[Sca-cooks] beer in food

[Terry Decker]

I think the questions should be, "how many people did their own brewing and
how many had local brewsters?"  Until the 20th Century, brewing and baking
were a local concerns.  You bought barm and brew from the brewer and yeast
from the baker.  In the 19th Century, large brewing corporations began
taking over the large beer markets and began producing high quality,
standardized baker's yeast.

As another small point, ale yeast is the top fermenting Saccharomyces
cerevisiae, which is the yeast used as baker's yeast.  Beer yeast is S.
carlbergensis and is bottom fermenting.  Any yeast can be used to produce
bread, but those which produce more carbon dioxide than alcohol generally
will produce a better product.

Bear


>I've seen an 18th cent. receipt calling for "a pennyworth of new ale with
>the yeast on it," and ale barm is certainly used.  Weren't people  more
>likely to drink their beer than to cook with it, using broths for flavoured
>cooking liquids?  Or use it as a posset or caudle?  Robert May (1685) has
>three receipts for buttered beer or ale, involving boiling and scumming the
>beer, then mixing it with eggs, spices, and butter "and brew(ing) it."
>
>Nancy Kiel