HOUSEKEEPING. 99 



bread made from this mixture differed in no perceptible 

 way from that which had been raised with yeast. 



I have no doubt some accidental fermentation of 

 flour and water had led to the idea of making leavened 

 bread. It seemed to have been used in very primitive 

 times, when such^^a very artificial substance as yeast 

 was not likely to have been generally used. 



CHAPTER VI. 



I HAVE spoken of briinies, bannocks, and scones. The 

 last two are well known to all who love the " land o' 

 cakes." A briinie is merely a thick oake, which may 

 be made of either flour or oatmeal, and may be rendered 

 " short " by the use of fat. A " burstin briinie " is a 

 cake such as I have described made of a meal called 

 burstin. Burstin is Shetland oats or here, very highly 

 browned, and then ground on a small hand-mill into 

 very fine meal. Of course a great deal of the husk 

 is mixed with the meal, and it has a very pronounced, 

 though not unpleasant, flavour. 



In seasons when potatoes were very plentiful, or 

 when the potato disease was very bad, a capital 

 starch, in nature closely resembling arrowroot, was 

 made from potatoes. The disease did not seem to 

 affect the starchy substance of the potato, for the 

 meal was quite as good from diseased potatoes as from 

 sound ones. The process of scraping down the tubers 

 on a gigantic vegetable grater, washing the pulp so pro- 

 duced, when the starch falls to the bottom, and after- 



