[Sca-cooks] Hartshorn Re: Reasons why period cakes aren'tmoderncakes
Terry Decker
t.d.decker at att.net
Sat Oct 5 10:06:25 PDT 2013
Millet is not a leavening agent anymore than wheat, rye, oats, etc. are
leavening agents. Like any grain, when wet, the starch in millet is
hydrolyzed into sugars by an amylase reaction. The sugars feed yeasts and
lactobacilli producing a fermentation. The starter formed by the
fermentation can be used as a leaven.
In the case of the particular recipe under discussion, there are no
particular instructions that would suggest that the product is to be used as
a leaven. Only the possible mistranslation of the title as "How to make
hartshorn" leads one to consider that it might be a leaven and the
instructions as written won't produce the ammonium carbonate the title
suggests. Under the new translation, the fact that honey, gingerbread and
millet are being boiled together makes me think this might be a porridge or
a polenta. In fact, the instructions are close to what I did to produce
millet and honey polenta many years ago.
Bear
>
> And since millet has been used as a leavening agent since the Romans, that
> seems especially likely.
>
>
>
> Jim Chevallier
> www.chezjim.com
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