[Sca-cooks] Salt in Iceland (was Honey butter)

[Stefan li Rous]

Euriol commented:

<<< I had a chance this past weekend to glance at a research paper on  
Icelandic Skyr & Mysa (curds & whey) and I think this was mentioned  
in the paper (I've asked the author for a copy that I might be able  
to read it cover to cover).>>>

I'd love to hear more about this paper and perhaps get a copy to  
read, if that doesn't conflict with someone's copyright.

<<< If I'm remember right from the paper, it was the scarcity of wood  
that made the harvesting of the salt impractical in Iceland.>>>

Correct. You need either a fuel source, such as wood, or adequate  
sunshine to create a viable salt processing industry from salt water.  
Salt was processed from brine pools in Germany in period, but they  
had large forests to burn.

When Europeans reached Iceland the interior was covered in forest.  
Unfortunately, within the first few centuries the Icelanders had  
managed to cut down most of the forests. Extensively enough that it  
affected what livestock they could raise and many types that they had  
brought over with them died out. The onslaught of the mini Ice Age  
didn't help either.  I believe this is discussed by Nanna in both the  
Florilegium Iceland-msg and fd-Iceland-msg files, as well as in her  
book(s).

The scary thing is that this happened on both Easter Island and  
Iceland, although they were half a world apart and two totally  
separate cultures. The problem is that we are treating the entire  
world the same way. It's just taken a lot longer to over harvest the  
riches of an entire planet compared to two small, isolated islands.  
Unfortunately, we've had some world leaders recently, who have their  
heads in the sand, or up various parts of their anatomy, or who  
simply, knowingly, put their own agendas ahead of saving our  
civilization from this impending disaster.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****