Keeping the Essential Foods going

[Mortblanc]

Look at what you have there Mary and really examine it historically. What you did not have before the world markets developed you can live without during times of hardship.

You can eliminate sugar as a necessity immediately. Refined sugar was unknown in GB historically for thousands of years. It was not common in working class homes until the 19th century when slave labor in the colonies made it a dirt cheap way of feeding the poor with empty calories.

Historically, sweetness was obtained from fruits and honey.

Dairy was not in the past what it is now. Milk was not commonly consumed raw. It was a great transmitter of tuberculosis and was dangerous to consume as a drink before Pasteur came up with his germ killing process, which is now usually required by law for sale.

Most milk was skimmed of cream and turned into various cheeses and butter. Salting and flavoring the cheese and butter helped kill some of the bacteria and provided preserved calories for long term use. Many of the long term preserved cheeses are boiled as processed and last for years.

That brings you to seasonings.

There are some traditional British herbs that are still used but the real spices were always imported from elsewhere. The is what drove the exploration of the 15th and 16th centuries, made fortunes and required colonies abroad.

Many cooks keep their own private herb gardens and they were a feature of most of the kitchen gardens of the past. Foods tasted much different with more of the savory in the mix rather than the spicy-hot, sweet, and artificially sour. My wife was a great herb gardener and kept a 20x50 patch of herbs under cultivation.

That leaves us with wheat, which in the old days was both stewed as porridge and ground to flour for bread. But that bread was not what we know it today. It was heavy and coarse with a good bit of barley and rye four mixed with the wheat, and it was not ground too well or bleached white. Barley and Rye are easier to grow and tougher toward the climate than wheat so the villains of the preindustrial era planted a mix, just in case the wheat failed.

Besides, the Lord of the manor took his cut of the duties out of the wheat crop so there was often little left anyway. Even today there is a class of loaf we refer too as "peasant breads". During the days past one took a slab of that heavy coarse loaf on their wooden trencher and tore out the center, then ladled the stew that was constantly over the fire into the cavity. The bread was dense enough to contain the stew and keep it from seeping over the trencher sides. Any that did escape you soaked up with the big chunk you tore out of the center.

Salt, yep it is a requirement, not specifically for seasoning but for preservation of the food. You can evaporate it or speed up the process of evaporation through boiling. You place the bit 50 gallon kettle on the fire and fill it with sea water. As it boils down you add more sea water and more sea water until the contents of the kettle simply refuses to dissolve any more salt, then you boil it until the contents are a thick soup and take it off the fire. As the contents precipitate into a sludgy powder you spread it out to dry, bag it and take it home.

Of all the things you have cited the salt is the most important. There was good reason the Romans paid their soldiers with salt. Their salary. Salt was always in high demand and held a good price anywhere in the Roman world.

Without around 20 pounds of salt per pig, for preservation, you will have no pork for the winter. Addressing that fact, one did not usually worry about salting their food at the table. The cook usually could not get enough salt out of the preserved foods to give you the desire for adding more.

Now, as for our preps of one year duration ??

Yes the intent there is to allow for one full cycle of the growing season so crops can be planted, harvested and preserved.

Some will not have the space,, equipment, seed, or knowledge to do that.

Yes, they will die.