ECONOMIC USES OF LICHENS— LLANO 395 



Before use the lichen was boiled with lye, rinsed in clear water, dried 

 and placed in closed containers which were stored in a dry place. In 

 this fashion it would keep for many years. For breadmaking it was 

 first oven-dried, then ground fine; one-fourth grain meal was next 

 added, and the mixture was baked as usual, producing a strong bread 

 with a fair taste which kept well in storage. Cetraria islandica was 

 also mixed with elm cortex as well as with grain and boiled with a 

 surplus of water to produce a broth. Cetraria nivalis was occasionally 

 used in the same manner. For porridge, a cooking container was filled 

 with one-third C. idwtidica and water, and this mixture boiled three or 

 four times and stirred frequently until it became thick. The top broth 

 and scum were skimmed off and the rest salted according to taste. This 

 was permitted to cool until hard, then eaten with or without milk. It 

 could be redried in an oven and used for bread. As gi*uel, about 1 

 pound of the finely cut lichen was added to I14 to 2 quarts of water and 

 cooked slowly until about one-half of the water had been evaporated. 

 This was straihed while hot and flavored with raisins or cinnamon. 

 After boiling, and separating the broth, the residue was eaten with oil, 

 3'ellow of egg, sugar, etc., as a salad, "and the most pretentious person 

 will like it." The hardened jelly of this lichen was often mixed with 

 lemon juice, sugar, chocolate, almonds, etc. (4) . 



The Biblical manna of the Israelites appears to have been Lecanora 

 esculenta Evers. (19), which is still eaten by desert tribes, being mixed 

 with meal to one-third of its weight. This lichen grows in the moun- 

 tainous regions and is blown loose into the lowlands where the thalli 

 pile up in small hummocks in the valley. As late as 1891 there was an 

 abundant fall of this "manna" in Turkey. The Turks are recorded as 

 using Evernia 'prunastri for jelly (4) ; the ancient Egyptians also used 

 this lichen and E. furfuracea in making bread (13). There is still 

 some importation of these lichens from Europe as fermentative agents, 

 and Forstal in the nineteenth century reported seeing several consign- 

 ments from the islands of the Greek archipelago bound for Alexandria. 

 In India (17) Parmelia ahessinica, "Rathipuvvu," is used as food, gen- 

 erally in a curry powder, and medicinally ; while in Japan Umhilicaria 

 esculenta is considered a delicacy and sold as "iwa-take" or "rock mush- 

 room." Because of the scarcity of collecting places and the difficulty 

 of access, the market price is relatively high. In France lichens are 

 used in the manufacture of chocolates and some pastries ; the lichenin 

 is, in this case, merely used as a filler and a substitute for commercial 

 starch. 



Less is known of the uses of lichens by northern Asiatic peoples. 

 Their dependence upon reindeer husbandry reaches far back into an- 

 tiquity; lack of open coastal Arctic waters rich in sea mammals, the 

 vastness of the interior Asiatic land mass, and the cumulative, migra- 

 tory populations have forced a situation upon a normal nomadic hunt- 



