[Sca-cooks] Frumenty.

[grizly at mindspring.com]

sca-cooks at ansteorra.org wrote:
> 	Lady Brighid wrote:
<<SNIP>>> I assume that the overnight rest would allow the wheat to absorb
> more moisture.  Long, slow cooking with a grain dish might be
> difficult to achieve without scorching.  There's no indication how
> long the second cooking lasts -- it may be only to reheat the wheat.

	See my above post -- the extra "sitting" time *does*
increase water absorption, and improves the texture.  So that's
right on.  For my cow's milk recipe, the second cooking is necessary
to thicken the mixture and get the right texture (again, as
mentioned in the historical recipes).

			-- Ruth > > > >

you'll probably find that part of the textural benfit is from the gelatinization of the starches due to long sit times in hot/warm moist environs.  Once the berries burst, and let the starches into the mix, the heat and moisture will basically dissolve or loosen the strands.  Gives a smoother and creamier texture.  Same concept in premise occurs when you malt and mash grains for brewing.  The different strains and varieties will have different levels of the enzymes needed to do the gematinizing . . . different temps and different hold times for each to get same effect.  ruth found that with the hard and soft varieties.

My wondering is which would have been more common among which people's/times . . . harder or softer wheats.  My guess is that it would be regional and seasonal. and that many of today's grains are so engineered and hybridized that they lose any resemblance to 13th century Southern english wheat.  Did your research uncover anything on the available varieties, Ruth?

pacem et bonum,
niccolo difrancesco