Sourbulb Mash

Sourbulb Mash

A delicious staple found on every dinner table  

“If you haven’t scraped your bowl for the last lick of mash, you weren’t hungry enough.” —Common saying in the Marsh District of Lankhmar

    Sourbulb Mash is a thick, savory, and tangy porridge made from the boiled and mashed root of the sourbulb, a hardy, fast-growing tuber found across Western Nehwon. Its distinctive flavor—a mellow earthiness with a mild vinegar bite—has made it a culinary cornerstone for the working class, especially among humans and dwarves of the Lankhmaria region.   Served hot or cold, sourbulb mash is a meal in itself or the perfect base for stews, cured meats, or crumbled goat cheese. Nearly every household in Lankhmar and surrounding towns has a sack of dried sourbulb slices tucked away in the pantry, ready to be soaked, boiled, and mashed with salt, lard, or sometimes drippings.  

Preparation & Variants

Basic Recipe:

 

• Boil rehydrated sourbulb slices until soft.

 

• Mash with salt and rendered fat (lard, suet, or goose grease).

 

• Optional: mix in chopped onionweed, cave salt, or smoked garlic for flavor.

 

Regional Variants:

 

• Lankhmar Marsh Style: Served thinner, like a soup, with stale bread crumbled on top.

 

• Duhn Glorr Forge Style: Packed into loaves and roasted for a smoky crust.

 

• Karja Tal Street Vendor Style: Deep-fried into balls and dipped in spiced brine.

 

Agriculture & Supply

The sourbulb grows underground with a waxy, greenish-brown skin and pale purple flesh. It thrives in poor soil, tolerates drought, and resists most pests—making it a favored crop in the Western Marches, the fringes of Ilthmar, and dwarf-tilled terraces beneath the Earthvaults.   It stores well when dried, and traveling merchants often carry pressed bricks of mash powder, which can be boiled on the road. Soldiers, pilgrims, miners, and field laborers all rely on sourbulb mash to keep hunger at bay.

Economic Impact

Despite its ubiquity and affordability, a few enterprising cooks have elevated sourbulb mash into gourmet dishes served in upper-class circles—adding truffle shavings, saffron-infused oils, or powdered griffon egg.   But to the everyday folk of Western Nehwon, it remains what it has always been: Simple. Filling. Essential.

Sourbulb Trivia

• The largest recorded sourbulb weighed 29 pounds and was displayed in Lankhmar’s South Market until it rotted.

 

• A fermented variant, “sourbulb wine,” is drunk by desperate dwarves during Deepwinter celebrations. It is widely regarded as awful.

 

• Sourbulbs were once thought to be mildly magical. Some hedge witches say they “absorb bad luck when planted upside-down.”