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Cereals and bread from Wales

Llymru (North Welsh sour oatmeal flummery)llymru

Llymru is a Welsh oatmeal jelly. Oatmeal is steeped in cold water with a little buttermilk for three or four days until it sours, then strained, and the sour liquid is boiled hard until it thickens and is poured into a wet dish to set.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Llymru itself.

Short entryCereals and bread3 days – 4 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAmounts are the Llanuwchllyn (Merioneth) recipe in the Museum Wales Welsh Foods collection, from recipes collected for the museum archive in the 1970s and 1980s.
Oatmeal (or flummery meal)1 large cupful[mw-llymru]
Cold water1 quart[mw-llymru]
ButtermilkHalf a cupful[mw-llymru]

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 days – 4 days

Start
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SugarsLactic acid

What changes: Oatmeal steeps in water and buttermilk for days and turns sour

Step 1 of 4
Steep oatmeal in cold water and buttermilk until sour
Time
3–4 days
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: sour oat liquor and spent meal.

Flavour
sour
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Llymru is a Welsh oatmeal jelly. Oatmeal is steeped in cold water with a little buttermilk for three or four days until it sours, then strained, and the sour liquid is boiled hard until it thickens and is poured into a wet dish to set. Made in 4 steps over 3 days – 4 days. The longest step, steep oatmeal in cold water and buttermilk until sour, takes 3–4 days (Amgueddfa Cymru).

Key numbers
Main step3–4 daysReported[mw-llymru]Steep oatmeal in cold water and buttermilk until sour

What makes this one different

Llymru is set into a jelly from the strained sour liquid. White sowans from Mynytho, steeped in the same way for two nights, is boiled only about ten minutes with more water and sugar and ginger, so it stays as thin as milk.

Related ferments

Variants

  • White sowans (Mynytho, Caernarvonshire)Oatmeal steeped two nights in water and buttermilk; a little of the strained mixture is boiled about ten minutes with a pint of water, sugar and ginger into a thin drink.
  • Sucan (south Wales)The same dish under the southern name.
  • English flummeryThe English word comes from llymru; later English flummery became a sweet, unfermented milk or gelatine dessert.

Safety

The sour liquid is boiled before eating.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The museum's llymru page says llymru in north Wales is basically the dish known as sucan or uwd sucan in south Wales. It quotes a 1760 letter in which Lewis Morris wrote that llymru is called sucan or uwd in Radnorshire.

  1. [mw-llymru] Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales, Welsh Foods, Llymru (flummery), Llanuwchllyn, Merioneth (from Minwel Tibbott, Welsh Fare)archive
  2. [mw-sowans] Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales, Welsh Foods, White sowans, Mynytho, Caernarvonshirearchive
  3. [storiel] Storiel museum, Flummery mixerarchive