I was talking to a missionary home on furlough from Niger; one of the
things she mentioned was how the Fulani women spend hours every day
pounding millet in big wooden mortar & pestles to make flour for the
daily meals.

I was wondering what the introduction of some 19th century technology --
a cast iron hand-crank grain mill big enough for a village, or several
small "Corona" mills -- might do... and the unintended consequences.

After reading more about the process, I'm not sure a mill would be as
revolutionary as I originally thought; they thresh and winnow the grain
every day, and then winnow the flour to remove the bran and husks, so
there's a lot of time consumed doing other steps besides pounding.

I don't really have a point; just thought it was interesting and might
be worth discussing.

Bob

"zxcvbob" > wrote in message
...
>I was talking to a missionary home on furlough from Niger; one of the
>things she mentioned was how the Fulani women spend hours every day
>pounding millet in big wooden mortar & pestles to make flour for the daily
>meals.
>
> I was wondering what the introduction of some 19th century technology --
> a cast iron hand-crank grain mill big enough for a village, or several
> small "Corona" mills -- might do... and the unintended consequences.
>
> After reading more about the process, I'm not sure a mill would be as
> revolutionary as I originally thought; they thresh and winnow the grain
> every day, and then winnow the flour to remove the bran and husks, so
> there's a lot of time consumed doing other steps besides pounding.
>
> I don't really have a point; just thought it was interesting and might be
> worth discussing.
>

Cool post, Bob. Historical context.

zxcvbob wrote:
>
> I was talking to a missionary home on furlough from Niger; one of the
> things she mentioned was how the Fulani women spend hours every day
> pounding millet in big wooden mortar & pestles to make flour for the
> daily meals.
>
> I was wondering what the introduction of some 19th century technology --
> a cast iron hand-crank grain mill big enough for a village, or several
> small "Corona" mills -- might do... and the unintended consequences.
>
> After reading more about the process, I'm not sure a mill would be as
> revolutionary as I originally thought; they thresh and winnow the grain
> every day, and then winnow the flour to remove the bran and husks, so
> there's a lot of time consumed doing other steps besides pounding.
>
> I don't really have a point; just thought it was interesting and might
> be worth discussing.
>
> Bob

Mostly, the introduction of modern food processing technology would
further enable overpopulation beyond what the area can support by
allowing a time shift from food prep to ****ing since there isn't
anything else to do there.

zxcvbob wrote:
> I was talking to a missionary home on furlough from Niger; one of the
> things she mentioned was how the Fulani women spend hours every day
> pounding millet in big wooden mortar & pestles to make flour for the
> daily meals.
>
> I was wondering what the introduction of some 19th century technology --
> a cast iron hand-crank grain mill big enough for a village, or several
> small "Corona" mills -- might do... and the unintended consequences.
>
> After reading more about the process, I'm not sure a mill would be as
> revolutionary as I originally thought; they thresh and winnow the grain
> every day, and then winnow the flour to remove the bran and husks, so
> there's a lot of time consumed doing other steps besides pounding.
>
> I don't really have a point; just thought it was interesting and might
> be worth discussing.
>
> Bob


Unfortunately many technological innovations come with their own
drawbacks. Years of experience have taught the women the exact
texture they need for baking. A grain mill m ight not recreate that.

Years ago, at the beginning of Borlaub's "Green Revolution", a
high-yield corn was introduced to Mexico and elsewhere in Central
America. It did produce a huge increase in crop yield but the
women hated it--it would not stick together to form the handmade
tortillas they fed their families. IIRC, they used it for animal
feed and returned to their old corn seed.

gloria p

gloria.p wrote:
> Unfortunately many technological innovations come with their own
> drawbacks. Years of experience have taught the women the exact
> texture they need for baking. A grain mill m ight not recreate that.
>
> Years ago, at the beginning of Borlaub's "Green Revolution", a
> high-yield corn was introduced to Mexico and elsewhere in Central
> America. It did produce a huge increase in crop yield but the
> women hated it--it would not stick together to form the handmade
> tortillas they fed their families. IIRC, they used it for animal feed
> and returned to their old corn seed.
>
> gloria p

You make some good points here, Gloria. The Hippo Roller is a project I
am hoping my church will get involved with; supply water to people who
do not have access to fresh water.


http://www.hipporoller.org/project.html


Becca

Becca wrote:
> You make some good points here, Gloria. The Hippo Roller is a project
> I am hoping my church will get involved with; supply water to people
> who do not have access to fresh water.
>
> http://www.hipporoller.org/project.html
>
>
> Becca

Click on Project Video if you do not have time to read the articles.


Becca

On 2010-01-26, gloria.p > wrote:

> Years ago, at the beginning of Borlaub's "Green Revolution", a
> high-yield corn was introduced to Mexico and elsewhere in Central
> America. It did produce a huge increase in crop yield but the
> women hated it--it would not stick together to form the handmade
> tortillas they fed their families.

The situation has become much worse:

http://tinyurl.com/y9uk4k8

This requires 1-1/2 hr to watch, but worth it. Very scary stuff.

nb

In article >, says...
>
> gloria.p wrote:
> > Unfortunately many technological innovations come with their own
> > drawbacks. Years of experience have taught the women the exact
> > texture they need for baking. A grain mill m ight not recreate that.
> >
> > Years ago, at the beginning of Borlaub's "Green Revolution", a
> > high-yield corn was introduced to Mexico and elsewhere in Central
> > America. It did produce a huge increase in crop yield but the
> > women hated it--it would not stick together to form the handmade
> > tortillas they fed their families. IIRC, they used it for animal feed
> > and returned to their old corn seed.
> >
> > gloria p
>
> You make some good points here, Gloria. The Hippo Roller is a project I
> am hoping my church will get involved with; supply water to people who
> do not have access to fresh water.
>
>
> http://www.hipporoller.org/project.html
>
>
> Becca

Again, even a project to provide clean drinking water will have an
impact in the long term. Infant mortality will be reduced, population
will rise.

"zxcvbob" > wrote in message
...
>I was talking to a missionary home on furlough from Niger; one of the
>things she mentioned was how the Fulani women spend hours every day
>pounding millet in big wooden mortar & pestles to make flour for the daily
>meals.
>
> I was wondering what the introduction of some 19th century technology --
> a cast iron hand-crank grain mill big enough for a village, or several
> small "Corona" mills -- might do... and the unintended consequences.
>
> After reading more about the process, I'm not sure a mill would be as
> revolutionary as I originally thought; they thresh and winnow the grain
> every day, and then winnow the flour to remove the bran and husks, so
> there's a lot of time consumed doing other steps besides pounding.
>
> I don't really have a point; just thought it was interesting and might be
> worth discussing.
>
> Bob

One has to have a point here? New to me.

Anyway, I collect artifacts. I have a few metates, that is flat stones that
were used to grind grains. The large ones are for grains, the medium ones
for dyes, the small ones for medicines. They are usually just big flat soft
rocks with a depression in them. The people would not carry these, but leave
them at regular campsites, and just use them when they got there. The
handstone is called a mano, which is Spanish for hand. Some very large
immovable boulders have depressions in them where holes were ground from
years of grinding.
Dental studies on them, as well as Egyptians show higher than average dental
wear because of the grit in foods.

Small stones of particular types were used as cooking stones. They were
heated in a fire, then thrown into clay bowls or baskets of uncooked foods,
actually getting them to the boiling point. Cool stones were fished out,
and hot ones put in until the proper temperature or doneness was achieved.
I say particular, because it has to be the proper type of rock not to
shatter or even explode during the heating process or rapid cooling process.
I found one in my property yesterday. In fact, ALL of the things I have
came from private property.

Cultures have undergone changes in cooking, preparing, and preservation
techniques with the changes from nomadic hunters to stationary crop raisers.
It is a very interesting subject, and makes one wonder what the menu would
have been like back then.

Archaeological studies have proven by remnants left behind that they did
actually eat pretty well. And almost every culture had some form of
alcoholic drink(s).

Steve

zxcvbob wrote:
> I was talking to a missionary home on furlough from Niger; one of the
> things she mentioned was how the Fulani women spend hours every day
> pounding millet in big wooden mortar & pestles to make flour for the
> daily meals.
>
> I was wondering what the introduction of some 19th century technology
> -- a cast iron hand-crank grain mill big enough for a village, or
> several small "Corona" mills -- might do... and the unintended
> consequences.
>
> After reading more about the process, I'm not sure a mill would be as
> revolutionary as I originally thought; they thresh and winnow the
> grain every day, and then winnow the flour to remove the bran and
> husks, so there's a lot of time consumed doing other steps besides
> pounding.
>
> I don't really have a point; just thought it was interesting and might
> be worth discussing.
>
> Bob
You rarely have a point, Muncie.

zxcvbob wrote:
>
> I was talking to a missionary home on furlough from Niger; one of the
> things she mentioned was how the Fulani women spend hours every day
> pounding millet in big wooden mortar & pestles to make flour for the
> daily meals.
>
> I was wondering what the introduction of some 19th century technology --
> a cast iron hand-crank grain mill big enough for a village, or several
> small "Corona" mills -- might do... and the unintended consequences.
>
> After reading more about the process, I'm not sure a mill would be as
> revolutionary as I originally thought; they thresh and winnow the grain
> every day, and then winnow the flour to remove the bran and husks, so
> there's a lot of time consumed doing other steps besides pounding.
>
> I don't really have a point; just thought it was interesting and might
> be worth discussing.
>
> Bob

Grinding would end up with a different texture than pounding. If those
women wanted *ground* grain, they would do it with a grinding stone
setup (like a metate) or a quern, both of which likely exist in their
environment. The pounding ritual is a social event as well. No point in
fixing what isn't actually broken.

On 1/26/2010 7:53 PM, Bruce wrote:
> zxcvbob wrote:
>> I was talking to a missionary home on furlough from Niger; one of the
>> things she mentioned was how the Fulani women spend hours every day
>> pounding millet in big wooden mortar & pestles to make flour for the
>> daily meals.
>>
>> I was wondering what the introduction of some 19th century technology
>> -- a cast iron hand-crank grain mill big enough for a village, or
>> several small "Corona" mills -- might do... and the unintended
>> consequences.
>>
>> After reading more about the process, I'm not sure a mill would be as
>> revolutionary as I originally thought; they thresh and winnow the
>> grain every day, and then winnow the flour to remove the bran and
>> husks, so there's a lot of time consumed doing other steps besides
>> pounding.
>>
>> I don't really have a point; just thought it was interesting and might
>> be worth discussing.
>>
>> Bob
> You rarely have a point, Muncie.


Muncie? You do realize there's more than one Bob here, don't you?

Bob

In article >,
Bruce > wrote:

> zxcvbob wrote:
(snip)
> > Bob

> You rarely have a point, Muncie.

MUNCIE? You've got the wrong Bob.
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://web.me.com/barbschaller; Pirohy, January 25, 2010

On Jan 26, 8:27*am, "Pete C." > wrote:
> zxcvbob wrote:
>
> > I was talking to a missionary home on furlough from Niger; one of the
> > things she mentioned was how the Fulani women spend hours every day
> > pounding millet in big wooden mortar & pestles to make flour for the
> > daily meals.
>
> > I was wondering what the introduction of some 19th century technology --
> > a cast iron hand-crank grain mill big enough for a village, or several
> > small "Corona" mills -- might do... and the unintended consequences.
>
> > After reading more about the process, I'm not sure a mill would be as
> > revolutionary as I originally thought; they thresh and winnow the grain
> > every day, and then winnow the flour to remove the bran and husks, so
> > there's a lot of time consumed doing other steps besides pounding.
>
> > I don't really have a point; just thought it was interesting and might
> > be worth discussing.
>
> > Bob
>
> Mostly, the introduction of modern food processing technology would
> further enable overpopulation beyond what the area can support by
> allowing a time shift from food prep to ****ing since there isn't
> anything else to do there.

Foreign aid to poor nations should come with population control
requirements--one child policy. No one has the courage to try to push
that. Vasectomies and tubal ligations for food.

--Bryan

On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:01:20 -0600, zxcvbob wrote:

> On 1/26/2010 7:53 PM, Bruce wrote:
>> zxcvbob wrote:
>>> I was talking to a missionary home on furlough from Niger; one of the
>>> things she mentioned was how the Fulani women spend hours every day
>>> pounding millet in big wooden mortar & pestles to make flour for the
>>> daily meals.
>>>
>>> I was wondering what the introduction of some 19th century technology
>>> -- a cast iron hand-crank grain mill big enough for a village, or
>>> several small "Corona" mills -- might do... and the unintended
>>> consequences.
>>>
>>> After reading more about the process, I'm not sure a mill would be as
>>> revolutionary as I originally thought; they thresh and winnow the
>>> grain every day, and then winnow the flour to remove the bran and
>>> husks, so there's a lot of time consumed doing other steps besides
>>> pounding.
>>>
>>> I don't really have a point; just thought it was interesting and might
>>> be worth discussing.
>>>
>>> Bob
>> You rarely have a point, Muncie.
>
> Muncie? You do realize there's more than one Bob here, don't you?
>
> Bob

which one is my uncle?

your pal,
blake

Melba's Jammin' wrote:
> In article<fNKdnRR0fNI1AcLWnZ2dnUVZ_hti4p2d@giganews. com>,
> > wrote:
>
>
>> zxcvbob wrote:
>>
> (snip)
>
>>> Bob
>>>
>
>> You rarely have a point, Muncie.
>>
> MUNCIE? You've got the wrong Bob.
>
The writing was very familiar. Thanks for the heads up.

zxcvbob wrote:

> You do realize there's more than one Bob here, don't you?

For that matter, there's only one guy here who's notbob.

Bob