Šikaru — thick barley beer with straw
A cloudy, low-alcohol, nourishing beer, almost a liquid porridge, made from fermented barley bread and malt, flavored with date syrup. It is drunk through a long straw to avoid the sediment and grains.
A cloudy, low-alcohol, nourishing beer, almost a liquid porridge, made from fermented barley bread and malt, flavored with date syrup. It is drunk through a long straw to avoid the sediment and grains.
Inanna loves beer, and I pour it for her. We bake barley breads half-done, crumble them into water with sprouted grain, and wait for the jar to sing and foam on its own. I mix in a little date syrup to soften the sourness, then we bend our heads around the jar and drink through reed straws — for the dregs stay at the bottom and joy rises to the top.
- •Half-baked barley bread (bappir) — several (fermentable starch)
- •Sprouted barley (malt) — a good portion (sugars and enzymes)
- •Water — a jar (fermentation medium)
- •Date syrup — a dash (sweetness and sugars)
Šikaru — thick barley beer with straw
A cloudy, low-alcohol, nourishing beer, almost a liquid porridge, made from fermented barley bread and malt, flavored with date syrup. It is drunk through a long straw to avoid the sediment and grains.
Why this dish? Beer was the national drink of Sumer, offered to the gods and drunk by all ranks; banquet scenes from Ur — like those carved in Enheduanna's time — show revelers drinking from a common jar through straws.
Inanna loves beer, and I pour it for her. We bake barley breads half-done, crumble them into water with sprouted grain, and wait for the jar to sing and foam on its own. I mix in a little date syrup to soften the sourness, then we bend our heads around the jar and drink through reed straws — for the dregs stay at the bottom and joy rises to the top.
Ingredients (period version)
- Half-baked barley bread (bappir) — several (fermentable starch)
- Sprouted barley (malt) — a good portion (sugars and enzymes)
- Water — a jar (fermentation medium)
- Date syrup — a dash (sweetness and sugars)
Ingredients
- Crushed barley malt — 500 g (sugars and enzymes)
- Stale barley or whole wheat bread — 200 g, crumbled (fermentable starch)
- Non-chlorinated water — 3 liters (fermentation medium)
- Date syrup — 3 tablespoons (sweetness and sugars)
- Brewer's yeast (or natural starter) — 1 packet (controlled fermentation)
Method
- Heat water to 65 °C, add crushed malt and crumbled bread. Hold at temperature for 1 hour (saccharification).
- Strain roughly and bring to a brief boil for 15 minutes, add date syrup.
- Cool to 25 °C, transfer to a clean container.
- Add yeast, cover with a cloth, and let ferment 3–5 days in a temperate place.
- Drink young, cloudy, with a wide straw — without seeking the clarity of modern beer. (For adults; non-alcoholic version: stop before fermentation and serve as a warm malt drink.)
How it was made : Sumerians distinguished many kinds of beer (kaš), brewed from "bappir," a barely baked barley bread. The Hymn to Ninkasi, goddess of beer, is both a prayer and a poetic recipe. Beer, thick and full of grains, was drunk through straws to filter the sediment — hence banquet scenes where several people drink from a single jar.
The contemporary twist : Serve in a communal jar with real thick straws, as on Sumerian cylinder seals, to share in the manner of an Ur banquet.
Sources : Hymn to Ninkasi (Sumerian text, ca. 1800 BCE) · Solomon Katz & Fritz Maytag, "Brewing an Ancient Beer", Archaeology, 1991
Enheduanna · Charactorium
