SC - What Would Have Been Your Job in Medieval Times?

[Siegfried Heydrich]

Hullo the list.

I have a question.
Who has any references to the construction of period strainers?

I have a couple of things I would like to look into, specifically referencing
the practice of adding lift to egg whites by "drawing" through a strainer.
I was just cleaning out my "French Press" (Bodum) Coffee maker and 
I noticed the heavy foam I could put into water just by moving the strainer 
up and down. 
If I could agitate plain water that much with only a couple of strokes, I 
expect egg whites would be no problem.

up to now, I had thought this was putting the whites into a strainer, and 
pushing it through with the back of a spoon, but I never got much more 
than a rather diffident foam. 
but if I were to PUSH a small and rather open strainer ( say 1/8 inches 
between the wires) into the whites repeatedly, I think I could get a good 
whip with very little effort. 

This led me to thinking about what strainers were made like in period, 
and would they stand up to that kind of operation?

I think I remember a reference to Strainers being made of Horsetail, 
If it is the animal hair they are talking about, Horse tail is probably the 
stongest hair that would have been available in sufficient lengths. 
But not being a fiddler, I have little idea on how strong such hair 
actually is, and how it reacts to regular wet/dry cycles.
Anyone have any ideas on this?
Then I wondered if they were talking about the vegetable "horsetail" 
reed...


Brandu