School: Loch Measca
- Location:
- Caherrobert, Co. Mayo
- Teacher: Máire, Bean an Bhrúnaigh
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0103, Page 394
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- XML School: Loch Measca
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- XML “The Bread of Long Ago”
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- Long ago the people ate bread called Boxty. They used to get raw potatoes and scrape them with a piece of tin with holes in it. Then they would mix some boiled potatoes, some flour, and the raw potatoes together. They they made a cake of this. They put it on the griddle to bake. They always made the sign of the cross on their cakes, and cut them in quarters, so that it would be easy to turn them.
In olden times flour was so very scarce and dear that people never had any except at certain special times such as Christmas. Even then they would only buy a very small quantity, so it was considered a great novelty. It was put up in small barrels, instead of bags as at present, and people who had sufficient money bought a stone or two according to their means. Very rich people might buy three or four stone.
During the year they made potato cakes by peeling boiled potatoes, mashing them up fine with their closed fists, and then flattening this out into a cake shape with the palms of their hands.
It was difficult to form it into a cake when there was no flour to dry or bind it together. However, they managed to get it on to a pan with hot dripping, where it baked quite nicely, and when eaten hot was very much liked by all.
- Collector
- Peggy Lynagh
- Gender
- Male
- Address
- Killour, Co. Mayo
- Informant
- Mrs Lynagh
- Relation
- Unknown
- Gender
- Female
- Age
- 40
- Address
- Killour, Co. Mayo
