Barm

Barm

Barm is the foam, or scum, formed on the top of liquor (i.e. fermented alcoholic beverages such as beer or wine, or feedstock for hard liquor or industrial ethanol distillation) when fermenting. It was used to leaven bread, or set up fermentation in a new batch of liquor. Barm, as a leaven, has also been made from ground millet combined with must out of wine-tubs [Botham's of Whitby [http://www.botham.co.uk/bread/yeast.htm The story behind a loaf of bread] ] and is sometimes wrongly used in baking as a synonym for a natural leaven. [Reinhart, Peter has since retracted this term. "Crust and Crumb". Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 1998, ISBN 1580088023.] Various cultures derived from barm, usually "Saccharomyces cerevisiae", became ancestral to most forms of brewer's yeast and baker's yeast currently on the market.

In parts of the North of England a barm or barm cake is a common term for a soft, floury bread roll.

"Barmy" is also British slang for "crazy", comparing the foamy texture of barm to the perceived emptiness of such a person's head.

Notes and references

*1911


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • barm|y — «BAHR mee», adjective, barm|i|er, barm|i|est. 1. full of barm; fermenting; frothing. 2. British Slang, Figurative …   Useful english dictionary

  • Barm — Barm, n. [OE. bearm, berm, barm, AS. bearm; akin to E. bear to support.] The lap or bosom. [Obs.] Chaucer. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • barm — barm; barm·brack; barm·skin; …   English syllables

  • Barm — (b[aum]rm), n. [OE. berme, AS. beorma; akin to Sw. b[ a]rma, G. b[ a]rme, and prob. L. fermentum. [root]93.] Foam rising upon beer, or other malt liquors, when fermenting, and used as leaven in making bread and in brewing; yeast. Shak. [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • barm — O.E. beorma yeast, leaven, also head of a beer, from P.Gmc. *bermon (Cf. Du. berm, M.L.G. barm), from PIE root *bher (4) to cook, bake (Cf. L. fermentum substance causing fermentation, Skt. bhurati moves convulsively, quivers, M.Ir. berbaim …   Etymology dictionary

  • barm — [bärm] n. [ME berme < OE beorma, yeast < IE base * bher , to boil up > FERMENT, BREATH] the yeast foam that appears on the surface of malt liquors as they ferment …   English World dictionary

  • barm — sb., en, e, ene …   Dansk ordbog

  • Barm — *1. Dat geit wedder na m olen Barm to. – Schütze. Es geht wieder auf die alte Weise, den alten Krebsgang. – Barm = Bärme, Hefe, Gescht. *2. De Barm leep em öwert Harte. – Eichwald, 92. *3. Er hat in den Barm schütten. – Richey, 10. Eine Sache… …   Deutsches Sprichwörter-Lexikon

  • barm — закваска Parisian barm закваска на солоде с добавлением муки malt extract barm закваска с солодовым экстрактом flour barm закваска на солоде с добавлением муки matured barm хорошо выброженная закваска barm stage стадия приготовления закваски …   English-Russian travelling dictionary

  • barm — noun /bɑːm/ a) Foam rising upon beer, or other malt liquors, when fermenting, and used as leaven in making bread and in brewing; yeast. In 1577 yeast, called barm, is bought at 9d. the pail. b) A small flat round, individual loaf, or roll of… …   Wiktionary

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