gradan

-ain, sm Expeditious mode of drying grain for the quern by burning the straw. 2 The meal obtained from such grain. 3 Snuff hastily prepared by pounding dry leaves of tobacco in a mortar. 4‡‡ Kind of snuff called “Lundifoot.” “Gradan was corn or meal prepared after the ancient custom of the Gael. A woman sitting down, took a handful of corn and holding it in her left hand by the stalks, she set fire to the ears, which were at once in a flame. In her right hand she held a stick, with which she dexterously beat the grain out the very instant the husks were quite burnt. By this simple process, corn may be cut down, winnowed, ground, dried and baked within half an hour. In separating the meal from the husks, instead of sieves, they made use of a sheepskin stretched on a hoop, minutely perforated by a small hot iron. The bread which is thus made is considered very salubrious and is extremely pleasant to the palate of the Gael” — * In Uist, where the three processes, ealachadh, eararadh and gradan, may still be seen practised, the means employed are practically the same as described above. The grain end of the sheaf is put into the flame of the fire; when the chart and ends of the straw are well alight, the sheaf is held over a clean-swept part of the hearth, or over some vessel, when the grain drops off — DC.

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