SC - Hard versus soft wheat berries for frumenty?

[Philip & Susan Troy]

"James F. Johnson" wrote:
> 
> Does anyone have any experience or suggestions regarding using hard
> wheat or soft wheat berries for frumenty (versus cracked wheat, bulgur
> wheat, or barley)? The question was raised last year by Chimene (but I
> wasn't here then), but I couldn't find an answer to it in Stefan's
> Florilegium (yes, I actually checked first, thus depriving Stefan of the
> opportunity to suggest....)

Much as I love and respect Stefan, I can't help but think of Marlon
Perkins when he does that. Does anybody remember Marlon Perkins? "Being
torn apart by crocodiles is a pain in the tuckus. When _you_ have a pain
in _your_ tuckus, coverage from Mutual of Omaha will allow you to rest
comfortably in the sitz-bath without worrying about medical bills etc., etc."
  
I suppose I have the Europeans really mystified at this point...

But back to topic. Generally, I think the parts of Europe where we find
extant period furmenty recipes is pretty consistent with growing the
softer strains of wheat. It seems pretty widely agreed, AFAIK, that the
places where such foods as higher-gluten bread flours, as well as
semi-automated mills, proliferated in period, were the places where
harder wheats were grown.

One _might_ argue that the very fact that this wheat is being used to
make frumenty argues that it is unsuitable for bread. Of course, that
argument backfires if we wonder whether it is not being milled into
flour because of its hardness. But what the hey.
   
Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com