I have always heard that fermentation was the reason Egypt could support such a large population. I was wondering if anyone knows about the fermentation styles that existed and/or what they would have put in beer besides barley and water.
Wild yeast or would they create a semi-consistent culture like they do for sourdough?
Gruit for flavoring? But it surely would have been called something else... and hops weren't cultivated/in that region yet?
Thank you for your help!
As far as we know - there aren't any recipes for brewing beer that have been found - the way they made beer was from a mix of water and partly baked barley bread (or possibly stale bread). Added into that could be a variation of dates, honey, spices, etc. The mix would thence have been poured into a pot and left in a warm place to ferment (the shape and finger marks of certain jars suggest that it was put upside-down in the sand). Apparently the sugar from the honey and dates would have speeded up the fermentation. The beer would have been low alcoholic as a result, but very nutricious and it was indeed a part of the Egyptian diet.^1
According to an egyptology teacher I had, Egyptian beer was rather similar to modern oatmeal in consistency and tastes awful (which I take was his own subjective opinion but an amusing one nonetheless).
[1] Shaw, I. & Nicholson, P. (2008), The British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt.