Useful and medicinal properties of beer

Beer is known to mankind for thousands of years already. For its high nutritional value in ancient times, this drink was considered by many peoples as the main food product. The popular expression "beer - liquid bread" was already known in ancient Egypt and Babylon. In Egypt, monuments have been found indicating that beer was brewed there already in 2800 BC.e. The wall drawings of 2600-2190 have survived. BC.e, demonstrating the stages of preparation of different types of beer, ranging from the usual barley, dark, light soft consistency, light with the finest flavor and ordinary beer from a mixture of different types of malt and finishing with beer based on wheat malt. Jokes for the sake of, we can assume that if the Egyptians were not aware of this drink, there was no enthusiasm, thanks to which the world saw the famous pyramids, which to this day all the Egyptians are feeding, luring tourists. The Egyptians believed that the brewing skills were transmitted to the people by the god of harvest and the underworld of Osiris. Beer in ancient Egypt was called a Pelusian drink, as the best varieties in those days were brewed in the city of Pelusium at the mouth of the Nile. A group of British archaeologists during excavations in Tel-el-Amarna discovered the remains of a brewery belonging to the temple of the Sun, built by Queen Nefertiti. There, too, was found a wall panel depicting a queen pouring beer through something like a strainer to clean the drink of impurities. Nefertiti herself was famous for her mastery of barley drink. Since the time of Pharaoh Ramses II, beer has become a favorite drink in Egypt. Baking bread and brewing in Egypt was made by one method, as beer was brewed then from malt bread, fried or dried in the sun. Beer, onions and bread were the main food of the poor. The builder of the pyramids received a ration a day, consisting of three carrots

bread, three jugs of beer and several bunches of garlic and onions. We have reached one of the recipes for making beer, which consists in the following: barley( only good quality) should be wet several times before the formation of flakes, dried;prepare bread from it, adding the leaven;then fry slightly and again insist on water.

The first written mention of beer refers to ancient times. Already in Sumer( Sumer - a country in the territory of present-day Iraq, which existed in the IV-II millennium BC) knew and used this drink. Their beer was called "sikara" and, already at that time, its production was based on malted barley. The Babylon civilization, which replaced the Sumerians, continued these traditions and left a lot of written references to the social significance of beer. In the famous code of the laws of the Babylonian king Hamurappi, the rules of making and selling beer are strictly outlined. Judging by the punitive measures that are indicated there, the Babylonians were very fond of beer and we can confidently assume that the ancient Babylonian drink was of excellent quality, because for dilution of beer with beer, the brewer was threatened with death. The swindler had a choice - to be drowned in a barrel of a poor quality product or drink it until it fell dead. From the teachings of Anigo we learn how we met the Mother of our student children: "Then you went to school, and when I learned to read, I waited for you every day at home with beer and bread."Scientists have discovered an ancient manuscript on a papyrus, in which about 3,000 years ago, his father rebuked his son for coming to the restaurants where they drank "eider"( one of the beers).Mention of beer existed in antiquity. In that era, for simplification of storage and transportation, cereals were usually ground into flour, and the mass was given a shape of bread loaves. Before consumption, these beer ingots had to be ground and immersed in the water, leaving to wander for a few days. In the heyday of ancient Greece and Rome, beer has a serious competitor - wine. But beer remained a very popular drink, although it was used very rarely and then only as a dope drug. Our civilization has followed a different path, having learned that the juice of grape berries, after standing for a while, begins to beat into the mind of drinkers with much greater force. The Romans were neglected with beer, preferring diluted wine.

In England, Belgium, as well as in northern France, brewing has been respected for a long time. The Celts, Scandinavians, Germans and

galls beer was an integral part of everyday life. Beer and bread are the lifeblood of every family. By the way, before the beginning of the Middle Ages, baking bread and brewing beer was a woman's responsibility. Only at the turn of the millennia this "privilege" gradually passed to the monasteries. And no wonder: the monks found that beer is an excellent substitute for food during fasting. In the Middle Ages, barley was one of the most common grains, and each family brewed their "home" beer. Gradually, family production gave way to brewing on a nearly state scale. Over time, it has become one of the weighty parts of the economy of many countries. Breweries grew like mushrooms, and this did not have a positive effect on the quality of beer. At the end of the 11th century, hops were added to the beer, largely giving it the taste that we know today. To stop "arbitrariness" was issued "Bavarian law on the purity of beer."This law is valid today, and is one of the oldest food standards. And it should be noted that this did not damage Bavarian beer, and even vice versa.

But by this time, the first concerns about the excessive entrainment of the intoxicating drink, which are harmful to health when consumed in large quantities, already apply. On one of the stone slabs the instruction was carved: "Do not destroy yourself when you are in a pub, do not lose your mind and do not forget your oaths. .." Also, beer was considered a medicine, for its stupefying properties. In the Near East, there was even a hieroglyph that denoted beer. In 1927 Academician N.I.Vavilov during one of his expeditions wrote about Abyssinia( Ethiopia): "The most difficult thing in the journey was to maintain the discipline of the caravan. Abyssinia is not only the birthplace of wheat and barley, but also of strong drinks. From bee honey prepare a strong drink "leak", from barley - beer, which was called "tala".To make beer instead of hop used a special kind of buckthorn. Strabon witnessed the boiling of beer from the Ethiopians: "Ethiopians-Wout feeding on millet and barley, from which they make beer."In the territory of Abyssinia in the I-VI centuries, the state of Aksum, the builders of the temples were given bread and beer. Beer was drunk from special glasses from a horn, each of which contained about half a bottle. Honey was added to the beer. In 1911, the European press reported that one Munich firm sent a bottle of beer to the Emperor of Abyssinia. In response, a letter of thanks was received from the

saying that "beer had to everyone to taste" and an order for another 200 bottles.

The process of beer production has not undergone major changes since antiquity. The basis is a tincture of germinated grain, usually barley, with the addition of water, yeast and hops, from which later, by fermentation, a natural foaming beverage with a low alcohol content is obtained. Subsequently, before the industrial revolution, the process of beer production remained unchanged. In the cities there were classes of masters of brewers, specializing in the production of beer of different varieties. However, then, thanks to technical and scientific discoveries, the development of beer manufacturing technology has seriously progressed, especially the work of Louis Pasteur on fermentation and brewer's yeast.