If you lived in the west of Cornwall a couple of hundred years ago, this is what you’d have eaten for breakfast: Gerty-milk. . Well, it’s the best I can currently do to try and recreate it – there’s no written recipe and there’s no-one left who remembers it. Thanks to oat friends, I’ve gleaned the recipe from an 1880 book of folk tales from the area. . In Cornwall, it was made from the local naked oat variety called ‘pillas’ (or pllcorn/peelcorn). The raw oats were sprouted, roasted and ground. They’d have used an open fire to roast, and, apparently, a sea-shore pebble to grind. . I used a local naked oat, my cast-iron pan and a pestle and mortar. Once processed, I added the ground oats to raw milk in a saucepan and let the mix thicken. . It tasted delicious! The roasting brought out all the toasty flavours of the fresh grain. The milk was sweet and creamy meaning it didn’t need any extra sweetener. I’d be happy to have it for breakfast every day!! . Check my story today for more details, screenshots of the book and videos of my process.
If you lived in the west of Cornwall a couple of hundred years ago, this is what you’d have eaten for breakfast: Gerty-milk.
.
Well, it’s the best I can currently do to try and recreate it – there’s no written recipe and there’s no-one left who remembers it. Thanks to oat friends, I’ve gleaned the recipe from an 1880 book of folk tales from the area.
.
In Cornwall, it was made from the local naked oat variety called ‘pillas’ (or pllcorn/peelcorn). The raw oats were sprouted, roasted and ground. They’d have used an open fire to roast, and, apparently, a sea-shore pebble to grind.
.
I used a local naked oat, my cast-iron pan and a pestle and mortar. Once processed, I added the ground oats to raw milk in a saucepan and let the mix thicken.
.
It tasted delicious! The roasting brought out all the toasty flavours of the fresh grain. The milk was sweet and creamy meaning it didn’t need any extra sweetener. I’d be happy to have it for breakfast every day!!
.
Check my story today for more details, screenshots of the book and videos of my process.