MistatonNotes

Mistaton

The ground around this village is damp, and in some cases very wet, but fairly rich.

They deliberately farm the following crops and livestock

Rice	The obvious staple is grown in fairly traditional paddies - I was able to suggest a slightly better way of improving the irrigation, by changing the water drain valve slightly.
Spinach	I think it is the Amaranth variety - whatever it is, it grows well in these wet lands. They tend to steam this lightly before eating.
Celeriac	A form of celery that likes the damp soil. Much of the goodness gathers in a 'bulb' at the bottom of the head.
Onions	They not only grow a fairly small table onion, but cultivate chives as a flavouring and salad herb
Aubergine	Or Eggplant, as they call it here, also grows well. They export some of these to Angasa where they are considered slightly special. They prepare this traditionally by soaking to remove bitterness before drying and cooking.
Woad	They cultivate the ubiquitous woad plant and use it to manufacture a blue dye. It is not the highest quality - but that might be more to do with their processing techniques. They also manage to export some of this dye.
Ducks and Geese	Generally kept together in small flocks the younger members of the village herd these out into the local streams and ponds daily. The use the feathers for warmth and export - and the eggs for every day eating. Occasionally they will kill an animal for the table - but this tends to be special occasions only.
Cattle	They keep a few low quality cattle, which are mainly used to produce milk. Old cattle are taken for meat and their hide at the start of winter.

The following foodstuffs are collected locally

Cup Mushroom	The Bog-Cup Mushroom grows well in this damp soil, and produces a regular cropping supply. A light mushroom that can take most cooking methods.
Bracket Mushroom	Greater Spotted Bracket Mushroom grows locally on trees in the damper areas. It is edible, as I pointed out to them, but is best used in stewed dishes that allow a longer cooking time, as it is fairly woody else.
Mint	They also collect a wild horse mint that grows locally to use as a flavouring
Figs	There are a number of Marsh Fig trees growing locally. It is commonly accepted that each household can stake out one tree for their own use. The rest are up for grabs.
Dulse Seaweed	They collect the reddish purple weed from along the coast, I believe it is called Dulse, and boil it to produce a fairly sweet vegetable. Some of the older men dry this weed and chew it almost as a confection, and it is occasionally exported.
Frogs	The locals trap a breed of edible frog called the Snip Snap, which has powerful back legs and a small body. They eat the leg meat, generally with an onion accompaniment.
Aquatic Lizard	The Orapen Newt dwells in the streams locally, and is occasionally trapped. The meat from this small lizard is shredded and served with fried or boiled rice.
Crocodile	Very, very occasionally a hunter /trapper will come back with a crocodile. As they have not found a way to successfully preserve this meat - it means a feast for the whole village. The trapper generally exports the skin.

Cooking and Brewing

The local brew is a very thin rice wine. They take the water used to cook the rice and ferment it with syrup they make from the local figs. I am sure if they included more of the figs or some rice rather than just the rice water - the wine would be more palatable. As it is, it has a thin taste and a low alcoholic content.

In such a swampy area - good quality firewood is scarce, and cooking fires tend to be hot but short. So the locals have developed a style of cooking that requires - high heat and fast cooking. Rice is boiled in a large pot and then either eaten boiled or reserved for later re cooking.

Main meals generally consist of rice cooked with a mixture of Onion, Mushroom and Aubergine, two or three times per week meat from a domesticated fowl or trapped lizard will be added to supplement the meal. A salad of Celeriac and Onion, wilted spinach with mint, or boiled seaweed might be served as an accompaniment. If there is a dessert it will be fresh figs, unless they can afford imported sweet meats.

Breakfast is often an omelette or a scrambled egg containing cold vegetables or meat from the previous day.

Speciality dishes are pit roast crocodile, aubergine prepared with mint and chives, and frogs legs.

The crocodile is skinned and cleaned and stuffed with whatever vegetables they have to hand - it is then wrapped in leaves and pit roasted for a few hours. This is only done occasionally - both because the crocodiles are difficult to trap and the wood for that type of fire difficult to come by.

The Aubergine is peeled, sliced, soaked and dried, and them cut into a dice. Braised gently in milk suffused with mint and chives. Finally it is served with fresh mint and chives over. It is a fairly subtly flavoured dish and not what one would expect to find here.

Frogs legs here are stripped of their meat and the meat shredded. It is then quick fried with a mixture of finely shredded onion and chives.