Well, I wouldn't be overly surprised if it were at least partly nut-based, but let me check something... *flips through Silm, checks Encyclopedia of Arda* Yeah. Okay. The recipe originated with Melian of Doriath, which was, again, a forest kingdom. And according to my copy of FOTR:
"[Lembas] was mostly in the form of very thin cakes, made of a meal that was baked a light brown on the outside, and inside was the colour of cream... [Gimli] broke off a crisp corner and nibbled at it... 'Why, it is better than the honey-cakes of the Beornings!'... 'The cakes will keep sweet for many many days, if they are unbroken and left in their leaf-wrappings, as we have brought them.'"
So here's what we know for sure:
1. Lembas has to be produced by means available to elves who live in forest country. Granted, they may import flour from somewhere else, but it's unlikely there was much involved in the original recipe given the difficulty of getting into and out of Doriath. 2. The majority of ingredients used in it are pale, which rules out rye and most whole grains. If nuts are involved, they're almost certainly dehusked and blanched, so it's probably not hazelnuts given the notorious difficulty of getting the husks off. 3. The stuff cooks up crisp and thin; it's probably got a fair amount of some kind of fat to it, too. Long keeping is characteristic of breads and quick-breads containing fat; low-fat breads go stale very quickly. 4. It's sweet, and better than honey-intensive cakes. Given the extreme unlikelihood of access to sugar cane in the forests of Doriath, this implies the use of either honey or tree sap.
Potentially, this could mean that lembas are, in fact, made with maple syrup, but to comply with the colour requirements it would have to be Grade A rather than grades B or C, which are more commonly used in baking. (The grading is not done on quality, but on colour- the darker the syrup, the further along in the alphabet it gets graded.) It does seem to be consistent with nutmeal, though. It's unlikely to have been acorns, given the need to leach the bitterness from them before use. Given the likely climate of Doriath, the nuts used could be mallorn, pine, walnut, or chestnut- possibly others, I'm not up on my nut-bearing trees. Which is why I'm rather glad that the recipe I found calls for almonds; it's probably going to be at least a little closer in texture...
oy. Food geekery and Tolkien geekery. I'm so bloody doomed.
Re: Unless...
"[Lembas] was mostly in the form of very thin cakes, made of a meal that was baked a light brown on the outside, and inside was the colour of cream... [Gimli] broke off a crisp corner and nibbled at it... 'Why, it is better than the honey-cakes of the Beornings!'... 'The cakes will keep sweet for many many days, if they are unbroken and left in their leaf-wrappings, as we have brought them.'"
So here's what we know for sure:
1. Lembas has to be produced by means available to elves who live in forest country. Granted, they may import flour from somewhere else, but it's unlikely there was much involved in the original recipe given the difficulty of getting into and out of Doriath.
2. The majority of ingredients used in it are pale, which rules out rye and most whole grains. If nuts are involved, they're almost certainly dehusked and blanched, so it's probably not hazelnuts given the notorious difficulty of getting the husks off.
3. The stuff cooks up crisp and thin; it's probably got a fair amount of some kind of fat to it, too. Long keeping is characteristic of breads and quick-breads containing fat; low-fat breads go stale very quickly.
4. It's sweet, and better than honey-intensive cakes. Given the extreme unlikelihood of access to sugar cane in the forests of Doriath, this implies the use of either honey or tree sap.
Potentially, this could mean that lembas are, in fact, made with maple syrup, but to comply with the colour requirements it would have to be Grade A rather than grades B or C, which are more commonly used in baking. (The grading is not done on quality, but on colour- the darker the syrup, the further along in the alphabet it gets graded.) It does seem to be consistent with nutmeal, though. It's unlikely to have been acorns, given the need to leach the bitterness from them before use. Given the likely climate of Doriath, the nuts used could be mallorn, pine, walnut, or chestnut- possibly others, I'm not up on my nut-bearing trees. Which is why I'm rather glad that the recipe I found calls for almonds; it's probably going to be at least a little closer in texture...
oy. Food geekery and Tolkien geekery. I'm so bloody doomed.