[Sca-cooks] Period Flour Query and shortbread

[Terry Decker]

The Hanse traded anything and everything from Baltic to London and all along 
the Atlantic coast and as the Hanse expired, the English and Dutch merchant 
companies were rising.  It may not have been as much as was imported into 
Rome, but the traffic was profitable.  IIRC, Elizabeth David comments on 
English bakers buying foreign grain because the bushels were larger and thus 
produced greater profit for the cost.

Wheat, rye and oats were all grown in Scotland in period, but one needs to 
consider that until the 17th Century "meal" almost exclusively meant 
oatmeal.  The extent of the grain trade into Scotland doesn't appear to have 
had a lot of study.

Bear

> I'm not sure that wheat was grown in Scotland in period, much less
> rice. Yes, it could have been imported, but I don't remember that
> much grain/flour trade going on over long distances in medieval times
> or even the 16th century. Certainly not on the level that was
> apparently being done in Classical times. However, I'm willing to
> listen to contrary info.  Wool out and wheat in?
>
>
> Stefan