Best carb?

[Lord Farquhar]

what is the best starch based carb to take with you. taking into consideration taste, ease us use, weight, shelf life and adaptability to name a few?

Would it be a powder? Or a dried grain?

mozzy

 

[bloodline]

Instant mashed potato, lasts a long long time, you can make up as much as you want , its light, tastes good and goes with most other tucker all you need is water and heat to prepare it

 

[bushtuckerman]

ummm, dunno. rice?

 

[Keith_Beef]

Rice is good, but you need water to cook it.

Potatoes are individually wrapped (in skin). Kept cool and dry, they will keep without spoiling for a long enough time, and you can cook them under the ashes of your fire without needing any sort of pans or water.

Just add some butter or sour cream to moisten the flesh.

Marrows or other squashes keep well and can be cooked in the same way.

K.

 

[Ahjno]

Pasta (tagliatelli, spaghetti, macaroni - don't know if you guys know the latter under that name ) would be another option, but is a bit more work in the field.

I would second the mashed potatoes - you can flavour it to your own taste (or better: mood) with seasoning (condiments?) you brought with you or found in the field.

 

[torjusg]

I don't know what I like best, maybe wheat flour. Anyone tried cattail?

Torjus Gaaren

 

[ssj]

Rolled oats? Has a long shelf life, can be made to taste good, quick to prepare, doesn't take much water to prepare, is very light in its dried state.
Steve

 

[RovingArcher]

Corn that is parched almost to the point of bursting. Honey is another good carb that has several other uses besides just tasting good.

 

[pierre girard]

Best? Don't know. What do I use? Wild rice, or steel cut oats.

Either of the above. with the addition of raisins or cranberries, and maple sugar, makes a fine breakfast, and wild rice cooked with jerk and dried vegetables makes a great evening meal.

PG

 

[bushtuckerman]

mmm, yes! oats, oats are good.

 

[Nigel]

I use Cornmeal ( polenta) It is vary versatile, you can use it to make a type of porridge, muffins, torttillas and breads very tasty good source of starch good shelf life.

 

[Graham_S]

i'm quite partial to cous-cous.
just add boiling water and leave to soak for a few minutes.
it takes flavours very well too.

 

[george]

I've read about stuff called "salop", the dried root of (I believe) some kind of orchid. It was popular in the 19th century as a kind of porridgy soup - one cupful of it was supposed to give a labourer enough energy for a days work - anyone know what it was?

Edit

Just done some googling -

The tubers of this Orchid were in the past much sought after for food and to make a much-loved drink. Richard Mabey summarises this use in his excellent book "Food for free":
"It would be criminal to dig up any of the dwindling colonies of British orchids, let alone for food. Yet this lilac-flowered species deserves a place for completeness' sake, as it has been one of the more fascinating and valuable of wild foods. The tubers contain a starch-like substance called bassorine, which has in it more nutritive matter than any other single plant product, one ounce being sufficient to sustain a person for a whole day.
In the Middle East, where the plant is more common, it is still widely used. The roots are dug up after the plant has flowered, and are occasionally eaten as they stand, either raw or cooked. But they are most usually made into a drink called Cahlab. For this the tubers are dried in the sun and ground into a rough flour. This is mixed with honey and cinnamon, and stirred into hot milk until it thickens.
In Britain a similar drink called Salop was a common soft drink long before the introduction of coffee houses. In Victorian books it is mentioned as a tea-break beverage of manual workers. They made it with water more often than with milk, sometimes lacing it with spirits, sometimes brewing it so thick that it had to be eaten with a spoon." (Mabey, Richard - "Food for free", Harper Collins, 1992.)​

​

That sounds pretty much like the "best carb" Mozzy.​

​

George

 

[Lord Farquhar]

Ok I am going to make it harder now

Starches/sugars etc all come with a glycemic index GI. The higher the GI the faster it hits the blood stream. For example dried mashed potato is about 80 I think so is great as a pick me up and get you back on your feet but what about the stuff (low GI) for bed time dinner so you keep warm at night and you dont get hungry and cold at night, as we all know thats not nice at all.

So 2 carbs you got to take what would they be?

For me Dried potato and for sleepy time or brecky stuff like instant oats.

Any others spring to mind?

 

[bushtuckerman]

oats and rice.

 

[Toddy]

Oats, meal or rolled. I like couscous and Smash too though.

As little as possible? Oats, good cheddar & dried apples. Good food I can live on for a while.
Extras? A little salt and some honey in the comb

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[anthonyyy]

I like those Chinese noodles - cooks in 4 minutes and you can make a simple meal by just adding a stock cube to the cooking water. Couscous is great too.

 

[bushtuckerman]

rice noodles??

...nah, wheat noodles with egg are nice actually. good idea. i always take a bit of dried fruit too (it's not so starchy but for those quick burns it's the only thing you should have ).

 

[Keith_Beef]

Ok I am going to make it harder now

Starches/sugars etc all come with a glycemic index GI. The higher the GI the faster it hits the blood stream. For example dried mashed potato is about 80 I think so is great as a pick me up and get you back on your feet but what about the stuff (low GI) for bed time dinner so you keep warm at night and you dont get hungry and cold at night, as we all know thats not nice at all.

So 2 carbs you got to take what would they be?

For me Dried potato and for sleepy time or brecky stuff like instant oats.

Any others spring to mind?

I've not considered the glycemic index and glycemic load figures before...

I eat quite a lot of cereals and non-ceral seeds (wheat, spelta, barley, brown rice, wild rice, flax seeds, quinoa, buckwheat) as well as raw vegetables and fruits.

Some cereals can be prepared by simply soaking in hot or cold liquid (water, milk, buttermilk) or even eaten raw in small quantities (e.g. barley, spelta).

Many non-cereal seeds are good to chew raw (higher protein and fat content, softer texture).

I think this might help.

K

 

[NickBristol]

A few people have mentioned smash on here... with the modern stuff, which is more granular that powder, especially the 'flavoured' types, you don't actually have to make it up with water. It's quite a tasty crunchy snack on it's own and fills you up nicely as it expands in your stomach. Just don't eat a whole packet... the belly ache really isn't worth it lol