[Sca-cooks] Icelandic Food Question

[Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir]

>
> > It is my understanding that some of the
> > hot springs are hot enough to cook food in (obligatory food reference).
>
>
> Oh! is there documentation of this? I believe Nanna mentioned on earlier
>
> messages about Iceland that the idea that each homestead has a hot
> spring for bathing and such is quite far from the truth.

True, but there are also many many farms that have. The farm where I grew up
didn't really have any geothermal heat - although there were several brooks
and ponds that didn't freeze during winter - but the next farm had a small
spring. Not hot enough to cook in, though. And several neighbourhood farms
had hot springs.

The oldest source that directly mentions geothermal heat being used for
cooking dates from 1199. It tells of two women who were carrying a cauldron
home from a spring and had an accident where one of them got severely
burned. There is ample documentation that hot springs in several regions
were used for cooking and baking during medieval times and later - in fact,
up to this day. You can buy hverabrauð ("hot spring bread" in any
supermarket in Reykjavík.

Nanna