5 ms·
> For contemporary Westerners who prize whole grain over processed flour, the horse bread of bran and rye, once debased as a bread of poverty, is usually the cr
by djur 4y ago
> For contemporary Westerners who prize whole grain over processed flour, the horse bread of bran and rye, once debased as a bread of poverty, is usually the crowd favorite for its sweet, nuanced taste. “It’s fabulous,” he says. “It’s absolutely fabulous.”
Worth pointing out that both grain crops and the processing thereof have changed significantly in recent centuries, resulting in a tastier (and generally more nutritious, in the case of whole grains) product. Wholemeal flour used for horse bread would have probably been lower both in protein and digestible carbohydrates right from the start, and that's before accounting for indigestible grit and chaff left in it from the grinding process. Grinding was also less consistent, which further degraded the texture of the finished loaf. The exact same ingredients on paper are fundamentally different today than they were in the past -- sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.
- hoseja 4y agoStoneground flour also probably inherently contains some sand, really destroying your teeeth.
- oska 4y agoProbably contains some particles from the grindstone yes, but I wouldn't think in anywhere enough quantity to have a particularly deleterious effect on people's teeth
- causi 4y agoDepends on the type of grinder. A saddle-type quern absolutely puts enough rock into the flour to degrade teeth, as seen on ancient egyptian remains.
- mmierz 4y agoWhen I was a child my parents did a brief experiment grinding our own flour with a cheap grindstone. I can clearly remember the sensation of the bits of stone in the bread. It is possible to make flour without this problem? Almost certainly! But this n=1 anecdote demonstrates it’s a thing that can happen.
- piceas 4y agoMore than toothpaste?
- kuschku 4y agoToothpaste usually uses microplastic or ground walnut shells to prevent exactly this issue.
- i_am_proteus 4y agoI eat stone ground flour (in bread form) almost daily and no dentist has ever registered a complaint.
- jvanderbot 4y agoI think GP meant "Primitive stone ground flour" given context of GGP.