Ancient Egypt farming

Fourteen thousands years ago, the rains which had made the northeast Africa lush failed. Animals became scarce, forcing the pre-historic Egyptians to leave the plains and descend into the lower Nile River valley. 

They abandoned the nomadic life of the hunter and settled down to farming. Civilization in Egypt grew because of agriculture along the Nile River.

Farming began in the Nile Valley before 6000 BC. The Nile River flows north 4 145 miles from Lake Victoria in the mountains of modern Uganda and Tanzania to the Mediterranean Sea.

These early farmers, who lived in huts made of poles and sun-dried mud bricks, grew wheat for making bread and barley for brewing beer.

Every summer, when rainwater that had fallen earlier in Uganda and Tanzania finally reached Egypt, floodwaters soaked the dry soil and left fertile, mudlike silt that was perfect for growing crops.

When the flooding ended in early autumn, Egyptian farmers had to work quickly to prepare fields for planting.

They used the Nile’s water to irrigate dry land. A network of irrigation canals supplied crops growing farthest away from the river with water.

The land yielded rich harvest is surpluses could be traded or stored in case of a possible famine in the future. Egyptians farmers grew wheat, barley, peas, beans, inions, garlic, leeks, cucumbers, grapes, melons, pomegranates, figs, and dates to feed the growing population.

In a land where rain almost never falls, the Nile is Egypt’s most important resource. It provides fish, waterfowl, mud for making papyrus paper, and a central highway for the transport of goods, and people from one end of the land to the other.

The ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife that was just like everyday life, only perfect. The wall paintings in tombs show farming scenes, show proper tools and farming methods. However, they also show rich people farming in their best clothes and crops growing very well to make things perfect.
Ancient Egypt farming

Ancient Egypt storage of grain

Storage is the intermediate stage between cereal production and processing and its distribution and consumption.

By ancient Egypt times grain storage and progress from the simple family store to large state-run systems.

The dry climate of Egypt would have indeed allowed farmers to bulk process their harvest communally to the clean grain stage prior storage.

Even without the sophisticated equipment that is available today, grain storage proved remarkably non-problematical in ancient Egypt, although infestation was always a potential problem.

Some of these have been excavated: they were made of dried clay bricks or baked bricks and had domed roofs.

It was the system that was almost certainly used by Joseph, he gathered in the grain of the seven good years before the seven famine years and thus with careful rationing, prevented starvation.

At that time the system was highly organized, hierarchal system of grain storage, which for the most part was successful in feeding population, even during the lean years.

Grain was stored at national, regional, local and household levels.

The state would have to collect and manage surpluses and meet local as well as central needs in case of any difficulty.

Archeological evidence indicates that large storage facilities were attached to temples and palaces.
Ancient Egypt storage of grain

Honey in ancient Egypt

It is quite certain that the alcoholic fermentation of honey was known to the ancient Egyptians when history began.

Honey was traced in a mash of beer-bread of Eleventh Dynasty date (2000 BC) and it was certainly used in another Egyptian mash of Roman date (1st century AD) found in the Fayum.

Honey was the main sweetener in Egypt – sugar was still unknown. The people of this time valued honey highly thus it was commonly used as a tribute or payment. Honey was also used to feed sacred animals.

Not only used for the preservation of meat, but was also the most widely used medication. Of nine hundred remedies recorded in various papyri, over five hundred were based on honey.

As early the sixth dynasty an official named Sebni takes honey on his expedition to the country of the negroes to exchange it for their goods.

Both bees and honey were considered sacred in ancient Egypt and honey featured prominently in religious ceremonies, including offerings to the dead.

In about 1200 BC, King Ramses III offered the gods of the Nile tens of thousands of jars filled with honey, estimated to weigh about fifteen tons.

Beekeeping is thus an ancient activity. It was one of the important minor industries in ancient Egypt and honey is mentioned frequently in the ancient records, the earliest references to it that can be traced being of the Sixth Dynasty.

Egyptians learned to cultivate bees and even how to use smoke to drug them so that honey could be collected without paying the price of stings.
Honey in ancient Egypt

Leavened bread in ancient Egypt

In ancient Egyptian, the word for bread was the same as the word for life.

Unleavened bread was the primitive food of man, in the early stages of civilization and before he learned to leaven it.

It was adopted by the Jews on their departure across the desert from Goshen, was the simplest mode of preparing bread in the wilderness; and has ever been the daily food of the Arabia nomads.

Emmer wheat and barley are by far the most common grains of ancient Egypt, while other varieties of these species and some millet have also been identified.

In the beginning, the simplest Egyptian was made from flour mixed with water and salt, patted into flat circle with the hands laid on a hot rock next to the fire to cook.

In appearance and production, it resembles the modern Egyptian pita bread.

Later, more elaborate shapes were made.

Egypt produced the first leavened bread perhaps by accident. One theory is that yeast landed on some dough left out; another is that ale was mixed with the flour instead of water,

In any case, the gluten in the flour went to work and the bread puffed up – still an awe inspiring event.

A sourdough method was employed for leavened bread. Remnants of a previous batch of dough or barn from a batch of beer was mixed with new dough and allowed to ferment or sour overnight.

This method of sourdough in bread leavening developed in ancient Egypt approximately 3000 BC and from there spread gradually to Europe, throughout ancient Greece and the Roman Empire until present.
Leavened bread in ancient Egypt

Grain in Ancient Egypt 1300 BC

Grain in Ancient Egypt 1300 BC
The wheat that Egyptian grew in such quantity was made into about 40 different sorts of bread, pastry, cakes and biscuits, but grinding the grain was very hard work. It was usually done by woman using two stones, and as it was done in the open air, grit and other foreign bodies found their way into the flour. These impurities caused extensive wear on the teeth, and Egyptians often suffered from both tooth infections and abscesses.

The Egyptians’ bread dough was made from flour and water – but without yeasts, so the bread did not rise. It was cooked as flat loaves or in moulds and different flavorings could be added, such as honey, milk, eggs, fruit, butter and herbs.

Barley was the other major grain crop, and the Ancient Egyptians used it to make the beer that every one drank everyday - even the gods. The brew had an alcohol content of about 8 per percent. To make it, the Egyptians first moistened barley with water, and left it to stand. Then they mixed the moist grains with lightly baked barley loaves in a large jar, poured on more water and let the mixture ferment. When the beer was ready it was very thick and had to be strained before drinking.
Grain in Ancient Egypt 1300 BC

Fruits and Flavors in Egypt 1300 BC

Fruits and Flavors in Egypt 1300 BC
So rich was the Egyptian soil that farmers could grow many types of crop, and most people enjoyed a variety diet. Wheat and barley gave the Egyptians bread and beer, and in addition, farmers also grew a host of different vegetables and fruits. So the meals could include onions, leeks and garlic, peas and beans, celery, lettuces, radishes and cucumbers.

Grapes and dates were eaten both fresh and dried. Then there were figs and melons, pomegranates, gourds, and the fruit of the dom palm, with its gingery flavor. Other flavorings were the herbs cumin, marjoram, coriander, dill, mint and parsley. Saffron and sesame oils were widely used in cooking but olives were little used.

The Egyptians, only sweetening agent was honey, and the beehives were cylindrical pots. A multitude of Nile fishes and water birds added variety to the dinner menu along with hares, gazelles, and antelopes caught by hunters in the desert.

Texts that have survived mention soups and sauce and the use of oil, milk and butter. Food was cooked using braziers, tripods which supported cooking pots over fires, and ovens fuelled with the wood. The well equipped kitchen had grinding stones, a range of pots, pans, and jars, ladles, spoons and knifes, sieves, strainers and whisks.
Fruits and Flavors in Egypt 1300 BC