SC - Lichen (Was "personal recipies" (long))

[Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir]

>Nanna, I asked- please post you lichen recipe.


The lichen we use is, as I said earlier, Iceland moss, called fjallagrös
(mountain grasses) in Icelandic but it is of course neither moss nor
grasses. It was widely used to supplement grains in our diet (grains had to
be imported and were expensive), but also added to skyr (curd) or sausages,
or boiled in a porridge or a soup, or used in practically anything that was
cooked here. I even have a recipe for Iceland moss candy, and there is a
company here that makes throat lozenges and other health stuff from it. I
think some European health food stores used to carry Iceland moss; don´t
know if they still do.

Anyway, here are a couple of recipes - the first one is for the bread I was
baking earlier today, an old handed down family recipe, centuries old but
probably made only with Iceland moss and rye or barley flour earlier, not
wheat. Another version of this bread, without the lichen, is far more common
nowadays. Both are produced commercially. Iceland moss is also used in
several modern bread recipes.

Icelandic Lichen Flatbread

1 packed cup Iceland moss (measured after soaking)
1 1/2 c rye flour
1/2 c stoneground whole wheat flour
a pinch of salt
boiling water as needed

(1 cup soaked Iceland moss is about 2 cups dried.) The Iceland moss is
soaked for a few minutes in lukewarm water to soften it, then drained and
chopped (I use a food processor). Mix it with rye flour, wheat flour and
salt, then gradually add boiling water and stir well, until you have a stiff
but pliable dough. Divide it into 12 equal pieces, roll them out thinly and
cut out a round cake, 7-8 inches in diameter. Prick them with a fork.

As for the baking - well, in the old days they were either baked directly on
the hot embers of the kitchen fire or on a large hot stone. I cook them
directly on one of the plates of my electrical cooker, as my mother did, but
I´m sure a good griddle would work as well. They are baked at high heat,
until black spots begin to appear. Then they are turned and cooked on the
other side. They should be stacked and covered at once, either with a damp
cloth or a plastic bag, else they dry out and become hard and brittle. They
will be rather chewy (the commercial ones I can buy here are softer but not
as tasty).

They are either eaten warm with lots of butter and maybe cheese, or cold
with butter and thin slices of smoked lamb.

Lichen Milk Soup

a large fistful of Iceland moss
1 litre (4 cups) milk
1 tbsp sugar or brown sugar
salt

Wash the Iceland moss and dry it. Pour the milk into a saucepan and heat to
the boiling point. Add the Iceland moss and the sugar and simmer for 10
minutes. Add salt to taste and serve. In another version, the soup is
simmered for 2 hours, until somewhat gluey. Some versions add far more sugar
but that is not traditional.

Nanna

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