Re- SC - food mills

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Mark Harris wrote:

> I asked about medieval strainers a while back but let's try again. Anyone
> seen any pictures or descriptions of medieval strainers? In the earlier
> discussion, some people were of the opinion that these were of horsehair
> but didn't know if the horsehair was woven or simply laid across something.
> 
> So, anybody have info on something different or more or this?

A horsehair sieve would pretty much have to be woven, since it's the
only way I can think of to keep the strands from simply spreading apart
when a large solid object pushed against them. Some sieves (which are
pretty much the same as strainers) appear to have been made with cloth.
Both the modern jelly bag and the period "Sleeve of Hippocrates" are
examples of this type of thing. Cloth-lined sieves were also used for
bolting flour, which is how the bran was sifted out of stone-ground
whole wheat flour, producing "white" flour. You can still buy a textile
product called bolting cloth today, although I imagine it is used for
other things now.

A Sleeve of Hippocrates, BTW, is a fine cloth strainer, quite similar to
a jelly bag, conical in shape, attached to a hoop to hold it open. It
was used by doctors to strain finely ground medicinal spices, etc., out
of infusions. One such was an infusion of spices and sugar in wine,
named for that sleeve: Hippocras.

Adamantius 
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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