Medieval
Cheese Making Class Handout
Lucius Junius
Moderatus Columella
On Agriculture,
Vol. II, Book VII, Section VIII
The Loeb
Classical Library translation
It will be
necessary too not to neglect the task of cheese-making, especially in distant
parts of the country, where it is not convenient to take milk to the market in
pails. Further, if the cheese is made of a thin consistency, it must be sold as
quickly as possible while it is still fresh and retains its moisture; if,
however, it is of a rich and thick consistency, it bears being kept for a
longer period. Cheese should be made of pure milk which is as fresh as
possible, for if it is left to stand or mixed with water, it quickly turns
sour. It should usually be curdled with rennet obtained from a lamb or a kid,
thought it can also be coagulated with the flower of the wild thistle or the
seeds of the safflower, and equally well with the liquid which flows from a
fig-tree if you make an incision in the bark while it is still green. The best
cheese, however, is that which contains only a very small quantity of any drug.
The least amount of rennet that a pail of milk requires weight a silver denarius; and there is no doubt that
cheese which has been solidified by means of small shoots from a fig-tree has a
very pleasant flavor. A pail when it has been filled with milk should always be
kept at some degree of heat; it should not, however, be brought into contact
with the flames, as some people think it proper to do, but should be put to
stand not far from the fire, and, when the liquid has thickened, it should
immediately be transferred to wicker vessels or baskets or molds; for it is of
the utmost importance that the whey should percolate as quickly as possible and
become separated from the solid matter. For this reason the country folk do not
even allow the whey to drain away slowly of its own accord, but, as soon as the
cheese has become somewhat more solid, they place weights o the top of it, so
that the whey may be pressed out; then, when the cheese has been taken out of
the molds or baskets, it is placed in a cool, shady place, that it may not go
bad, and , although it is placed on very clean boards, it is sprinkled with
pounded salt, so that it may exude the acid liquid; and , when it has hardened,
it is still more violently compressed, so that it may become more compact, and
then it is again treated with parched salt and again compressed by means of
weight. When this has been done for nine days it is washed with fresh water.
Then the cheeses are set in rows on wickerwork trays made for the purpose under
the shade in such a manner that one does not touch another, and that they
become moderately dry; then, that the cheese may remain the more tender, it is
closely packed on several shelves in an enclosed place which is not exposed to
the winds. Under these conditions it does not become full of holes or salty or
dry, the first of these bad conditions being generally due to too little
pressure, the second to its being over-salted, and the third to its being
scorched by the sun. This kind of cheese can even be exported beyond the sea.
Cheese which is to be eaten within a few days while still fresh, is prepared
with less trouble; for it is taken out of the wicker baskets and dipped into
salt and brine and then dried a little in the sun. Some people, before they put
the shackles (to restrain them during milking) on the she-goats, drop green
pine nuts into the pail and then milk the she-goats over them and only remove
them when they have transferred the curdled milk into the molds. Some crush the
green pine kernels by themselves and mix them with the milk and curdle it in
this way. Others allow thyme which has been crushed and pounded through a sieve
to coagulate with the milk; similarly, you can give the cheese any flavor you
like by adding any seasoning which you choose. The method of making what we
call “hand pressed” cheese is the best known of all; when the milk is slightly
congealed in the pail and still warm, it is broken up and hot water is poured
over it, and then it is either shaped by hand or else pressed into box-wood
molds. Cheese also which is hardened in brine and then colored with the smoke
of apple tree wood or stubble has a not unpleasant flavor. But let us now
return to the point from which we digressed.
THE
NATURAL HISTORY OF PLINY, m TRANSLATED,
WITH
COPIOUS NOTES AND ILLUSTKATIONS BY THE LATE JOHN BOSTOCK, M.D., F.R.S., AND H.
T. EILEY, Esq., B.A., LATE SCHOLAR OF CLARE HALL, CAMBRIDGE
84 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XI.
coagulate, and assume the hardness of pumice. She-asses,
as soon as they are pregnant, have milk in their udders ; when the pasturage is
rich, it is fatal to their young to taste the mother's milk the first two days
after birth ; the kind of malady by which they are attacked is known by the
name of " colostration." Cheese cannot be made from the milk of
animals which have teeth on either jaw, from the circumstance that their milk
does not coagulate. The thinnest milk of all is that of the camel, and next to
it that of the mare. The milk of the she- ass is the richest of all, so much
so, indeed, that it is often used instead of rennet. Asses' milk is also
thought to be very efficacious in whitening the skin of females : at all
events, Popptea, the wife of Domitius
Nero, used always to have with her five hundred asses with foal, and used to
bathe the whole of her body in their milk, thinking that it also conferred
additional suppleness on the skin. All milk thickens by the action of fire, and
becomes serous when exposed to cold. The milk of the cow produces more cheese
than that of the goat: when equal in quantity, it will produce nearly twice the
weight. The milk of animals which have more than four mammas does not produce
cheese; and that is the best which is made of the milk of those that have but two.
The rennet of the fawn, the hare, and the kid is the most esteemed, but the
best of all is that of the dasypus: this last acts as a specific for diarrhoea,
that animal being the only one with teeth in both jaws, the rennet of which has
that property. It is a remarkable circumstance, that the barbarous nations
which subsist on milk have been for so many ages either ignorant of the merits
of cheese, or else have totally disregarded it ; and yet they understand how to
thicken milk and form therefrom an acrid kind of liquid with a pleasant flavor,
as well as a rich butter : this last is the foam of milk, and is of a thicker consistency than
the part which is known as the " serum." After ought not to omit that butter has
certain of the properties of oil, and that it is used for an ointment among all
barbarous nations, and among ourselves as well, for infants.
CHAP. 97. (42.) VARIOUS KINDS OF CHEESE.
The kinds of cheese that are most esteemed at Eome, where
the various good things of all nations are to be judged of by comparison, are
those which come from the provinces of Nemausus, 26 and more especially the
villages there of Lesura and Gabalis; but its excellence is only very
short-lived, and it must be eaten while it is fresh. The pastures of the Alps
recommend themselves by two sorts of cheese; the Dalmatic Alps send us the
Docleatian cheese, and the Centronian Alps the Vatusican. The kinds produced in
the Apennines are more numerous; from Liguria we have the cheese of Ceba, which
is mostly made from the milk of sheep ; from TJmbria we have that of iEsina,
and from the frontiers of Etruna and Liguria those of Luna, remarkable for
their vast size, d single cheese weighing as much as a thousand pounds. Nearer
the City, again, we have the cheese of Yestinum, the best of this kind being
that which comes from the territory of Ceditium. Goats also produce a cheese
which has been of late held in the highest esteem, its flavor being heightened
by smoking it. The cheese of this kind which is made at Rome is considered
preferable to any other ; for that which is made in Gaul has a strong taste,
like that of medicine. -Of. the cheeses that are made beyond sea, that of
Bithyma is usually considered the first in quality. That salt exists m pasture-
lands is pretty evident, from the fact that all cheese as it grows old
contracts a saltish flavour, even where it does not appear to any great extent;
while at the same time it is equally well known that cheese soaked in a mixture
of thyme and vinegar will regain its original fresh flavor. It is said that
Zoroaster lived thirty years in the wilderness upon cheese, prepared in such a
peculiar manner, that he was insensible to the advances of old age.
Harleian MS. 279 (1430) – Leche Vyaundez
Take cow Mylke, & set it our þe fyre,
& þrow þer-on Suanderys, & make a styf poshotte of Ale; þan hange þe
corddys þer-of in a pynne, in a fayre cloþe, and lat it ourer-renne; þan take
it and put hony þer-to, & melle it yfere; þen feche þe coddys of þe deye
and melle hem to gederys, & lay it on a chesefatte or it be torne, fold, in
linen coþe & salt it & leche it; and þanne serue it forth.
Take cow’s
milk and set it over the fire and throw there-on sandalwood and make a stiff
posset of ale; then hang the curds thereof on a pin, in a fair cloth and let it
run over, then take it and & put honey thereto and mix it together; then
fetch the curds of the dairy maid and mix them together, and lay in a cheese
press before it is turned, three fold or four fold, in linen cloth, salt it and
cut it and serve it forth.
Renfrow, Cindy. Take a Thousand Eggs or More Second
Edition, Volume 1.
A Fifteenth Century Cookry Boke(Anderson)
Let Lory
Take Mylke, an sette it ouer þe fyre;
take Salt and Safroun, and cast þer-to; take Eyroun, þe Зolke and þe Whyte
y-strained a lyte, & caste it þer-to; whan þe Mulke his scalding hote, cast
þe stuff þer-to, an þenne stere yt tyll it crodde; and Зif þou wolt haue it
a-forsyd with lyЗt coste, Teke Myulke , & make it skaldying hot & cast
þer-to Raw Зolkes of Eyrouns, Sugre, pouder Gyngere, Clowes, Maces, an let not
fully boyle; & so hote, dress it forth an ley it on þe crodde.
Take milk and
set it over the fire. Take salt and saffron and cast thereto. Take eggs, the
yolk and the white, strained a little and caste it thereto. When the milk is
scalding hot, cast the stuff (eggs) thereto. And then stir it until it coddle
and if you will have it a ?????. Take milk and make it scalding hot and cast
thereto raw yolks of eggs, sugar, powdered ginger, cloves, mace and let it not
fully boil and so hot. Serve it forth as a coddle.
Anderson,
John L. A Fifteenth Century Cookry Boke. Scribner’s Sons, New York 1962.
Whey Ricotta from
Platina (1465):
De Recocta. We
heat the whey which was left from the cheese in a cauldron over a slow fire
until all the fat rises to the top; this is what the country-folk call recocta,
because it is made from leftover milk which is heated up. It is very white and
mild. It is less healthful than new or medium-aged cheese, but it is considered
better than that which is aged or too salty. Whether one is pleased to call it
cocta or recocta, cooks use it in many pottages, especially in those made of
herbs.
Letter to Conrad Gessner from Jacob Bifrons
Translator: Aelianora de Wintringham, (mka Rikke D. Giles)
Epistola de caseis et operibus lactariis et modo quo in Rhiticis regionibus et alpibus parantur, 1556
(Letter on cheese and dairy products and how they are made in Switzerland)
Translator: Aelianora de Wintringham, (mka Rikke D. Giles)
Epistola de caseis et operibus lactariis et modo quo in Rhiticis regionibus et alpibus parantur, 1556
(Letter on cheese and dairy products and how they are made in Switzerland)
My son, returning to Curia in Pontissella, told me you
suggested that I should write to you about the ways of cheesemaking and the
types of cheese of our region. This I now do most willingly, and I hope that this
will be pleasing to you.
There are two types of cheese which concern us; one lean
and called 'domestic' since it is made both in the house and in the Alps and
its use goes back before the memory of man. The other type is called 'fat'
cheese and it was brought from Italy into our region in the last 30 years.
Let's start with the lean:
When the milk has been milked it is poured by sprinkling
into a low wooden vessel. The vessels are called 'mottas' in our country. For
reference, in Italy they use a bronze vessel which they call 'concha'. One of
these vessels can contain 60 pounds of milk; and out of which, each day, the
'foam' of the milk, which is the condensing of the fat of the milk, is
separated. This foam can be called by two names, 'Grama' or cream.
They put the foam into a round and oblong vessel which
they call the 'Pneulia'. It is covered with a cover which has small holes in
it, into which a long stick is inserted. The stick has a board on its end
around which a ball or sphere is fastened, and this stick is alternately lifted
out and put back <into the Pneulia>
so that the foam is agitated without interruption until butter is created.
They call the butter 'Paing' in this country <the marginal note in the original says
Pingue, or fat>. When it has been separated and removed, the liquid that
remains is called 'Pen'.
The milk which remains in the mottas, the foam having
been taken away, is put into a cooking-pot and a small fire is lit underneath
it. The milk is left there until it is tepid. It is then removed from the fire
and a small portion of the rennet of a calf (the size of a chestnut) is mixed
into the tepid milk. And thus, within half an hour, and oftentimes less, the
milk is curdled and made firm.
Then this material, which they call Ponna, is stirred
with a long rod, until it settles. Then it is removed and transferred into a
mould while the whey is pressed out. Then the curds are taken out and put on a
little board and sprinkled with salt and surrounded by a 'skin' <likely the salt is making a skin on the
cheese> so that it doesn't expand <ie
fall apart>. Every day for 8 days it is turned over and rubbed with salt
until the cheese is made solid and dry.
The milk which remains in the cooking dish after the
Ponna has been removed is whey, and to this is added the Pen <buttermilk>. Then a hot fire is
placed under the cooking-pot, and the whey is warmed until it boils. The matter
which is floating on the top after boiling is made into Serotium. To us it is
zicronum, in Italy they call it Puina or Mascarpa, and you call it Ziger <Ziger is whey cheese, often called
Ricotta in the USA. Some places in Switzerland still make it, but I
am not sure if it is the same cheese as that referred to above. Mascarpa gives
rise to Mascarpone, which is also a whey cheese, although enriched with
cream. Puina is now a 'butter-milk' cheese from Lombardy>.
The Serotium is taken from the cooking-pot into a wooden
vessel so that the whey remaining in it drains away. Then it is taken out and
put on a board in a dry place, and exposed to smoke and put into the wind. Salt
is sprinkled upon it until it is dry.
From the rest of the liquid remaining in the cooking-pot
nothing can be made, and it is given to pigs.
Butter, which we nearly forgot, needs no more care than
this: It should be taken from the Pneulia and the remaining Pen should be
expressed from it, then salt added. It is put into a circular or oblong form,
and it is rendered and pressed.
From 60 pounds of milk, 3 pounds of butter, four of
cheese and two of serotium are produced. Three pounds of butter are worth here
7 crucifers of Athesini <some kind of
coin?>. Six pounds of cheese and serotij, taken together and sold, would
be worth 6 crucifers.
And thus, of lean cheese.
Fat cheese is only made in the 'cottage' of the Alps,
where most of the cows are. This is how it is made:
When the first day's milk is taken, that milk is put
straight into the cooking-pot from the milk-pail. It is put over a fire, and,
as we explained earlier, rennet is introduced into it. After half an hour it is
condensed and then it is stirred with a long stick or paddle.
When it has settled it is removed, and put into moulds of
wood, which because they are similar to bands are called Fasceras. These are
bandaged with a sheet; and then covered with a clean cloth of linen. Right
after that they put a weight on top to express the whey. On the next day the
cheese is turned upside down and put back under the weight.
On the following day the weight is removed and the mould
is very tightly bound, and placed into a closed and warm location, one not very
damp. This place should not allow winds from fissures to strike it, or it <the cheese> will swell from
excessive dryness or be made full of hollows because of excessive humidity, and
if this happens, the cheese will not be fit <to
eat> for a long time.
Next it is laid out on a clean board, and salt is
sprinkled upon it. For the following 8 days it is turned, removed from its
bindings and rubbed with salt. It is returned to its tight bindings and this is
done until the cheese becomes solid and dry.
When that happens it is put into a dry place and smeared
with oil so that it won't be infested with any rottenness.
Care must be taken in cheesemaking, as those who prepare
it will tell you, when the rennet is added to the milk, that the milk be
neither too hot nor too cold, and not too great an amount of rennet put into
it, and care must be taken to expel the whey and only add a moderate amount of
salt. This is so the cheese won't be full of holes but solid, nor bitter, nor
bland, nor too salty or insipid or retain the taste of rennet.
Also, a fire left under the whey in the cooking-pot will
create serotij <plural of serotium>,
in the same manner as that from the lean preparation. The difference between
serotij, fat and lean, is the same as that between cheese, fat and lean. And in
general, the same amount in pounds of cheese and serotij is produced from milk
as that from the lean production I explained above.
And so great is the fame of our cheese and butter that
great quantities are sent away to Comum, and the bordering regions of Italy and
Germany. And the smallest of our cheeses, if they are aged, are esteemed as
much as the cheese of Placentini. These most highly praised cheeses are now in
Italy and sell for quite a bit, since a single pound of fresh cheese costs two
crucifers, and aged cheese costs twice that. It is amazing to say that so much
cheese and butter is made in our jurisdiction (which is the area above the
valley Engedina, and which consists of 1000 homes) that in many years more than
15 thousand florens worth are sent downstream. This number would be more, but
because of domestic use, some product isn't included.
And this was about the milk of cows. It is natural <to write> about the milk of
goats, but I think I should end up writing a huge work. Goodbye.
At Samadenus in the valley of Engedina
the 27th of January, the year of the Lord 1556
Mistress Helewyse de Birkestad translated
a 1581 source as follows:
The following cheese and dairying instructions were found in an
unlikely location, namely Compendio de i secreti rationali di M. Leonardo
Fiorvanti Bolognese, Medico & Cirugico. (The Compendium of rational secrets
of M. Leonardo Fiorvanti of Bologna, Medic and Surgeon). The full text of this
document is available via BNF Gallica (http://gallica2.bnf.fr/
).
Del modo di coagulare il latte, secreto bellisimo. Cap 50
Il
modo che usano I pastori moderni di fare coagulare ò quagliare il latte per
fare il formaggio over cascio è questo, cioè, pigliano il ventricolo del
vitello ò dell'agnello ò del capretto di latte quando si ammazzanno, lo
fanno secccare al fumo, come egli èsecco, cavano fuori il latte che vi è
dentro, lo pestano insieme con la terza parte di sale; & con tal
compositione fanno quagliare il latte. Ma il vero secreto da far
quagliare il ditto latte, & fare maggior quantità di formaggio è questo,
cioè. Si pliglia sei parti del ditto quaglio, et due di aceto fortissimo, &
una di latte di fronde di fico, & si incorpora benissimo insieme, et questa
tal compositione fa miracoloso effetto, & f ache mai il cascio ò formaggio
che con tal cosa si quaglia non si guasta; percioche il late del fico &
l'aceto lo conservano da ogni putrefattione; si come anco fa l'acqua vita, che
mantiene il vino & non lo lascia ricever corruttione; et questi sono
altissimi, & gran secreti di natura; & se bene paiono cose di poca
importanza, nondimeno in essi si scuoprono gli alti & gran secreti
rationale.
The way to coagulate milk, beautiful secret. Chapter 50, folio 166.
The way that the modern farmer uses to coagulate or set the milk
to make cheese or curds is this. That is take the stomach of veal or of
lamb or milk kid when they are killed and put it to dry in smoke, and when
these are dry, take out the milk that is inside, and one grinds them together
with a third part of salt; and with this mixture you can cause the milk to
coagulate. But the real secret is in order to coagulate the said milk and
make a large quantity of cheese is this. One takes six parts of this
rennet and two of strong acid and one of milk from fig leaves and one mixes it
well together, and this mixture has a miraculous effect, it makes that the
cheese made with this rennet never spoils; because the milk of the fig and the
vinegar conserves it from every putrefaction; it is like aqua vita what keeps
wine and doesn't let it become corrupt, and these are the ultimate and grand secrets
of nature; and if one well attends to matters of little importance nevertheless
in these one finds the high and great rational secrets.
Del modo di fare il formaggio ò vero cascio Cap 51
Il
cascio ò formaggio che si fa, lo fanno in questo modo, cioè. Quando il
latte è quagliato, lo rompono & lo mettono sopra il fuoco, e lo fanno
scaldare fin tanto, che si faccia una massa nel fondo della caldara, e poi lo
cavano fuori & formano il formaggio secondo che a lor piace, & poi lo
salano, & lo fanno seccare; e con tale ordine tutti i pastor fanno il
formaggio, ma molto di questo si guasta; e chi lo volesse fare di estrama bontà
& che mai si guastarai, faccia in questo modo cioè. Piglia aceto
fortissimo, & mel commune, tanto di uno quanto di altro, & fallo
bollire insieme, & quando si rome il latte, per ogni trenta libre di latte,
mettevi una scudella di detta compositione, & non lo scaldare troppo; e poi
formale pezze del formaggio di quella forma che si vuolve, & subito che sia
fatto salalo cosi caldo; e questo è il vero e gran secreto da fare il formaggio
bonissimo, & che non si guasterà mai. Percioche lo aceto & il
mele sono materiale incorruttibili, & per la loro virtù conservano il
formaggio.
The way of making cheese or real cheese (it may be the difference
between formaggio being a molded cheese and Cascio a pressed cheese).
Chapter 51.
The cheese that one makes, one makes in this way, that is: when
the milk is coagulated one breaks it and puts it over a fire and it is heated
until it makes a mass at the bottom of the pot. Then one takes it out and
shapes the cheese, dependent on ones wishes, and then salt it and put it to
dry. But many times made this way it will spoil. If one would wish
to make a high quality one that never spoils make it in this way. That
is: take the strongest vinegar and common honey, more of the one than the
other, and put them to boil together. When one breaks the milk for each
30 "libre" of milk put in one "scudella" of this mix and
don't heat it too much. Then make the pieces of cheese in whichever shape
you like and immediately a it is done salt it thus warm. This is truly
the great secret to make the very best cheese that never spoils because vinegar
and honey are incorruptible materials and their virtues preserve the cheese.
Libra – about 12 oz, libre - plural of libra
Scudella – small bowl between 430 -600ml
Del modo di fare la ricotta o vera puina Cap 52
Quando
i pastori hanno fatto il formaggio mettono quell siero, che li resta, dentro
una caldara, & lo fanno bollire; & cosi bollendo separa una certa
grassezza, che si chiama ricotta; e questo vocabolo di ricotta è cosi ditto,
percioche tal material no si può fare senza ricuocere il latte; & la
detta ricotta viene di sopra tutto d'un pezzo, & si cava via; e poi
pigliano di quell siero, che resta, & lo serbano fin che diventa acetoso,
& quando fanno un'altra volta la ricotta, come incomincia a levare il
bollo vi buttano dentro una certa quantità di quell siero acetoso ò agro, &
questo fa subito schiarire il latte o siero, e si cava maggior quantità di
ricotta, ma è dura & fastidiosa. Ma chi la volesse fare tenera dolce
& piacevole, in luoco di quell serio agro mattavi forttisimo aceto, ma poca
quantità , & questo fa venire la ricotta dolce, & tener; percioche essendo
di sua natura contrario al latte, ha virtù di separare le parti grosse dale
sottili, & untuose; e questo è il vero secreto da fare la ricotta.
The way to make ricotta or fresh cheese Chapter 52
When the heardsman has made the milk put that whey that remains
into a cauldron and but it to boil, and thus boiled it will separate a certain
fatness that one calls ricotta; and this way of naming it re-cooked is thus
called, because this material one cannot make without recooking the milk, the
said ricotta comes to the top in one piece and one takes it out; and then one
takes the whey that remains and keeps it until it becomes vinegary (acid) then
make another time the ricotta, and one the boil starts to raise put into it a
certain quantity of that sour whey or sour and this immediately clears the milk
or whey, and one pulls out a lot of ricotta, but it is hard and loathsome (or
tedious), but if you want to make it soft and sweet and pleasant in place of
soured whey put in the strongest vinegar, but a very little, this helps make
the sweet and tender ricotta; because of it's nature contrary to milk, it has
the ability (virtue) to separate the large parts from the subtle and unctuous,
and this is the true secret to making ricotta.
Del modo di fare il butiro che si chiama fior di latte Cap 53
Il
modo da fare il butiro è questo cioè, si molge il latte delle poppe de gli
animali, & si cola col colatoio, & si lascia cosi per dodici ò
quatordici hore, & in questo temp manda soptra una certa schiuma grassa,
laquale si cava via separandola dal latte, et si serba in un vaso d aper se;
& dipoi si sbatto tanto che per il continuo mod oil butiro si coagula
insieme, & la humidità acquosa si separa; & questo è il modo, colquale
si f ail ditto butiro. Ma il secreto di farlo meglio e maggior quantità
& piu soave al gusto è questo, cioè. Piglia sal commune libre
Quattro, acqua pluviale libre diece, & fallo liquefare al fuoco, che
diventi tutto acqua; & quando vorrai fare il butiro, mettivi per ogni libra
di butiro disfatto oncia una della detta acqua di sale, & sbattilo come si
fa, che verrà assai piu presto; & come ho ditto se ne farà maggior
quantità, & sarà meglio; & si conserverà molto meglio di l'altro:
percioche il sale ha virtù di conservare tutte le cose da putrefattione, &
fa coagolare similmente le materie liquide, come si vede, chef a nell'olio
commune, grassi, & alter cose simile, dove si opera molte volte.
The way of making butter than one calls the flower of milk Chapter
53.
The way to make butter is this, that is, one squeezes the milk
from the teats of the animal, and one strains it with the strainer and leaves
it thus for twelve or fourteen hours, and in this time comes to the top a
certain fat layer, the which one can lift and separate from the milk and one
reserves it in a vessel for this. After one beats it much and
continuously such that the butter coagulates together and the watery liquid
separates, and this is the normal way one makes butter. But the secret to
make it better and in a larger quantity and more pleasant to the taste is
this. That is take four libre of common salt, twelve libre of rain water
and put them to dissolve over the fire until it is all water, then when you
want to make the butter put for every libra of unmade butter (i.e. cream) an
ounce of this salty water, and beat it as you do, and it will come much sooner,
and like I have said in a larger quantity and it is better and it keeps much
better than the other, because the salt has the virtue of conserving all things
from putrefaction, and makes coagulation similarly in liquid materials like one
sees, that makes in common oil, fat and other similar things where one works
many times.
Reference
Title : Compendio de i secreti rationali / di M. Leonardo Fioravanti
Bolognese,...
Author : Fioravanti, Leonardo
Publisher : Omnisys (Cambridge (Mass.))
Date of publication : 1581
Subject : Médecine -- Ouvrages avant 1800
Type : monographie imprimée
Language : Italian
Format : application/pdf
Copyright : domaine public
Identifier : ark:/12148/bpt6k60605k http://gallica2.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k60605k
Source : Bibliothèque nationale de France
Relation : http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb37259215g/description
Provenance :
Description : Collection : Italian books before
1601 ; 490.1
This work copyrighted by the translator, Mistress Helewyse de
Birkestad (Louise Smithson). Permission is given to use this work for
educational and non-profit research provided that credit is given to the
author. I also love to know what people are doing with my translations so
please drop me an email and let me know. May 2008.
Good Housewife’s Jewell - To Mark Fresh Cheese and Cream
(Dawson) (1596)
Take a gallon
of milk from the cow, and seethe it, and when it doth seethe put thereunto a
quart or two of morning milk in fair cleansing pans, in such a place as no dust
may fall therein. This is for your clotted cream. The next morning take a quart
of morning milk, and seethe it, and put in a quart of cream thereunto, and when
it doth seethe, take it off the fire. Put it in a fair earthen pan, and let it
stand until it be somewhat blood warm. But first over night put a good quantity
of ginger, with rose water, and stir it together. Let it settle all night. The
next day put it into your said blood warm milk to make your cheese come. Then
put the curds in a fair cloth, with a little good rose water, fine powder of
ginger and a little sugar. So lash great soft rolls together with a thread and
crush out the whey with your clotted cream. Mix it with fine powder of ginger,
and sugar, and so sprinkle it with rose water, and put your cheese in a fair
dish. And put these clots round about it. Then take a pint of raw milk or cream
and put it in a pot, and all to shake it until it be gathered into a froth like
snow. And ever as it cometh, take it off with a spoon and put it into a
colander. The put it upon your fresh cheese and prick it with wafers and so
serve it.
Dawson,
Thomas. The Good Housewife’s Jewel; Southover Press, 1996
(Making a pressed
cheese)
(England, 17th century, “A True Gentlewoman’s Delight”, 1653)
To make a slipcoat Cheese
Take five quarts of new Milk from the Cow, and one quart of Water, and one spoonful of Runnet, and stirre it together, and let it stand till it doth come, then lay your Cheese cloth into the Vate, and let the Whey soak out of it self; when you have taken it all up, lay a cloth on the top of it, and one pound weight for one hour, then lay two pound for one hour more, then turn him when he hath stood two houres, lay three pound on him for an hour more, then take him out of the Vate, and let him lie two or three houres, and then salt him on both sides, when he is salt enough, take a clean cloth and wipe him dry, then let him lie on a day or a night, then put Nettles under and upon him, and change them once a day, if you find any Mouse turd wipe it off, the Cheese will come to his eating in eight or nine dayes.[33]
********************
(England, 17th century, “A True Gentlewoman’s Delight”, 1653)
To make a slipcoat Cheese
Take five quarts of new Milk from the Cow, and one quart of Water, and one spoonful of Runnet, and stirre it together, and let it stand till it doth come, then lay your Cheese cloth into the Vate, and let the Whey soak out of it self; when you have taken it all up, lay a cloth on the top of it, and one pound weight for one hour, then lay two pound for one hour more, then turn him when he hath stood two houres, lay three pound on him for an hour more, then take him out of the Vate, and let him lie two or three houres, and then salt him on both sides, when he is salt enough, take a clean cloth and wipe him dry, then let him lie on a day or a night, then put Nettles under and upon him, and change them once a day, if you find any Mouse turd wipe it off, the Cheese will come to his eating in eight or nine dayes.[33]
Period
non-dairy cheeses
Epulario
1598
195) To make
Curds of Almonds in Lent.
Take
blanched Almonds and stampe them with Rosewater, then with two ounces of Sugar,
ten ounces of Rosewater, and halfe a pint of Pike or Tench broth, (for the
broth of other sea or fresh water fish is not good, and let not the broth be
very salt but somewhat thicke) temper them together, and straine it so hard
that there remaine no part of the substance of the Almonds in the Strayner, let
this Curd stand for the space of one night, and put it in a dish or other
vessell, and in the morning you shall find it curdy like curds of Milke. And if
you will you may put them into greene leaves or other hearbes like Cheese
curds, or let it stand in the dish, strawing it with Sugar or Annyseed Comfits
you may adde thereto a little flower because it bindeth.
196) To
counterfet Lenten Cheese Curds
Take a pound
of blanched Almonds and stampe them as aforesaid, then take foure ounces of
Sugar, an ounce of Rosewater, and a glasse full of fish broth aforesaid, and of
the same fishes broth : then temper them together & strain them thicke,
then forme them and send them to the Table in a dish or upon a plate, strawing
it with Sugar and Annyseed comfets.
197) To
counterfeit Butter.
Take a pound
of blanched Almonds as aforesaid, & stamp them and straine them with halfe
a glasse of Rosewater, and to make them curdy put a little flower or half a
glasse of Pike or Tench broth, with four ounces of Sugar and a little Saffron
to make it yellow, straining it thick, then make it in fashion of a dish of butter,
and set it all night to thicken against morning in a cold place.
Recommended
Sources:
“Cheese and
Culture: A History of Cheese and its Place in Western Civilization” by Paul
Kindstedt
“The Art of
Natural Cheesemaking” by David Asher
Medieval
Cheese Forum http://medievalcheese.blogspot.com/
