but tart. What are you going to do with them?

Nothing, I said, I have to go into hospital tomorrow for some minor surgery. I can't be thinking about what to do with grapes.

May the Gods preserve you! he cried. And the grapes, he added.