[momma_soapmaker]

This may already be posted somewhere in the heap, but I haven't seen it if it is.

How did they keep bugs out of stored grain in biblical times? Joseph had 7 years put back during the famine in Egypt (my personal goal : LOL). That's a lot of grain to protect from critters, and they didn't have O2 absorbers, mylar bags, or vacuum sealers.

Just wondered if anyone had ever read anything on the subject. They may have known more back then about food preservation than we do now.

 

[scorinth]

While they didn't exactly have buckets and mylar, they did have a pretty good system of storing oil, wine and grain in those large storage jars called pithos I'm sure you have seen. These were then put into various types of barns and sealed for future need. Ancient wheat included Emmer and Einkorn, distinct from the type used today, as it was grown in a different climate and soil. These ancient seeds are being made available again now by various heritage wheat conservancies. I'll stick with the ready made buckets, but I guess in a pinch I could learn to throw some of our Bootlegger's Cove clay and see how good a clay vessel it makes!

 

[oldandcrotchety]

Well, I was pretty young back then, but the best I remember we stored the grain in huge clay pots with lids sealed with mud. Long as we could keep the rats and bugs out, which the clay pots did quiet well, the hot dry Middle Eastern climate would keep almost anything for years.

 

[Lowdown3]

"well I was pretty young back then..." That was funny as all get out!!!

Let me tell you what, if their was mylar, o2 absorbers and buckets in Joseph's day, he would have used them :thumb:

The desert conditions had a lot to do with it. Also, the wheat "only" had to be in storage for 7 years.

I'm sure there was waste, stuff ate up with bugs, some the rats got. I expect that the wheat was eaten anyways, and the fattened rats probably were also.

The truly interesting part of the story is what Joseph and Pharoah did with the wheat during the famine.... Egypt wasn't a soup kitchen..... :

Lowdown3

 

[HammerHand]

The truly interesting part of the story is what Joseph and Pharoah did with the wheat during the famine.... Egypt wasn't a soup kitchen..... :

Lowdown3

Sorry for the hijack...

Actually... (okay, so I like to share knowledge - don't shoot me)...

The pyramids at Giza (and other sites close to the Nile) were pretty much workfare projects.

When the Nile was flooded, and for a while after, when the land was still uninhabitable - the farmers would have to leave their homes and land behind. This created a mass of unemployed laborers, without much in the way of skills other than farming, and no farms to "practice their skills" on.

The King would guarantee you ate, if you worked.

Edit: This workfare type thing happened every year, as far as I know, at least from the time predating the pyramids, to the middle ages...

Contrary to what many people believe - slave labor didn't build the pyramids. Sure there were slaves, but they weren't in the majority, not by far.

Oh - and Egyptian Kings in the Old Kingdom (when the majority of the pyramids were built) and Middle Kingdom were acknowledged with the title King (and titles like Lord of the Two Lands, and others). After the Second Intermediate Period, including the New Kingdom - the time period when the Hebrews were in Egypt, and Ramesses II ruled - the kings were given the title "Pharaoh", meaning "from a noble house". The "king making secrets" were lost, and the kings of Egypt could no longer claim the true title of King.

 

[Lowdown3]

Sorry for the hijack...

Actually... (okay, so I like to share knowledge - don't shoot me)...

The pyramids at Giza (and other sites close to the Nile) were pretty much workfare projects.

When the Nile was flooded, and for a while after, when the land was still uninhabitable - the farmers would have to leave their homes and land behind. This created a mass of unemployed laborers, without much in the way of skills other than farming, and no farms to "practice their skills" on.

The King would guarantee you ate, if you worked.

Edit: This workfare type thing happened every year, as far as I know, at least from the time predating the pyramids, to the middle ages...

Contrary to what many people believe - slave labor didn't build the pyramids. Sure there were slaves, but they weren't in the majority, not by far.

Oh - and Egyptian Kings in the Old Kingdom (when the majority of the pyramids were built) and Middle Kingdom were acknowledged with the title King (and titles like Lord of the Two Lands, and others). After the Second Intermediate Period, including the New Kingdom - the time period when the Hebrews were in Egypt, and Ramesses II ruled - the kings were given the title "Pharaoh", meaning "from a noble house". The "king making secrets" were lost, and the kings of Egypt could no longer claim the true title of King.

My point was that Pharaoh did not just GIVE away the grain.... Read Genesis 47 starting at verse 13 going down to verse 20

Long story short- The people first started coming to Joseph to BUY food, but the MONEY FAILED (verse 15) so they started selling their cattle and belongings, then their land and finally THEMSELVES in order to have enough to eat.

Morale of the story- don't screw around, or you might be in that same situation one day. Have plenty of food storage, produce some of your own and NEVER trade your production capabilities and RIGHTS just to eat today.

Course in America today, most everyone is trading there future for the present, so this lesson isn't very popular. :xeye:

 

[HammerHand]

Morale of the story- don't screw around, or you might be in that same situation one day. Have plenty of food storage, produce some of your own and NEVER trade your production capabilities and RIGHTS just to eat today.

Course in America today, most everyone is trading there future for the present, so this lesson isn't very popular. :xeye:

Wasn't arguing with you... I know the fable of the grasshopper and the ant.

Was just sharing that workfare isn't anything new. And adding a little info about a couple of pet peeves of mine (the pyramids built by slaves myth and that not all Egyptian Kings were Pharaohs). I'm a bit of a history nerd.

 

[momma_soapmaker]

Well, I was pretty young back then, but the best I remember we stored the grain in huge clay pots with lids sealed with mud.

: :rofl:

 

[momma_soapmaker]

Let me tell you what, if their was mylar, o2 absorbers and buckets in Joseph's day, he would have used them :thumb:

The truly interesting part of the story is what Joseph and Pharoah did with the wheat during the famine.... Egypt wasn't a soup kitchen..... :

Lowdown3

Joseph was the ultimate prepper. :

Good point about Egypt not being a soup kitchen. :thumb: More people should take some notes, that's for sure.

 

[PlacidRambo]

Cats were another method of wheat preservation in Egypt that I didn't see mentioned; Cats were considered sacred in Egypt for their rodent-killing tendencies.

 

[bowman]

Mostly the dry climate worked in their favor.

But also consider that people before this last century weren't nearly as squeemish as we tend to be. If there was bugs in the grain or the grain was partially molded, that didn't mean they didn't eat it.

 

[adobewalls]

I doubt that silo-ing or silage is a recent grain preservation technique.

 

[Raptor45]

Bugs are already in most every processed for you eat now... same problem different millenia.