With barley, too, the food called ptisan is made, a most substantial and salutary aliment, and one that is held in very high esteem. Hippocrates, one of the most famous writers on medical science, has devoted a whole volume to the praises of this aliment. The ptisan of the highest quality is that which is made at Utica; that of Egypt is prepared from a kind of barley, the grain of which grows with two points. In Baltic and Africa, the kind of barley from which this food is made is that which Turranius calls the “smooth” barley: the same author expresses an opinion, too, that olyra and rice are the same. The method of preparing ptisan is universally known.
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CHAP. 16.
TRAGUM.
In a similar manner, too, tragum is prepared from seed wheat, but only in Campania and Egypt.
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CHAP. 17.
AMYLUM.
Amylum is prepared from every kind of wheat, and from winter-wheat as well; but the best of all is that made from three-month wheat. The invention of it we owe to the island of Chios, and still, at the present day, the most esteemed kind comes from there; it derives its name from its being made without the help of the mill. Next to the amylum made with three-month wheat, is that which is prepared from the lighter kinds of wheat. In making it, the grain is soaked in fresh water, placed in wooden vessels; care being taken to keep it covered with the liquid, which is changed no less than five times in the course of the day. If it can be changed at night as well, it is all the better for it, the object being to let it imbibe the water gradually and equally. When it is quitæ soft, but before it turns sour, it is passed through linen cloth, or else wicker-work, after which it is poured out upon a tile covered with leaven, and left to harden in the sun. Next to the amylum of Chios, that of Crete is the most esteemed, and next to that the Ægyptian. The tests of its goodness are its being light and smooth: it should be used, too, while it is fresh. Cato, among our writers, has made mention of it.
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CHAP. 18.
the NATURE OF BARLEY.
Barley-meal, too, is employed for medicinal purposes; and it is a curious fact, that for beasts of burden they make a paste of it, which is first hardened by the action of fire, and then ground. It is then made up into balls, which are introduced with the hand into the paunch, the result of which is, that the vigour and muscular strength of the animal is considerably increased. In some kinds of barley, the ears have two rows of grains, and in others more; in some cases, as many as six. The grain itself, too, presents certain differences, being long and thin, or else short or round, white, black, or, in some instances, of a purple colour. This last kind is employed for making polenta: the white is ill adapted for standing the severity of the weather. Barley is the softest of all the grains: it can only be sown in a dry, loose soil, but fertile withal. The chaff of barley ranks among the very best; indeed, for litter there is none that can be compared with it. Of all grain, barley is the least exposed to accidents, as it is gathered before the time that mildew begins to attack wheat; for which reason it is that the provident agriculturist sows only as much wheat as may be required for food. The saying is, that “barley is sown in a money-bag,” because it so soon returns a profit. The most prolific kind of all is that which is got in at Carthage, in Spain, in the month of April. It is in the same month that it is sown in Celtiberia, and yet it yields two harvests in the same year. All kinds of barley are cut sooner than other grain, and immediately after they are ripe; for the straw is extremely brittle, and the grain is enclosed in a husk of remarkable thinness. It is said, too, that a better polenta is made from it, if it is gathered before it is perfectly ripe.
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CHAP. 19. (8.)
ARINCA, AND OTHER KINDS OF GRAIN THAT ARE GROWN IN THE EAST.
The several kinds of corn are not everywhere the same; and even where they are the same, they do not always bear a similar name. The kinds most universally grown are spelt, by the ancients known as “adorea,” winter wheat, and wheat; all these being common to many countries. Arinca was originally peculiar to Gaul, though now it is widely diffused over Italy as well. Egypt, too, Syria, Cilicia, Asia, and Greece, have their own peculiar kinds, known by the names of zea, olyra, and wheat. In Egypt, they make a fine flour from wheat of their own growth, but it is by no means equal to that of Italy. Those countries which employ zea, have no spelt. Zea, however, is to be found in Italy, and in Campania more particularly, where it is known by the name of “seed.” The grain that bears this name enjoys a very considerable celebrity, as we shall have occasion to state on another occasion; and it is in honour of this that Homer uses the expression, ζείδωρος ἄρουρα, and not, as some suppose, from the fact of the earth giving life. Amylum is made, too, from this grain, but of a coarser quality than the kind already mentioned; this, however, is the only difference that is perceptible.
The most hardy kind, however, of all the grains is spelt, and the best to stand the severity of the weather; it will grow in the very coldest places, as also in localities that are but half tilled, or soils that are extremely hot, and destitute of water. This was the earliest food of the ancient inhabitants of Latium; a strong proof of which is the distributions of adorea that were made in those times, as already stated. It is evident, too, that the Romans subsisted for a long time upon pottage, and not bread; for we find that from its name of “puls,” certain kinds of food are known, even at the present day, as “pulmentaria.” Ennius, too, the most ancient of our poets, in describing the famine in a siege, relates how that the parents snatched away the messes of pottage from their weeping children. At the present day, even, the sacrifices in conformity with the ancient rites, as well as those offered upon birthdays, are made with parched pottage. This food appears to have been as much unknown in those days in Greece as polenta was in Italy.
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CHAP. 20.
WINTER WHEAT. SIMILAGO, OR FINE FLOUR.
There is no grain that displays a greater avidity than wheat, and none that absorbs a greater quantity of nutriment. With all propriety I may justly call winter wheat the very choicest of all the varieties of wheat. It is white, destitute of all flavour, and not oppressive to the stomach. It suits moist localities particularly well, such as we find in Italy and Gallia Comata; but beyond the Alps it is found to maintain its character only in the territory of the Allobroges and that of the Memini; for in the other parts of those countries it degenerates at the end of two years into common wheat. The only method of preventing this is to take care and sow the heaviest grains only.
(9.) Winter wheat furnishes bread of the very finest quality and the most esteemed delicacies of the bakers. The best bread that is known in Italy is made from a mixture of Cam- panian winter wheat with that of Pisæ. The Campanian kind is of a redder colour, while the latter is white; when mixed with chalk, it is increased in weight. The proper proportion for the yield of Campanian wheat to the modius of grain is four sextarii of what is known as bolted flour; but when it is used in the rough and has not been bolted, then the yield should be five sextarii of flour. In addition to this, in either case there should be half a modius of white meal, with four sextarii of coarse meal, known as “seconds,” and the same quantity of bran. The Pisan wheat produces five sextarii of fine flour to the modius; in other respects it yields the same as that of Campania. The wheat of Clusium and Arretium gives another sextarius of fine flour, but the yield is similar to that of the kinds already mentioned in all other respects. If, however, as much of it as possible is converted into fine wheat meal, the modius will yield sixteen pounds weight of white bread, and three of seconds, with half a modius of bran. These differences, however, depend very materially upon the grinding; for when the grain is ground quite dry it produces more meal, but when sprinkled with salt water a whiter flour, though at the same time a greater quantity of bran. It is very evident that “firina,” the name we give to meal, is derived fro
m “far.” A modius of meal made from Gallic winter wheat, yields twenty-two pounds of bread; while that of Italy, if made into bread baked in tins, will yield two or three pounds more. When the bread is baked in the oven, two pounds must be added in weight in either case.
(10.) Wheat yields a fine flour of the very highest quality. In African wheat the modius ought to yield half a modius of fine flour and five sextarii of pollen, that being the name given to fine wheat meal, in the same way that that of winter wheat is generally known as “fos,” or the “flower.” This fine meal is extensively used in copper works and paper manufactories. In addition to the above, the modius should yield four sextarii of coarse meal, and the same quantity of bran. The finest wheaten flour will yield one hundred and twenty-two pounds of bread, and the fine meal of winter wheat one hundred and seventeen, to the modius of grain. When the prices of grain are moderate, meal sells at forty asses the modius, bolted wheaten flour at eight asses more, and bolted flour of winter wheat, at sixteen asses more. There is another distinction again in fine wheaten flour, which originated formerly in the days of L. Paul’s. There were three classes of wheat; the first of which would appear to have yielded seventeen pounds of bread, the second eighteen, and the third nineteen pounds and a third: to these were added two pounds and a half of seconds, and the same quantity of brown bread, with six sextarii of bran.
Winter wheat never ripens all at once, and yet there is none of the cereals that can so ill brook any delay; it being of so delicate a nature, that the ears directly they are ripe will begin to shed their grain. So long, however, as it is in stalk, it is exposed to fewer risks than other kinds of wheat, from the fact of its always having the ear upright, and not retaining the dew, which is a prolific cause of mildew.
From arinca a bread of remarkable sweetness is made. The grains in this variety lie closer than they do in spelt; the ear, too, is larger and more weighty. It is rarely the case that a modius of this grain does not weigh full sixteen pounds. In Greece they find great difficulty in threshing it; and hence it is that we find Homer saying that it is given to beasts of burden, this being the same as the grain that he calls “olyra.” In Egypt it is threshed without any difficulty, and is remarkably prolific. Spelt has no beard, and the same is the case with winter wheat, except that known as the Laconion variety. To the kinds already mentioned we have to add bromos, the winter wheat just excepted, and tragos, all of them exotics introduced from the East, and very similar to rice. Tiphe also belongs to the same class, from which in our part of the world a cleaned grain resembling rice is prepared. Among the Greeks, too, there is the grain known as zea; and it is said that this, as well as tiphe, when cleaned from the husk and sown, will degenerate and assume the form of wheat; not immediately, but in the course of three years.
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CHAP. 21.
THE FRUITFULNESS OF AFRICA IN WHEAT.
There is no grain more prolific than wheat, Nature having bestowed upon it this quality, as being the substance which she destined for the principal nutriment of man. A modius of wheat, if the soil is favourable, as at Byzacium, a champaign district of Africa, will yield as much as one hundred and fifty modii of grain. The procurator of the late Emperor Augustus sent him from that place — a fact almost beyond belief — little short of four hundred shoots all springing from a single grain; and we have still in existence his letters on the subject. In a similar manner, too, the procurator of Nero sent him three hundred and sixty stalks all issuing from a single grain. The plains of Leontium in Sicily, and other places in that island, as well as the whole of Bætica, and Egypt more particularly, yield produce a hundred-fold. The most prolific kinds of wheat are the ramose wheat, and that known as the “hun- dred-grain” wheat. Before now, as many as one hundred beans, too, have been found on a single stalk.
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CHAP. 22.
SESAME. ERYSIMUM, OR IRIO. HORMINUTM.
We have spoken of sesame, millet, and panic as belonging to the summer grains. Sesame comes from India, where they extract an oil from it; the colour of its grain is white. Similar in appearance to this is the erysimum of Asia and Greece, and indeed it would be identical with it were it not that the grain is better filled. It is the same grain that is known among us as “irio;” and strictly speaking, ought rather to be classed among the medicaments than the cereals. Of the same nature, too, is the plant called “horminum” by the Greeks, though resembling cummin in appearance; it is sown at the same time as sesame: no animal will eat either this or irio while green.
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CHAP. 23.
THE MODE OF GRINDING CORN.
All the grains aræ not easily broken. In Etruria they first parch the spelt in the ear, and then pound it with a pestle shod with iron at the end. In this instrument the iron is notched at the bottom, sharp ridges running out like the edge of a knife, and concentrating in the form of a star; so that if care is not taken to hold the pestle perpendicularly while pounding, the grains will only be splintered and the iron teeth broken. Throughout the greater part of Italy, however, they employ a pestle that is only rough at the end, and wheels turned by water, by means of which the corn is gradually ground. I shall here set forth the opinions given by Mago as to the best method of pounding corn. He says that the wheat should be steeped first of all in water, and then cleaned from the husk; after which it should be dried in the sun, and then pounded with the pestle; the same plan, he says, should be adopted in the preparation of barley. In the latter case, however, twenty sextarii of grain require only two sextarii of water. When lentils are used, they should be first parched, and then lightly pounded with, the bran; or else, adopting another method, a piece of unbaked brick and half a modius of sand should be added to every twenty sextarii of lentils.
Ervilia should be treated in the same way as lentils. Sesame should be first steeped in warm water, and then laid out to dry, after which it should be rubbed out briskly, and then thrown into cold water, so that the chaff may be disengaged by floating to the surface. After this is done, the grain should again be spread out in the sun, upon linen cloths, to dry. Care, however, should be taken to lose no time in doing this, as it is apt to turn musty, and assume a dull, livid colour. The grains, too, which are just cleaned from the husk, require various methods of pounding. When the beard is ground by itself, without the grain, the result is known as “acus,” but it is only used by goldsmiths. If, on the other hand, it is beaten out on the threshing-floor, together with the straw, the chaff has the name of “palea,” * * * * and in most parts of the world is employed as fodder for beasts of burden. The residue of millet, panic, and sesame, is known to us as “apluda;” but in other countries it is called by various other names.
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CHAP. 24.
MILLET.
Campania is particularly prolific in millet, and a fine white porridge is made from it: it makes a bread, too, of remarkable sweetness. The nations of Sarmatia live principally on this porridge, and even the raw meal, with the sole addition of mares’ milk, or else blood extracted from the thigh of the horse. The Æthiopians know of no other grain but millet and barley.
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CHAP. 25.
PANIC.
The people of Gaul, and of Aquitania more particularly, make use of panic; the same is the case, too, in Italy beyond the Padus, with the addition, however, of the bean, without which they prepare none of their food. There is no aliment held in higher esteem than panic by the nations of Pontus. The other summer grains thrive better in well-watered soils than in rainy localities; but water is by no means beneficial to millet or panic when they are coming into blade. It is recommended not to sow them among vines or fruit-trees, as it is generally thought that these crops impoverish the soil.
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CHAP. 26. (11)
THE VARIOUS KINDS OF LEAVEN.
Millet is more particularly
employed for making leaven; and if kneaded with must, it will keep a whole year. The same is done, too, with the fine wheat-bran of the best quality; it is kneaded with white must three days old, and then dried in the sun, after which it is made into small cakes. When required for making bread, these cakes are first soaked in water, and then boiled with the finest spelt flour, after which the whole is mixed up with the meal; and it is generally thought that this is the best method of making bread. The Greeks have established a rule that for a modius of meal eight ounces of leaven is enough.
These kinds of leaven, however, can only be made at the time of vintage, but there is another leaven which may be prepared with barley and water, at any time it may happen to be required. It is first made up into cakes of two pounds in weight, and these are then baked upon a hot hearth, or else in an earthen dish upon hot ashes and charcoal, being left till they turn of a reddish brown. When this is done, the cakes are shut close in vessels, until they turn quite sour: when wanted for leaven, they are steeped in water first. When barley bread used to be made, it was leavened with the meal of the fitch, or else the chicheling vetch, the proportion being, two pounds of leaven to two modii and a half of barley meal. At the present day, however, the leaven is prepared from the meal that is used for making the bread. For this purpose, some of the meal is kneaded before adding the salt, and is then boiled to the consistency of porridge, and left till it begins to turn sour. In most cases, however, they do not warm it at all, but only make use of a little of the dough that has been kept from the day before. It is very evident that the principle which causes the dough to rise is of an acid nature, and it is equally evident that those persons who are dieted upon fermented bread are stronger in body. Among the ancients, too, it was generally thought that the heavier wheat is, the more wholesome it is.
Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder Page 124
