From Pre-historic to Modern Times BY JOHN ASHTON LONDON THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY 4 Bouverie Street and 65 St. Paul’s Churchyard, E.C. 1904 LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED. DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W....

It seems extraordinary, but it is, nevertheless, a fact, that, up to this present time, there has not been written, in the English language, a History of Bread , although it is called ‘the Staff of Life,’ and really is a large staple of food. There have been small brochures on the subject, and large volumes on the Chemistry of Bread, its making and baking; and long controversies as to the merits of whole meal, and other kindred questions, but no History. It is to remedy this that I have written

Man , as is evidenced by his teeth, was created graminivorous, as well as carnivorous, and the earliest skull yet found possesses teeth exactly the same as modern man, the carnivorous teeth not being bigger, whilst in many cases the whole of the teeth have been worn down, as if by masticating hard substances, such as parched grain. In the history of bread, the lake dwellings of Switzerland are most useful, as from them we can gather the cereals their inhabitants used, their bread, and the implem

The ancient Egyptians had as cereals three kinds of wheat— Triticum sativa , zea and spelta ; barley, Hordeum vulgare , and doura, Holcus sorghum , specimens of which may be seen in the Egyptian Gallery at the British Museum. The so-called ‘mummy-wheat’ is a fallacy, as far as its name goes; it is the Triticum turgidum compositum , cultivated in Egypt, Abyssinia, and elsewhere. Egyptian Reapers. In this fertile land the cultivation of corn was very primitive; the sower had his seed in a basket,

Of the bread of the ancient Hebrews we know nothing, except from their sacred books; but these contain a large store of knowledge. Their cereals seem to have consisted only of wheat, barley, rye (or it may be spelt), and millet, but they cultivated leguminous plants, such as beans and lentils. It is impossible to say accurately when these books were written, so that in the following notices respecting the bread of the Hebrews I take the sequence in which I find them placed in the Bible. It is im

As an introduction to the bread of the Romans and Greeks, let us begin with the pretty myth of Demeter (or Ceres, as the Romans called her), and her daughter Persephone. Zeus, or Jupiter, had promised his daughter Persephone to Pluto, without informing Demeter of his plan, and whilst the girl was plucking flowers which Zeus had caused to grow, in order to fix her attention, Pluto seized her, and, the earth opening, they disappeared, and went to his kingdom of Hades. Many places have been assigne

Agriculture has always taken a prominent part in Chinese polity, and is incorporated in their religious observances; and a deep veneration for it is inscribed on all the institutions in China. Among the several grades of society the cultivators of mind rank first, then those of land, third come the manufacturers, and lastly the merchants. Homage to agriculture is done annually by the Emperor, who makes a show of performing its operations. This ceremony, which originated more than 2000 years ago,

Olaus Magnus , Archbishop of Upsala, who lived in the first half of the 16th century, has left behind him, in his Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus , a long and lucid account of Scandinavian life and manners. Respecting harvest, he tells us that in the Northern countries, in many fields of the Visigoths, on that part that lies southward, barley is ripe and mown in 36 days from the date of sowing—that is, from the end of June to the middle of August, and sometimes sooner; and other corn sown

When the culture of grain in Britain really commenced we cannot possibly tell, but we know that the Phœnicians traded with this island in very early times for tin. All that we really know is from the fragments of writing left by Pytheas, who may, in one sense, be said to have been the discoverer of Britain. About 340 B.C. the Greek colony which the Greeks had planted at Massilia (Marseilles) wished to extend their trade, and, whether at their expense or his own, Pytheas, a learned man, a geograp

In order to make bread, the first operation is to grind the corn, be it wheat, rye, barley, or oats, and we have already seen the rough methods used by primitive man and others to effect this; we have noted the mealing stones, the pestle and mortar, the hand quern, and the grinding of corn by the Greeks and Romans. They soon gave up man as a motive power, and substituted mules or horses; these in their time gave place to water, which is a cheap and, if there be anything like a fall, a very power

In old times corn mills were always important factors in manors, and a source of considerable profit to the lord of the same. All the tenants of the manor were bound by custom to have their corn ground at the manor mill, paying a toll to the lord, for the mill was part of his demesne. The tenants owed suit to the mill in the same manner as they owed suit and service at the Manor Court. This, however, did not apply to the grinding or bruising of malt, and there were probably two good reasons for

The ordinary method of bread-making in London is as follows: The first process, when the bread is made with thick yeast, being to prepare a mixture of potatoes, yeast, and flour, by which the process of fermentation is to be produced in the dough. Mr. George W. Austin, in his pamphlet on Bread, Baking, and Bakers ,’ says about the ferment: ‘For each sack of flour (280 lbs.) about 8 lbs. or 10 lbs. of dry, mealy potatoes are taken, well boiled and mashed and washed through a strainer to take away

We have now got the loaf made, and the next thing is to bake it; for the home-baked loaf, the oven of a kitchener or gas stove will do very well, and the heat should be about 400 deg. Fahr. A baker’s oven is a thing per se . For hundreds of years they were made on the same old pattern, but now, except in many of the small underground bakeries, they are scientifically built, fitted with pyrometers, and with internal lamps. Mr. Austin writes thus of the oven: ‘The baker’s oven is generally a brick

Of the many breads that are not in common use, that used in the celebration of the Communion should be placed first. There seems no room for doubt that, at the Last Supper, our Lord broke unleavened bread—St Luke xxii. is, apparently, conclusive on this point; and, to this day, the whole Latin, Armenian, and Maronite Churches use unleavened bread, and it is also used in many churches of the Anglican communion. Dr. Lee 16 says: ‘The Ethiopic Christians also use unleavened bread at their Mass on M

But there is a bread which must not escape notice—a true bread—although somewhat sweet and spiced. When it was first introduced into England no one can tell, but it was well known in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, for Shakespeare, in Love’s Labour Lost (Act V., S. 1), makes Costard say: ‘An I had but one penny in the world, thou shouldst have it to buy gingerbread.’ And we find it used in a similar way to the educational biscuits of the present day; for Matthew Prior, in his Alma says: It was mad

Bread riots are of comparatively modern date. In the olden days people suffered from scarcity, but they suffered without making senseless riots. There was no Free Trade in corn, and the people had to depend upon home-grown cereals; so that in times of drought or failure of crops they felt the pinch terribly. True, they had a certain amount of protection against overcharge and combination in the form of the Assize of Bread, which, while it gave the baker a working profit, gave the consumer the be

As might be expected in an article of such worldwide consumption as bread, there is a considerable amount of folk-lore and sayings attendant on it. We can even find it in Shakespeare, for, in Hamlet (Act iv. s. 5), Ophelia says: ‘They say the owl was a baker’s daughter.’ This, unless one knew the Gloucestershire legend, would be unintelligible, but the bit of folk-lore makes it all clear. The story goes that our Saviour went into a baker’s shop, where they were baking, and asked for some bread t