Corncrake wrote:

Malt extract was sometimes available from a baker as well, I dont
remember what they used it for ??


Malt loaf? Fattening up small children for pies?

--
Jo

You've helped me with a step toward clarifying something I read in a
sixties cookery book I sadly no longer have, so can't give the title.
The author was describing a friend's kitchen, and referred to a
demijohn of "bee wine" on the windowsill, with, s/he said, a dead bee
going up and down in it. Have you got more detail?

(Was it Katherine Whitehorn's _Cooking in a Bedsitter_ ? How we've
travelled on since then!)

George Orwell's "Coming up for air"??

--
Jo

The message
from (Corncrake) contains these words:

1955 when
I made five gallons of beer: after that I used to beg a bit of brewers'
yeast from the local brewery, from where I used to buy my crushed malted
barley. (Rebagged into smaller units, and with several trips home on my
bicycle.)

Cor ! Me too, sack across the bicycle crossbar and walk it home from
the brewery, 'twas amazing what got, errr, 'liberated' from that
brewery !

I'm afraid I bought it - but it was remarkably inexpensive.

Malt extract was sometimes available from a baker as well, I dont
remember what they used it for ??

Malt loaf, mainly.

I was a few years later than you with my first beer, about 1958/9/ish

You must have got a remarkable thirst on you in that time...

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

On Sun, 3 Jul 2005 13:23:14 +0100, "Mike Lyle" wrote:

You've helped me with a step toward clarifying something I read in a
sixties cookery book I sadly no longer have, so can't give the title.
The author was describing a friend's kitchen, and referred to a
demijohn of "bee wine" on the windowsill, with, s/he said, a dead bee
going up and down in it. Have you got more detail?

(Was it Katherine Whitehorn's _Cooking in a Bedsitter_ ? How we've
travelled on since then!)


O Guru.

Dunno bout that !

If you can answer the question, I think you'll have earned the title!

I may be able to lay claim to that title after all :-)) --

" There is perhaps only one man* in Britain who has wholly solved the
problem of eating well in a bedsitter. When I went to visit him ,,,"
",,,, Marcus set about making coffee, and settled me comfortably on
what later turned out to be a haybox**, ,,, "

is this ringing any bells ? :-))

",,, At one end of this mantelpiece, which was broad, a large jar of
bee wine was in full activity , the bees with awful*** deliberation
floating very slowly up and down. ,,, "
Katharine Whitehorn - "Cooking in a Bedsitter" 1967 Epilogue, p 180
Interesting spelling of her first name, was that a Penguin misprint I
wonder ?

* Well, dunno about that, but she was writing in '61 to '67
** don't see many of those anymore
*** awful ??? I would have said beautiful

No mention of actual dead bee nor of demijohn, so I am not sure if I
should commend or commiserate on your memory ;-)
However, it was first published as "Kitchen in a Corner" in 1961
then in Penguin 1963 and reprinted in 65 and 67 so they may have been
in that earlier book and corrected later ?

Does the title "O Guru" come with any lands and benefits :-?))

The message
from (Corncrake) contains these words:
On Sun, 3 Jul 2005 13:23:14 +0100, "Mike Lyle" wrote:

The author was describing a friend's kitchen, and referred to a
demijohn of "bee wine" on the windowsill, with, s/he said, a dead bee
going up and down in it. Have you got more detail?

I dont recollect ever having seen a _real_ bee ( dead or otherwise or
dead-drunk) in them, I have always assumed that it was so called cos
it was always busy with activity as in busy bees buzzing about and
doing good work etc,
( and "fly yeast" wouldn't have sounded so nice !! )
I suspect that the dead bee tale is suspect.

Either that or the friend with the kitchen had misunderstood the nature
of bee wine.

And they were usually large general purpose glass jars, like in pickle
jars, not demi-johns. Didnt those catch on much later ? Or maybe only
richer households out of my ken had pucker johns ?

I used to use stone bottles - mainly gallon and two gallon ones.

(Was it Katherine Whitehorn's _Cooking in a Bedsitter_ ? How we've
travelled on since then!)

Just so !
ere hang on half a mo. I think I still have that in the library,,,,,,

It was the butler who did it..

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

On Sun, 3 Jul 2005 13:23:14 +0100, "Mike Lyle" wrote:
Bees-yeast?
Have you got more detail?

You might find this interesting -
http://www.ncyc.co.uk/beeswine.php
they say it is the same as a ginger-beer plant, I did not think so.
A ginger-beer plant was a much more lethargic thing that would
generate just a bulge or 'gloop' from time to time.
But who am I to argue

and they say
"Due to health and safety considerations we are no longer able to
supply the culture to the public as its exact composition is unknown
to us."

Grrr, Time to cry into my beer ,,,,

This isn't getting the gardening done nor the gooseberries picked.
phew, back on topic at last !!

On 3 Jul 2005 05:57:25 -0700, "Totty" wrote:
Corncrake wrote:
Malt extract was sometimes available from a baker as well, I dont
remember what they used it for ??

Malt loaf? Fattening up small children for pies?

Ah ! Yes indeed.

On Sun, 3 Jul 2005 14:23:12 +0100, Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:

(Corncrake) contains these words:
I was a few years later than you with my first beer, about 1958/9/ish

You must have got a remarkable thirst on you in that time..

Heheee ! Well spotted,,,
falls into beer glass laughing hysterically,,

"I was a few years later than you with _making_ my first beer" !!

I still have some of those stone jars, empty, not in use any more.

Corncrake wrote:
[...]
",,, At one end of this mantelpiece, which was broad, a large jar
of
bee wine was in full activity , the bees with awful*** deliberation
floating very slowly up and down. ,,, "
Katharine Whitehorn - "Cooking in a Bedsitter" 1967 Epilogue, p 180
[...]
No mention of actual dead bee nor of demijohn, so I am not sure if
I
should commend or commiserate on your memory ;-)
[...]

Bit of both: you can't be suggesting the bees were still _alive_ ,
shirley? And a dj _is_ a jar. I was wrong about the windowsill, among
other bits.

Certainly the same book: I remember the "awful deliberation". The
punch-line (was it not?) was "We're living in the kitchen".

Does the title "O Guru" come with any lands and benefits :-?))

No, but you get my namaste, Guru-ji. Another one if you can explain
fully and finally what this bee wine was all about.

--
Mike.

The message
from (Corncrake) contains these words:

Does the title "O Guru" come with any lands and benefits :-?))

And shooting rights?

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from (Corncrake) contains these words:
On 3 Jul 2005 05:57:25 -0700, "Totty" wrote:
Corncrake wrote:
Malt extract was sometimes available from a baker as well, I dont
remember what they used it for ??

Malt loaf? Fattening up small children for pies?

Ah ! Yes indeed.

Just make sure it isn't Radio Malt, or the pies will taste of cod-liver oil.

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from (Corncrake) contains these words:
On Sun, 3 Jul 2005 14:23:12 +0100, Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:

(Corncrake) contains these words:
I was a few years later than you with my first beer, about 1958/9/ish

You must have got a remarkable thirst on you in that time..

Heheee ! Well spotted,,,
falls into beer glass laughing hysterically,,

"I was a few years later than you with _making_ my first beer" !!

I still have some of those stone jars, empty, not in use any more.

I have a nice little story about those jars, but it's a bit OT...

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from "Mike Lyle" contains these words:

Does the title "O Guru" come with any lands and benefits :-?))

No, but you get my namaste, Guru-ji. Another one if you can explain
fully and finally what this bee wine was all about.

Guru-ji? Only a *Ickle* guru?

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from "Mike Lyle" contains
these
words:

Does the title "O Guru" come with any lands and benefits :-?))

No, but you get my namaste, Guru-ji. Another one if you can
explain
fully and finally what this bee wine was all about.

Guru-ji? Only a *Ickle* guru?

That's the deferential form, bhai.

--
Mike.

The message
from "Mike Lyle" contains these words:
Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from "Mike Lyle" contains
these
words:

Does the title "O Guru" come with any lands and benefits :-?))

No, but you get my namaste, Guru-ji. Another one if you can
explain
fully and finally what this bee wine was all about.

Guru-ji? Only a *Ickle* guru?

That's the deferential form, bhai.

I would have said it sounded a little familiar, chela-ji

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/