I visited the Tallinn maritime museum last weekend to check out an exhibition about Vikings. Excellent museum overall, and the Viking special was very informative. Things I learnt:
- Deforestation was a big problem as wood was used for everything. The landscape was much more open than today.
- Viking villages (Birka at least) had plank covered walkways. Good against mud I suppose.
- There is no evidence of green dyes for clothing, but it could be done with the dyes they used. Yellow, blue, red and different shades of brown, beige and grey were in evidence.
- The handout had a recipe for Viking bread:
About 150 g of barley flour
About 50 g wholemeal flour
2 tsp crushed flax seeds
About 100 ml water
2 tsp lard or butter
A pinch of salt
Work into dough and knead. Add flour or water if too hard or wet. Let rest cold for at leasr an hour. Shape into flat cakes about 1/2 cm thick. Bake in a dry cast iron pan over medium heat, a few minutes on each side, or in the oven at 150 C for 10-13 minutes.
Based on analysis of bread found in Birka, Sweden.
Cheers,
Aksu
Yum
Sounds good enough to eat.
MickS
Interesting :-\
Something to serve up next time you host a Viking game ;)
Top with spam.
X_X
I don't like Spam !
Cheers - Phil
Ewww.... That's disgusting!