[Sca-cooks] Period food myths

[Terry Decker]

> In a message dated 4/4/2008 10:48:23 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> countgunthar at hotmail.com writes:
>
> Bread  had bits of grit from stone grinding so people's teethwore down 
> over
> the  years.
>
>
> I'd read this about ancient Egypt, backed up be X-rays of mummies but  the
> Middle Ages? Apparently in Egypt they used sandstone for the grinding of 
> flour
> hence the flattened worn teeth.
>
> Corwyn

Worn teeth, presumably from grit in the flour, show up in a number of 
archeological from the Neolithic on.  They primarily occur where hand querns 
of soft stone were used.  The myth about the grit in Medieval flour is 
probably an unwarranted extrapolation from these finds.  Medieval millers 
used the hardest stone they could afford to reduce wear (and replacing 
costly millstones) and produce a finer meal.  Additionally, bolting would 
remove most of any grit that did wind up in the flour.

Bear