[Sca-cooks] Period Flour Query

[Terry Decker]

Almost all of the types of flour available today were available somewhere 
during the SCA period.  The one exception I can think of offhand is 
triticale which is a modern hybrid combining two genera of cereals.  Barley, 
rye, wheat, and oats are probably the most common milled grasses, but 
millet, sorghum and other grasses were milled to flour, as were nuts, 
pulses, vetches and just about anything that could be dried and crushed.

Barley, rye, wheat and oats were used in the Neolithic.  Wheat follows a 
progression of einkorn to emmer with emmer giving way to club wheat between 
500 and 800 CE.  Spelt and durum wheat were definitely used in Antiquity and 
were used all through the period specified.  Although einkorn and emmer were 
marginalized, they were still used.

All of the grains mentioned were being grown over most of Europe, but the 
commonest was probably barley as it is used for baking and brewing.  Barley 
and wheat are grown in good soil.  Rye can be grown in poorer soil and 
harsher conditions.  Oats were usually reserved for poor land and bad 
weather.

An example of the kind of mix one might find on a European farm in the early 
9th Century shows up in the inventory of Charlemagne's estate at Asnapium:

"Of farm produce: old spelt (1) from last year, 90 baskets of which can be 
made into 450 weight (2) of flour; and 100 measures (3) of barley. From the 
present year, 110 baskets of spelt, of which 60 baskets had been planted, 
but the rest we found; 100 measures of wheat, 60 sown, the rest we found; 98 
measures of rye all sown; 1,800 measures of barley, 1,100 sown, the rest we 
found; 430 measures of oats;"

Notes:

(1) A kind of grain still widely cultivated for food in Germany and 
Switzerland; sometimes known as German wheat.

(2) The unit of weight was the pound. Charlemange replaced the old Gallic 
pound by the Roman, which was a tenth less.

(3) The unit of measure was the muid. Charlemange had a standard measure 
(modius publicus) constructed and in a number of his capitularies enjoined 
that it be taken as a model by all his subjects. It contained probably a 
little less than six pecks. A smaller measure was the setier, containg about 
five and two-thirds pints.

Excerpted from Ogg, Frederic A.; Source Book of Mediaeval History: American 
Book Co., New York, 1907.



If you have some specific questions, I'll try to give you a more thorough 
answer.

Bear

> I know it might be a lot to ask.  I tried looking thru the Flory  thingie.
> :-)) and didn't find it so here goes.  Is there a list of  flour(s) 
> available
> in period (the 500-1650 thing) for cooks?  I would like  to put it into a 
> class
> I want to teach for my cooks guild.  Many years ago  I attended a Known 
> World
> Collegium that featured many different flours done up  in shortbread as a
> taste demonstration. I thought it would be a wonderful thing  to do again. 
> If it
> could be broken down by area/cuisine it would be even  better.
>
>
> Aldyth