[Sca-cooks] Period food myths
Terry Decker
t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net
Sun Apr 6 21:26:52 PDT 2008
> 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
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