SC - flour, sugar and fat in the medieval diet?

[Decker, Terry D.]

The first thought which comes to mind is "which medieval diet?"  In general,
local foodstuffs were used, so diet is limited to what is locally available.
For example, the common grains in 6th Century Ireland are barley and oats.
These form a large part of the Irish diet.  At the same time, rye is more
common along the Baltic.  And in Central France there seems to be a mix of
wheat, barley, and various millets.  Wild birds and fresh water fish were
probably more common in the diet, beef less so, and wild game would be
dependent on the local laws (remember your Robin Hood).  

There is some economic evidence that in terms of variety, availability and
quantity, the European diet was at its apex (prior to the 20th Century)
between the late 14th and the early 17th Centuries.  I refer you to Fernand
Braudel's three volume series on Civilization and Capitalism.

There are some studies quoted by Terence Scully (The Art of Cookery in the
Middle Ages) which suggest that cereal grains were the major staple of the
medieval diet and that people ate between 2 and 3 pounds of bread or cooked
grain daily and in addition consumed about 1 gallon of beer (to mean ale,
beer, small beer, etc.).  You might also refer to Woolgar, The Great
Household in Late Medieval England, which provides some information on
household accounts and the disbursement of food as part of the wages.

Protein would likely come from vegetable sources supplemented by small
amounts of meat.

Lard was the primary cooking fat.  Olive oil was common in souther Europe.
The extent of dairy fats in the general diet is an open question, but the
Irish appear to make extensive use of butter, cheese and milk.  

Refined sugar predates the Middle Ages.  The first Europeans known to have
encountered sugar cane were the troops of Alexander's general, Nearchus, who
invaded India around 325 BCE (Pliny, IIRC).  By 500 CE, sugar cane was being
raised and refined in Mesopotamia.  In the 8th Century, the Islamic
expansion encountered sugar and spread the cane and refining around the
Mediterannean.  White sugar was highly prized during the Middle Ages, but
expensive and of limited production.

Sugar production increased in the 15th and 16th Centuries, such that in
Elizabethan England (latter half of the 16th Century), the use of sugar
becomes extreme.  Sweet dishes, candies, fruit preserves and confections
become all the rage.  Tooth decay takes an upswing.

By flour, I assume what is meant is wheat flour.  Barley, rye, oats, millet
and wheat were the common grains for making flour.  Where it was available,
wheat was favored, as it made the lightest, whitest bread.  On the medieval
economic scale, brown breads moved toward the poor while whiter breads moved
toward the rich. 

There is very little difference between medieval and modern flour,
especially stone ground, naturally aged flours.  Modern extraction rates are
higher.  95% average extraction compared to an estimated 85% optimal
extraction.  (Extraction rate is the percentage of grain milled to flour.)
But, outside of the development of the roller mill in the 19th Century, the
basic technology is much the same as when the Romans developed a rotary
quern.

Roller milling separates the germ from the kernal reducing the natural oils
in the flour, while stone milling, as was done in the Middle Ages, reduces
the entire kernal.  Following milling, the flour is bolted (or sieved) to
the fineness desired.  The medieval bolter was a cloth through which the
flour was passed to trap the bran and large particles.  For truly fine
flour, the process might be repeated one or two more times with finer weave
bolting cloths.  Muslin, linen and silk were all used in bolting cloths.
Because the germ was not removed in medieval milling, medieval flour would
have a slightly higher oil content and consequently a shorter self life than
modern flour.  

Some people are concerned that the heat and pressure of roller milling
destroys some of the nutritional value of the grain, but I have seen no
evidence to support the claim.

After milling, the flour was commonly aged for about two months or more.
Aging improves the baking quality of the flour and provides a natural
bleaching effect by oxidizing the xanthophyllus, which gives fresh flour a
slight yellow tint.  Modern flours may be naturally or chemically aged.  

Chemical aging uses chlorine dioxide, benzoyl peroxide, or chlorine gas to
age the flour, bleaching it in the process.  "Unbleached" flours may be aged
with potassium bromate or iodate.  Nutritionally, the only difference is the
small amount of vitamin E in the flour destroyed by the chemical aging, but
there are questions about the effects of the chemicals used.

Bear