I am reading the Torah. It contains the first five books of the Jewish Bible which God gave to Moses. I read about how the ancient Israelites made unleavened bread before they left Egypt. This piqued my interest. So, I thought that I might try to make some myself. I found this recipe on the Internet. I milled fresh hard wheat and used it right away. I did not wait for the flour to dry. I decreased the water slightly to compensate. The bread was good. Very dense, but satisfying.
Then, my mind started to think why God would ask his people to make this kind of bread. The journey from Egypt to Israel by foot would be strenuous.. The two possible reasons I came up were were speed and decreased inflammation. The total time to make it was about five minutes preparation and ten minutes baking time (My kind of recipe!) I even got fancy by adding a clove of garlic and a green onion!
The second possible reason deals with inflammation. Leavened bread (made with yeast) has air spaces. This is what makes it fluffy. The more air spaces the bread has, the faster the bread will be digested. The quicker the digestion, the higher the Glycemic Index value. This index tells how high the blood sugar will be two hours after a food is ingested. Higher Glycemic Index values correspond to more inflammation. Unleavened bread would have a lower Glycemic Index value and less inflammation; making it easier to run away from the Pharaoh's chariots and charioteers.
Science is great. I think that I have an explanation for an event that occurred 3600 years ago! Thanks for reading!! #lifestylemedicine #seniors #olderadults #jewishfood
