PARISH HISTORY - Saddening Agents
Yeast is a leavening agent. It enables dough to rise, introducing air bubbles and counteracting the remorseless biscuitiness of pitta, pizza, pide and other unleavened breads.
The bread that Jesus bade his disciples break was unleavened, as was the bread baked in the oldest known European bread oven – found in Bulgaria and dating back to around 6,500 BCE.
The bread baked in Stanton St Gabriel has, for a long time, been leavened. Every household with a stone fireplace had a bread oven set into the side of the fire and every household with a bread oven had a supply of yeast in the kitchen. The bread baked in these households was not common property – those households without access to a bread oven would buy their bread from a household that did have one (or get it in exchange for milk, eggs or some service). But yeast was common property. If any kitchen ran out of yeast, a child would be sent to fetch some from another nearby household. The unspoken rule was that the yeast was given freely. And, of course, the child would tend to go to a ‘friendly’ neighbour, perhaps a relative or, in the case of a young teenager girl being sent, to the house of a young lad she desired.
In Stanton St Gabriel the bread, though leavened, was usually heavy, made of wholemeal flour, and came in dense round loaves. Dipped in gravy and potatoes (or just gravy, because Dorset had the potato blight often enough), it made a meal. Later, those who could afford treated flour would have started to make loaves that resembled long, thinnish, French flutes and baguettes.
As we saw, according to the Historic Environment of the Dorset Coast: Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey Phase I – Dorset Coast Historic Environment Research Framework, some way along the Dorset coast at Kimmeridge and Brownsea Island, a mineral called copperas was mined as early as the 16th century. The authors note, in a rather matter-of-fact way, that, “the principal use of copperas was as a textile dye mordant and saddening agent”. It looks like this:
The bread that Jesus bade his disciples break was unleavened, as was the bread baked in the oldest known European bread oven – found in Bulgaria and dating back to around 6,500 BCE.
The bread baked in Stanton St Gabriel has, for a long time, been leavened. Every household with a stone fireplace had a bread oven set into the side of the fire and every household with a bread oven had a supply of yeast in the kitchen. The bread baked in these households was not common property – those households without access to a bread oven would buy their bread from a household that did have one (or get it in exchange for milk, eggs or some service). But yeast was common property. If any kitchen ran out of yeast, a child would be sent to fetch some from another nearby household. The unspoken rule was that the yeast was given freely. And, of course, the child would tend to go to a ‘friendly’ neighbour, perhaps a relative or, in the case of a young teenager girl being sent, to the house of a young lad she desired.
In Stanton St Gabriel the bread, though leavened, was usually heavy, made of wholemeal flour, and came in dense round loaves. Dipped in gravy and potatoes (or just gravy, because Dorset had the potato blight often enough), it made a meal. Later, those who could afford treated flour would have started to make loaves that resembled long, thinnish, French flutes and baguettes.
As we saw, according to the Historic Environment of the Dorset Coast: Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey Phase I – Dorset Coast Historic Environment Research Framework, some way along the Dorset coast at Kimmeridge and Brownsea Island, a mineral called copperas was mined as early as the 16th century. The authors note, in a rather matter-of-fact way, that, “the principal use of copperas was as a textile dye mordant and saddening agent”. It looks like this:
And, it also, of course, looks like a French loaf, cut in half and left to go stale for a week.
A saddening agent takes the x out of y. It makes it dull and heavy and leaden.
The story of a small, impoverished, isolated country village is essentially a sad one. There are births and marriages but, in principle, people want to leave if they can and, if they can’t, they eventually die. There are good harvests, but often enough a crop fails, disease comes, families fall into poverty or distress, children die, favourite daughters marry away, customs lapse, families are divided by bitter disagreements.
In short, the presence of a saddening agent is clear enough.
A saddening agent takes the x out of y. It makes it dull and heavy and leaden.
The story of a small, impoverished, isolated country village is essentially a sad one. There are births and marriages but, in principle, people want to leave if they can and, if they can’t, they eventually die. There are good harvests, but often enough a crop fails, disease comes, families fall into poverty or distress, children die, favourite daughters marry away, customs lapse, families are divided by bitter disagreements.
In short, the presence of a saddening agent is clear enough.
Also in 'Parish History':
Vikings ~ Fishtrap ~ Desertion ~ Recent times ~ Saddening agents ~ Digory Gordge ~ Buildings & Archaeology ~ Old photos
Vikings ~ Fishtrap ~ Desertion ~ Recent times ~ Saddening agents ~ Digory Gordge ~ Buildings & Archaeology ~ Old photos