On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 896

exceededryeforthefirsttimeonlyin1957.
Ryehasunusualcarbohydratesand
proteins,andasaresultproducesadistinctive
kindofbread.It’sdescribedinthenext
chapter(p.545).
Rye Carbohydrates Rye contains a large
quantity, up to 7% of its weight, of
carbohydrates calledpentosans (an old term;
the new one isarabinoxylans). These are
medium-sized aggregates of sugars that have
the very useful property of absorbing large
amounts of water and producing a thick,
viscous, sticky consistency. Thanks to its
pentosans, rye flour absorbs eight times its
weight in water, while wheat flour absorbs
two. Unlike starch, the pentosans don’t
retrogradeandhardenafterbeingcookedand
cooled. So they provide a soft, moist texture
that helps gives rye breads a shelf life of
weeks. Rye pentosans also help control
appetite;thedriedcarbohydratesinryecrisps


swellinthestomach,thusgivingthesensation
of fullness, and they are slowly and only
partlydigested.
RyeandLSD
In addition to its role as a food, rye has
also had an indirect influence on modern
medicine and recreational pharmacology.
Thecool,moistclimateinwhichryedoes

wellisalsofavorableforthegrowthofthe
ergot fungus (Claviceps purpurea). From
the 11th to the 16th centuries, ergot
contaminationofryeflourwasresponsible
for frequent epidemics of what was called
Holy Fire or Saint Anthony’s Fire, a
disease with two sets of symptoms:
progressivegangrene,inwhichextremities
turnedblack,shrank,anddroppedoff;and
mentalderangement.Occasionaloutbreaks
ofergotpoisoningfromcontaminatedflour
continuedwellintothe20thcentury.
Early in the 20th century, chemists