The Plan of St. Gall a study of the architecture & economy of & life in a paradigmatic Carolingian monastery |
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 | The Plan of St. Gall |  |
DIETARY IMPORTANCE OF CRUSHED GRAIN IN
WESTERN EUROPE
The amount of crushed grain used daily in a medieval
monastery must have been considerable. A mixture of
barley and oats, made into a kind of porridge or "pap" by
the crushing action of the mortar was a chief item in the
diet of the people of Western Europe prior to the introduction
of the potato. The German word for this dish is mus,
and in the monastery of St. Gall the use of this term, as
459.A PLAN OF ST. GALL. DRYING KILN. AUTHORS' RECONSTRUCTION [1:192]
The shelter for the Drying Kiln is identical with those for the Mills and
Mortars of the Plan. This house could have been the simplest kind of structure,
perhaps even open-sided. Although the Drying Kiln would not develop
temperature so high as those needed for baking, some fire hazard would have
existed in a closed building; the Plan does not show either smoke exit or stack
port for this facility. We reiterate that these service structures of the Plan are
highly abstract; their purpose and siting were of foremost importance to the
Plan's makers; their constructional details, secondary.
Kero renders the Latin word cibus, i.e., "food," with the
German word mus, and caenare, i.e., "to take one's supper,"
with the term abendmussen, i.e., "to sup on pap."
Crushed grain was also one of the primary ingredients in
the making of beer.[541]
| The Plan of St. Gall | |