Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-09-24
NORWEGIAN FLADBRoD.
Substitution OF 1ndIGestible Bark for Rye
or Wheat Flour.

or Wheat Flour.
Most travellers in Norway have prob
ebly had more than sufficient oppor-
tunitics of becoming acquainted with
the so-called "Fladbrod, " fiat bread, Of
the country. Few, however, among
them who have partaken of this dry
and insipid food may possibly be aware
that in many districts, more especially
in Hardangcr, the chief ingredient in
its composition is the bark of trees.
This substitution of an indigestible
product for bona iide flour is not nec.
essarily proof of the scarcity of ce.
reals, but is to be ascribed rather to
an opinion prevalent among the peasant
women that the bark of young pine
branches, or twigs Of the elm are capa-
BILE of being made into a thinner paste
than unadulterated barley or rye-meal,
OF which the Morse housewife, who
pridcs herself on tho llghtness Of her
"Fladbrod," puts in only enough to
make the compound hold together
The absence of any nutrtiye prop
erty in bark bread, whether made with
elm or pine bark, and the positive in
jury it may do the digestive organs,
has Of late attracted much notice among
Norwegian Psychologists, and the editor
OF NGsuren, with view OF calling tho
attention of the public to the subject,
has, with the authors permission, re-
printed some remarks by Dr. Schubeler
on the history and character OF tho
bark bread of Scandinavia. From this
source we learn that the oldest refer
ence to the use OF bark bread in Nor
way occurs in poom, ascribod to the
Skaid Sighvat, who lived in the first
half of the eleventh century. In the
year 1900 the annals of Gothand record
II season of dearth in which men were
forced to eat the bark and leaf-buds OF
trees, while then, and during the latter
periods of the middle ages, the frequent
famine OF the crops in all parts of Sean
Gnavia led to the systematic use of the
bones and roe of fishes, Us well as the
bark of trees as Il substitute for genuine
flour, and SO extensively was the latter
substance used that Pastor Herman
Rugc, who, in 1862, wrote treatise on
the preservation of woods, has drawn
attention to the almost complete disap-
pcaranco of the olm in the Bohus dis
trict, which he ascribes to the univer-
sal practice in bygonc times of stripping
the bark for the preparation of bread.
In Nordland and Finmark the root
of StratiiJpteriS germaaica and other
ferns, as well as the leaves of various
species of Rumex, have been largely
used with barley-meal in making orIi-
nary bread as well as "Fiadbrod." In
Finland the national "pettuleipa" Ozark
brcad). which was in former time al
most the only breadstulf of the coun-
try, still ranks as an ordinary article
of food in Kajana and in the forest re-
gions of Oesterbotten and TavastlaRi
Here it is usually made of the inner
layers of the pine bark, ground to y
meal, which is mixed with a small
quantity of rye flour to give the requi-
site tenacity to the dough, The Fin
landers of an older generation showed
marvellous ingenuity in composing
brealstufs in which scarcely a trace
OF any cereal could be detected in the
mixture of bark, berries, seeds, bulbs
and roots Of wild plants, which they
seem to have accepted us Il perfectly
legitimate substitute for corn bread.
In the interior of Sweden, according to
Prof. Save, the beS, bread of the peas
ants consisted till the middle of this cen
tury o. peas, oais anil barley-mesl in
equal proportions, while in the ordi-
nary daily bread the husks, chaff and
spikes of the oats were all ground
down together. In had seasons even
this was unattainable by the Dalekar-
liam laborcr, who had to content him
self with pine-bark bread. Mature.