A treatise on the art of making good wholesome bread of wheat, oats, rye, barley and other farinaceous grains / Exhibiting the alimentary properties and chemical constitution of different kinds of bread corn, and of the various substitutes used for bread, in different parts of the world

by Friedrich Christian Accum

The root of the maniat, after being crashed, scraped clean, and grated in a tub, is enclosed in a sack of rushes, of very loose texture, which is suspended upon a stick placed upon two wooden forks. To the bottom of this sack a heavy vessel is suspended, which, by drawing the sack, presses the grated root and receives the juice that flows out of it. When the starch is well exhausted of its juice, it is exposed to smoke in order to dry it; and when well dried it is passed through a sieve. In this state it is termed Casava. It is baked into cakes, by spreading it on hot plates of iron or earth, turning it on both sides, in order to give it a good reddish colour.

TAPIOCA.

The article of commerce, called tapioca, is the finest part of the farinaceous pith of the casava. It is separately collected and formed into small tears, by straining the mass while still moist, to form it into small irregular lumps.

Plantain Bread.

The Plantain Tree (Musa Paradisiaca), which is a native of the East Indies and other parts of the Asiatic Continent, furnishes the inhabitants with a species of bread. The fruit of the plantain-tree is about a foot long, and from an inch and a half to two inches in diameter. It is at first green, but when ripe of a pale yellow. It has a tough skin, and within is a soft pulp of a sweet flavour. The fruit is generally cut before it is ripe; the green skin is peeled off, and the heart is roasted in a clear coal fire for a few minutes, and frequently turned; it is then scraped and served up as bread. This tree is cultivated on an extensive scale in Jamaica. Without this fruit, Dr. Wright says, the Islands would be scarcely inhabitable, as no species of provisions could supply its place. Even flour and bread itself would be less agreeable to the labouring Negro.

Banana Bread.

The fruit of the Banana Tree (Musa Sapientum), differs from the preceding, being shorter, straighter, and rounder. It is about four or five inches long, of the shape of a cucumber, and of a highly grateful flavour. Bananas grow in bunches that weigh twelve pounds and upwards. This fruit yields a softer pulp than the plantain-tree, and of a more luscious taste. It is never eaten green, but when ripe is a very pleasant food, either raw or fried in slices like fritters. It is relished by all ranks of people in the West Indies. When the natives of the West Indies undertake a voyage, they take the ripe fruit of the banana and make provisions of the paste; and, having squeezed it through a sieve, form the mass into loaves, which are dried in the sun or baked on hot ashes, after being previously wrapped up in leaves.

Bread of Dried Fish.

The Laplanders, who have no corn of their own, make a kind of bread of the inner soft bark of a pine tree, either mixed with the coarsest barley meal, or with dried fish beaten into powder. The bark is collected when the sap is rising, it is afterwards dried in the sun, or over a slow fire, and then mixed with the coarsest barley meal, or dried fish beaten into powder. The poorer people grind the chaff, and even some of the straw along with the barley.

Another kind of bread is made of dried fish and the root of the water dragon (Calla palustris), the root is taken up in the spring, before the leaves shoot out. It is dried, pounded, and boiled, till it becomes thick, like flummery, and after standing three or four days to lose its bitterness it is mixed with the powder of dried fish and the inner bark of the pine tree, and then made into a stiff paste, and baked over embers.