Vikings
equipped
brawny vessels
peatmoss
to ship fish
as nourishment
squelching hunger’s
prevalent demands
during months
weathering
turbulent trips.
Freed of weed seeds,
pathogens,
pests
absorbing water
20 times its weight
peatmoss’s presence
survives preservation’s test:
caught fish stank less.
Ranked high
“as natural biological resources”
environmental,
social
economic values
of peatlands
sustained
humankind
as thirst-quenching
reigns–
principled pearls
preserving
morals
fishers-of-men
find
‘truth-seekers’
riding
clinker-built
faith
maintained
as precious
corals.
prompt is – Moss
Viking Food Preservative
A thousand years ago, Vikings took water from peat-moss bogs on their voyages because it stayed fresh for months. And on land Scandinavians traditionally preserved fish and plant foods such as carrots and turnips by storing them in peat bogs. Researchers have long thought that tannins or a lack of oxygen in the bogs is what slows the decay of organic material. Now CNN reports that Dr. Terence Painter of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and his associates have isolated from the moss a complex sugar that they believe is the real preservative. To demonstrate its effectiveness, they buried some salmon skins in wood cellulose and buried other skins in peat or coated them with moss extract. “Fish stored in the peat or extract stayed fresh for up to a month, while the non-treated fish stank after two days,” says the report.
ITH & SB 