“Rock and Rye” is the name of two distinct beverages: a citrus fruit flavored whiskey-based liqueur made from American rye bottled with a bit of rock candy (crystallized sugar); and a toddy made with rye whiskey, bitters, and rock candy.Rye is highly susceptible to the ergot fungus. Consumption of ergot-infected rye by humans and animals results in a serious medical condition known as ergotism. Ergotism can cause both physical and mental harm, including convulsions, miscarriage, necrosis of digits, and hallucinations. Historically, damp northern countries that have depended on rye as a staple crop were subject to periodic epidemics of this condition. There have been “occurrence[s] of ergotism with periods where there were high incidents of people persecuted for being witches. Emphasis was placed on the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts in 1692, where there was a sudden rise in the number of people accused of being witches, but earlier examples were taken from Europe, as well”.. Ergot of Rye: History….I thought, one time I read, that rye is where — [whYsHY--w-h-i-s-k-e-y] is [spelt] from??? :oops: I’m only driving at half-ass—

Pliny the Elder was dismissive of rye, writing that it “is a very poor food and only serves to avert starvation” and spelt is mixed into it “to mitigate its bitter taste, and even then is most unpleasant to the stomach” (N.H. 18.40).

…God Bless RYE…Pliny the Elder reported that the Gauls and Iberians used the foam skimmed from beer to produce “a lighter kind of bread than other peoples.” Parts of the ancient world that drank wine instead of beer used a paste composed of grape juice and flour that was allowed to begin fermenting, or wheat bran steeped in wine, as a source for yeast. The most common source of leavening, however, was to retain a piece of dough from the previous day to use as a form of sourdough starter. :smile:

Go to the current lesson and post your request as a comment in that lesson. Put word/phrase requests between [ ] like: [dog] or [blah blah blah] Then just leave it at that. When Marina selects a word she will scan the website for that word in [brackets] and mention the request in her lessons.

Master:
a title of address for a boy who is not old enough to be called Mr.
When you use the word master with a name it’s a boys name. ‘You are a master of ships.’ is correct use of the word.
See: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/master