Limestone Broth (Ireland)

The making of "limestone broth" was a device employed by wandering beggars to secure a good supper without seeming to ask for it. The beggar, making his way into one of the cabins which had always their doors hospitably open for poor vagrants would ask the vanithee (or woman of the house) to lend him a small pot, and allow him to cook his supper upon her fire. Permission was, of course, granted, and the pot was produced.

He then took from his wallet two substantial pieces of freshly cut limestone, which he placed in the pot, and, covering them with water, put the pot upon the fire to boil.

The vanithee, looking on with interest, exclaimed, "What are yez goin' to make, me good man?"

"Limestone broth, ma'am," replied the beggar.

"Glory be to God, look at that now!" exclaimed the amazed housewife. When the boiling had proceeded for some time the beggar-man tasted the contents, and remarked "it would be grately improved by a pinch o' salt."

The "pinch o' salt " was given him, and by-and-by he suggested that all the "broth" wanted was just a couple of spoonfuls of "male" to thicken it. Next came a request for a few slices of turnips, potatoes, and onions, to give it a little substance, all of which the good woman, who continued watching the proceedings with the keenest interest, kindly supplied; nor did she refuse "a knuckle of bacon," just to give the broth "the laste taste in the world of the flavour of mate."

And when, at the conclusion of the operation, she was invited to try the "limestone broth," she pronounced it "quite as good as any mate broth she ever tasted in her life."