Preservation of food

[Urselius]

Belisarius' 'hard tack' went off during his sea journey to Africa before his Vandal campaign, causing some hundreds of deaths amongst his troops from poisoning (possibly ergotic). Apparently it hadn't been baked properly, just roasted using a bath furnace (the savings made by the use of this short-cut were pocketed by the beaurocrat supplying the biscuit). It is believed that this buccellum was very like ship's biscuit used as a long term food source on ships in the age of sail (Nelson etc.).