Geoffrey Chaucer Works II UGC NET JRF TGT PGT MA PHD Entrance Exam II History...
A basic monastic hard cheese
1. A Basic Monastic Hard Cheese
Fig.1 Cheese; from the Theatrum Sanitatis, Library Casanatense, Rome1.
(Although the illuminations in this paper are representative of domestic cheese
production they are none the less documentation of the process of making hard cheeses
during the middle ages.)
1
Fig.137. Cheese; from the Theatrum Sanitatis, Library Casanatense, Rome,
http://www.godecookery.com/afeast/foods/foods.html
1
2. Fig.2. Cheese manufacture, 1390-1400, Illustration from "Tacuinum Sanitatis",
illuminated medical manual based on texts translated from Arabic into Latin, in the
collection of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.2
Making a Hard Cheese in Period
Some types of hard cheese were named for the area that they were being made is in, such
as Gouda (in Holland); or the religious orders that made their own cheese. An example of
this was documented in 1543 in the ledgers of Saint-Aman Abby of Rouen where the
cheese called Neufchatel3, was mentioned in the book “A Proper newe Booke of
Cokerye.”4 Another example would be a variety of cheeses called Trappist after the order
of Trappist monks who made them. Perhaps one of the most famous cheeses was one
2
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, http://images.imagestate.com/Watermark/1276116.jpg
3
Norman Cheeses, www.formages.org/fnd/fdn_neufcatel_en
4
A Proper Newe Booke of Cokerye, 16th Century, 1545, http://www.uni-
giessen.de/gloning/tx/bookecok.htm
2
3. made in Germany since 1371 by Benedictine monks called Munster. Munster takes its
name from the Latin word for monastery, monasterium.5
“It has been estimated that there were as many as 1000 monastic houses (251 were
Cistercian abbeys and 412 were Benedictine abbeys) alone in France during the middle
ages.”6 Each monastic house would serve both fresh & hard cheeses adapted from the
milk available in the area where it was located. These cheeses would each have a unique
flavor. The flavor of the milk used in making the cheese would be effected by the grass
or plants the animals ate, the type and breed of animal being milked, the time of the year
the milk was collected and even the time of day (how rich was the milk), what type of
milks were being combined (some cheeses combine Cow & Goat/Sheep milk to make
cheese), how & were the cheese was aged. In wine making the flavor the land gives to
wine is called terroir and the same is true for cheeses.
Other cheeses of monastic origins are: 7
• Abondance Abbey (Savoy): Abondance has been made since the fourteenth
century and is a semi-hard cheese. This type of cheese has a smooth surface rind,
showing the marks of the cloth with an amber color. This cheese is made in the
French Mountains like my cheese this is a raw cow’s milk cheese. This cheese
again like mine has a firm texture, and a distinct and complex flavor. The color of
both mine and this Abby cheese ranges from ivory to pale yellow.
• Maroilles Abbey (Nord): Maroilles is a moist orange-red washed rind and has a
strong smell from the length of ageing, close to a Limburger in nature.
• Conques Abbey (Aveyron): Roquefort (a blue cheese semi-hard) aged in the
caves to encourage the growth of the blue mold that give the cheese its flavor.
• Benedictine Abbey of Munster (Haut-Rhin): Munster (a semi-hard cheese) which
comes from the Latin word monasterium (monastery) was made as early as 1371.
The cheese's crust (rind) is washed regularly. It is matured in damp cellars for five
weeks for up to 2 to 3 months. During this period, the rind is periodically washed
with brine (a concentrated salt solution). The added moisture helps the
development of bacteria that gives this cheese its particular taste and color, this
type of cheese was also smoked.
• Cistercian Monastery of Epoisses (Côte d'Or): Epoisses was recorded at the end
of the sixteenth century. This is another soft to semi-hard cheese with a strong
flavor and a wished rind. Washed rind cheeses are pressed cheeses.
• Templar’s of Coulsdon (Seine-et-Marne): Coulommiers has a soft texture and is
similar to Brie.
• St Claude Abbey (Jura): Bleu de Gex has a flat wheel shape, the rind is dry,
rough, and has a white-yellow color.
5
Albin, Michel, Linventaire du patrimoine culinaire de France, Lorraine, 1998, article on Munster-gerome
AOC cheese, pg. 198~201, http://www.nethelper.com.au/article/Munster_%28cheese%29
6
At the Table of the Monks: Cheese, Of Course (Part V)
http://gherkinstomatoes.com/2009/05/22/at-the-table-of-the-monks-cheese-of-course-part-v/
7
Lee, Bruce, The Legacy of the Monks, http://www.oldcook.com/en/history-monks_legacy#fro
3
4. The hard cheese I have made is similar in style to Abondance Abbey Cheese and is
8
My Monastic cheese inside after cutting (above right), (below) beautiful rind after 7 ½
months of aging.
representative of a simple hard monastic cheese that might have been produced in France
through the 16th centuries. Monastic houses adapted local resources to make their
communities self sufficient. Therefore with this in mind I adapted the local resources
found here to create a simple type of hard cheese that might have been produced in
period. My cheese reflects the flavors found in the pastures of Indiana and the
environment of my home.
Below you will read about the rule of Saint Benedict who lived in the 6th Century. Many
monastic orders followed these simple rules and beliefs. In particular since my persona is
an 11th Century Cistercian Nun I wanted to try to recreate a cheese that my persona might
have made.
8
Gourmet Food, Abondance cheese, http://www.gourmet-food.com/french-cheese/abondance-
cheese-100475.aspx
4
5. Sabina Flanagan wrote “at the monastery of Cluny, according to an eleventh-century
account, the regime for summer would consist of two meals per day. At the first there
would be a dish of dried beans, a course of cheese or eggs which was replaced by fish on
Thursday, Sunday, and feast days….”9 St. Hildegard of Bingen, wrote as well in Physica
specifically that “If one wishes to eat cheese, it should be neither cooked nor fresh, but
dried….”10 Here the description of DRIED Cheese and not soft or cooked is possibly
referencing hard slicing cheese or a grading style of cheese. St. Hildegard had many
visions that she had recorded in some of these visions she used common everyday things
as metaphors to relate information to the reader. In one vision she records the following,
“….I also saw the earth with people on it. The people were carrying milk in their
vessels, and they were making cheese from the milk. Some of the milk was thick,
from which strong cheese was being made; some of the milk was thin, from which
mild cheese was being curdled; and some of the milk was spoiling, from which bitter
cheese was being produced.”11
There are currently modern examples of Cistercian communities carrying on the cheese
making traditions to support themselves now just as they would have in the Middle Ages.
On April 29, 1987, Mount Saint Mary's Abbey in Wrentham, Massachusetts was founded
by Cistercian nuns. “They purchased a cheese farm with all of its dated cheese-making
machinery still intact on the property. Trappist emphasizes self-sufficiency and manual
labor. Therefore the idea of a small monastery producing and selling cheese to support
itself appealed greatly to the Sisters.”12
Cistercian & Benedictine monastic houses had extensive networks of communication &
trading. In German a hard cheese is called Hartkäse; a semi-hard cheese is called
Schnittkäse. Chesses ranging from soft fresh cheeses to hard cheese were common fair in
German monasteries. Common types of cheese found were French Brie, Dutch Edam,
German Limburger, and Italian Parmesan, almond milk was also turn into a cheese called
almond cheese as a substitute for milk based cheeses during Lent.13 What I want to show
here is that there also existed an extensive trading net work between monasteries. The
Cistercians were well known for their extensive net work of trading that extended from
Wales to Germany. This would not only allow for other types of cheese to be part of
their monastic diet it allowed the knowledge on how to make these cheese’s to be
exchanged as well.
9
Flanagan, Sabina, Hildegard of Bingen, 1098-1179: a visionary life, Routledge, New York, 1989, Chpt.
“World & Cloister”, pg.33-36
10
Throop, Priscills, Hildegard von Bingen’s - Physica, Healing Arts Press, 1998, pg.15, pg.19
11
Classen, Constance, The Color of Angels: Cosmology, Gender, and the Aesthetic Imagination, Rutledge,
1998, pg.15
12
Our Lady of the Angels Monastery. 2002. 24 Mar. 2009 <http://olamonastery.org
13
Adamson, Melitta Weiss, Food in Medieval Times, Greenwood Press, 2004, pg46
5
6. Fig 3: Dairymen and Cheese Sellers (Mid 13th C., San Marco, Venice)14
There are 73 chapters in the “Rules of St. Benedict”15 I used the list below from “At the
Table of the Monks”, because it was the most concise list for the purpose of informing
you how it applied to monastic houses, their everyday lives, and cheese making.
“Cheeses of every type fit into the simple monastic life of the orders that followed the
rules set forth by St. Benedict. The rules that favored the production and preservation of
making cheese were these.”16
In order to be “real monks” (these rules were also adopted by orders that contained
Sisters, and Nuns), Benedictines must live from the work of their own hands.
They must not eat meat: milk products and cheese must constitute the bases of their
food, as powerful bearers of the values of simplicity and humility.
Finally, their community must be self-sufficient (economically speaking).17 Other
Orders that also followed these rules were the “Cistercians an order founded in France
(this is the Order that my persona portrays), the Trappist, Dominicans, and the
Franciscans to name a few of the major ones.”18
14
At the Table of the Monks: Cheese, Of Course (Part V)
http://gherkinstomatoes.com/2009/05/22/at-the-table-of-the-monks-cheese-of-course-part-v/
15
Rule of Saint Benedict, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_Saint_Benedict
16
At the Table of the Monks: Cheese, Of Course (Part V),
http://gherkinstomatoes.com/2009/05/22/at-the-table-of-the-monks-cheese-of-course-part-v/
17
“Cheese Maker Monks”, http://www.french-cheese.com/Cheesemaker-Monks
18
“Cheese Maker Monks”, http://www.french-cheese.com/Cheesemaker-Monks
6
7. The milk was collected twice a day (morning & evening) at the milking house to be
processed (fig.4 & 5). In period they would have left the skimmed milk to warm over
night by the fire near the hearth. A milk starter often cream (see Ref.#1) from the next
mornings milking19 (a bacterial agent some times referred to as a live culture) was added
that acted as an agent to help back down the proteins in the milk so that the milk solids
out separate out (the curds) . One other method in period for the source of a starter was to
save a small amount of milk from a previous batch of cheese before the rennet (or agent
was added to cause the curd to separate from the whey). Then something was added like
thistle, safflower juice, or an acid (vinegar or verjuice), ale, or rennet20 to cause the milk
to clabbered (the curd to separate from the whey).21
The milk purchased for this project was Raw Whole Milk that I low temperature
pasteurized for modern safety reasons (The raw whole milk that I used was low
temperature pasteurized by me, then processed into the cheese see details below). The
Raw milk came from free range Short Horn Milking Cows, and Belted Galloway which
was breeds known in the middle ages.
Medieval Method of making cheese:
Reference 1:
“My Lady of Middlesex makes excellent slipp-coat Cheese of good morning milk,
putting Cream to it. A quart of Cream is the proportion she useth to as much milk,
as both together make a large round Cheese of the bigness of an ordinary Tart-plate, or
cheese-plate; as big as an ordinary soft cheese, that eh Market women sell for ten
pence…”22
Reference 2:
(making a pressed cheese)
(England, 17th century, “A True Gentlewomans 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
19
Power, Eileen, The Goodman of Paris, New York, 1992, pg.169
20
Arne Emil Christensen is Professor, Dr. Phil. at the University Museum of National Antiquities in Oslo,
author of this article (He specializes on shipbuilding history and craftsmanship in the Iron Age and the
Viking period), http://ezinearticles.com/?Dairy-Products-in-Anglo-Saxon-Times-%28Part-of-the-Anglo-
Saxon-Survival-Guide%29&id=3754387
21
Power, Eileen, The Goodman of Paris, New York, 1992, pg.169
22
The Project Gutenberg eBook “The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby”, www.gutenberg.org/files/16441, “To
make Silpp-coat cheese”
7
8. 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.23
Reference 3:
“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 place as no dust may fall
therein. This is for you 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 if 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, rose water, and stir it together. Let it settle
overnight. 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 around
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 into a colander. There put it upon your fresh cheese, and prick it with wafers, and so
serve it.”24
Reference 4:
Columella on Cheese Making:
(Both soft and pressed aged cheeses)
(Although an early source from 70 A.D. Columella was a contemporary of Pliny & Cato,
and at this point in time this was the most complete written source of instructions I have
found for making cheese both pressed & soft)
"Cheese should be made of pure milk which is as fresh as possible....It should usually be
curdled with rennet obtained from a lamb or kid, though it can also be coagulated with
the flower of the wild thistle or the seeds of the safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), and
equally well with the liquid which flows from a Fig-tree...".
"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....but should be put to stand
not far from the fire..."
"...when the liquid had thickened, it should immediately be transferred to wicker vessels
or baskets or moulds..."
23
Gode Cookery, Matterer, James L. site owner, http://www.godecookery.com/engrec/engrec77.html
24
Dawson, Thomas, The Good Housewife’s Jewel, Southover Press, 1996, pg.17~18
8
9. Fig.4 Women had charge of the domestic animals including milking, butter making, and
cheese making production. (Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 764, fol. 44)25
"...as soon as the cheese has become somewhat more solid, they place weights on the top
of it, so that the whey may be pressed out;....then they are placed into a cool, shady place,
that it my not go bad....it is often placed on very clean boards, it is sprinkled with
pounded salt so that it may exude the acid liquid,...when it has hardened it is pressed
again....".
"...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
moulds." (fig. 2)
"Others allow thyme which has been crushed and strained through a sieve to coagulate
with the milk and curdle it in this way, similarly, you can give the cheese an flavor you
like by adding any seasoning which you choose....Cheese also which is hardened in brine
and then colored with the smoke of apple tree wood or stubble has a not unpleasant
flavor..."26
Supplies:
Modern stainless steel was used to keep the surfaces as clean as possible, for
modern health reasons.
25
Hanawalt, Barbara, A., The Ties That Bound – Peasant Families in Medieval England, Oxford Univ.
Press, Chapter 8 “The Husbandman’s Year and Economic Ventures:, pg.148
26
Columella II de re Rustica V-IX, Translated by E.S. Forster & E. Heffner, Book VII, pg.285~289
9
10. 2 gallons Whole Raw Milk
1 pkg. Mesophilic Culture Direct Set
1/2 tsp. Rennet
¼ cup cool water
1 Tbl. Sea Salt
2 Stainless Steel Pots
1 Slotted Stainless Steel Spoon
1 yard of cheese cloth
1 Colander
1 Stainless Steel Ladle
1 Thermometer
1 Cheese Press
1 Cheese Mold & Follower
1 timer
1 large plastic cake container (Tupperware style)
2 Reed Mats to place the cheese on
Lard enough to coat the outside of the cheese round
To Make A Basic Hard Monastic Cheese:
(Method used in “Cheese making Made Easy” by Ricki & Robert Carroll)27
The flavor of this cheese tends to be a little shaper & dryer
There is an Italian proverb that says “Cheese without a rind is like a maiden without
shame” 28 that certainly speaks to the fact that hard cheeses were being made (a cheese
having a rind is most often used in context of a hard aged cheese). There are also a
number of medieval recipes that call for sliced or graded cheese as part of the cooking
preparation please reference Item #1 “To make a Tarte of Chese”. The cheese I have
made is a pressed cheese having a rind, and sealed.
Modern Method:
2-gallon whole raw milk
(Raw Milk or non-homogenized milk will give you a richer cheese)
There is an additional step here for me since I used Raw Milk. I needed to heat
the milk for 30 min. to a temperature of 145°, then place the pot immediately into
a sink filled with cool water and ice if necessary to bring the temp of the milk
down quickly, then after cooled place sterile clean container and proceed, with
cheese making steps below.
1 package of Mesophilic Culture DS (this is used for temperatures under 105º)
1/2 tsp. of Rennet for 2 gallons of milk
1/4 cup of cool water to dilute the rennet into
1 Tbl. Coarse Sea Salt
27
Carroll, Ricki & Robert, “Cheese Making Made Easy”, Storey Books, 1996, Chapter on “Hard Cheese”
pages
28
After Cheese Comes Nothing, http://aftercheese.wordpress.com/2008/09/20/blessed-hildegard-and-the-
profiling-of-cheese, 9/20/2008
10
11. Step One:
Place milk into large pan (fig. 6). Warm milk until it has risen to a temperature of milk to
90° F. (Use the in-direct warming method using a large metal pan in a sink of warm
water, or inside of a second larger pot).
Add the package of Mesophilic Starter DS and allow to sit for 45~60 minutes to ripen.
Add Rennet (diluted to 1/4 cup of cool water) and stir for several minuets. Let milk sit
covered for 1 hour or until a curd has formed and a clean break can be preformed (the
curd should have what is called a clean break, which is if a clean knife is put into the curd
the curd should separate cleanly).
Cut the curds into ½ inch cubes, and then let sit for 5 minutes. Bring the temperature of
the curds and whey up to 100º F, raising the temperature no more than 2 degrees every 5
minutes stirring gently for 1 hour to keep the curds from matting. Then allow sitting for
5 minutes. Remove excess whey to the level of the curds which will have a shrunken
appearance.
Pour the curds into a cheesecloth-lined colander (fig. 9) while still warm (fig.6, 8) and
hang to drain for 60 minutes or until bag has stopped dripping.
Place the warm curds & cheese cloth into the cheese mold place the follower (fig.2) Place
the cheese mold and follower into the cheese press and apply 15 pounds of pressure for
15 minutes. After 15 minutes remove weight & follower and turn the round of cheese,
replace the follower and return to cheese press for additional 15 minutes. Turn every 15
minutes for the next 2 hours. After 2 hours increase weight to 30 pounds and turn every
½ hour for the next hour. Then replace into press and leave in press for 12 hours or over
night.29
Remove cheese round and place on reed mat. Turn once a day for the next 2~4 days until
a nice rind has developed and the surface remains dry. After 2~4 days rub the outside of
the cheese all rounds with sea salt. Place in your cheese cave (fig. 7) at 55ºF degrees
turning once a day for the next 3 weeks then once a week there after. After 3 weeks seal
the out side of the cheese round, I choose to use lard but olive oil or wax was also used.
Sealing the cheese will keep it form drying out and loosing too much moisture, and it also
keeps out unwanted molds.
This basic hard cheese will be ready to eat in 3 to 6 months, but the flavor will develop if
left to age longer.
Observations:
29
Carroll, Ricki & Robert, Cheese making made Easy, United States: Capital City Press, 1996, page 36~37
11
12. Follower
My mold, lined with
cheese cloth and
folded over the curds
Day 1: (October 10, 2010) I split the cooked curds into two
batches to make two smaller rounds for research purposes (see additional observations).
Cheese placed into the cheese mold and then pressed.
Basic round of hard cheese is made.
Day 2-3:
Cheese is air dried to start the formation of the rind (this is where I use the large
plastic Tupperware Cake cover to keep my cats away from the cheese while it is sitting
on the counter).
Air drying
process
rind
forming
Basic round of cheese after day two of the Air Drying Process, note that the darker area is
where the rind is starting to form.
Day 4 though the end of week 3:
Cheese rind gets darker and firmer.
End of Week Three:
Cheese is sealed with lard and turned once a week.
12
13. Air drying complete
Lard has been
applied to seal the
cheese.
Round sealed with the Lard.
January 2011:
Additional Lard was added and minor mold removed.
February 2011:
Cheese turned no additional Lard was needed.
March 2011:
Cheesed turned no additional Lard was needed.
April 16, 2011:
Cheese cut and sampled Aged 6 months at Constellation Regional A&S.
Tasting Note: The rind was well formed and not overly thick. I found the cheese to be
not overly dry with a pleasant flavor. I think that in future I may need to see how to
control the ph a little better to me the cheese seems to have a tangy under flavor though
not unpleasant certainly is something for me to strive to lessen if possible. I think I
would prefer not to use lard again but olive oil or bee’s wax to see how it affects the
flavor of the cheese. I found that as the cheese warmed to room temperature the lard was
not pleasant to handle or mess with. Although it did do its job on sealing a protecting the
cheese, I am also certain that in period they would have likely wiped the excess off of the
exterior of the cheese before serving.
Additional Observations:
“Take harde chese and cut it in slices…”30
I wanted to see what the texture and taste of a Basic Hard Cheese would be if I did not
seal it. So I made second round at the same time and this one I did not seal the outside of
the cheese but I did rub the outside to prevent unwanted mold growth. I tried the cheese
once a month for next 5 months.
With out sealing the cheese developed a nice tart flavor, with a dry crumbly texture. So
sealing the out side of a hard cheese is necessary to prevent it from loosing too much of
the remaining moisture content.
30
A Boke of Gode Cooke, To make a Tarte of Chese, http://www.godecookery.com/trscript/trsct032.html
13
14. Lovely white
mold that helps
develop the
flavor of cheese.
This is how the unsealed cheese looked after 5 months; it did develop a very nice white
mold which is one of the molds cheese makers want.
Conclusion:
This is a process I have been learning about for the last 4 years, I started Medieval
Cheese Forum a year ago (www.medievalcheese.blogspot.com) so I could keep track of
mistakes and successes, share information I have learned about cheese making also.
Some of the things I learned were if my house is too cold the curd will not set. I can
warm the milk and add more Rennet, and that if using a raw milk product that is
produced near the end of the cows or goat’s lactation cycle the milk does not contain
enough milk fat to set a curd (you get a weak or soft curd that does not hold up during the
cheese making process for hard cheese). I have also learned that time is much more
critical for making hard cheeses, and the process of making hard cheeses is not nearly as
forgiving as making soft cheeses.
On adding rennet I learned early on that a little goes a long way and adding two much of
something in the case of making cheese can be a bad thing. Adding not enough rennet
and your curd will not set, but I have found that you can add a little more if necessary.
Adding to much rennet will give it a rubbery texture and a bitter under taste. This also
will happen if your rennet is too old.
This last statement is important because it explains a couple of written statements I found
in period sources that talked about the time of year and the quality of the cheese products
produced. For example in the spring and early summer the milk is rich and contains a
large of amount of protein and milk fat due to new pastures and lactation for their young,
so the cheese is going to be very rich in body and flavor. If the milk is in the fall then it
is not as rich due to the decline of pasture feeding and that they are no longer lactating, so
the cheese produced in the fall will take more milk to produce a pound of cheese due to a
lower amount of protein and fat making the milk thinner (the cream that comes to the top
is not as thick as in the spring/ summer milk). What the animals eat also effect the flavor
of the cheese as well.
Part of the preservation of hard cheese comes in how moisture can I get the curds to give
up without taking out too much and making a very dry cheese (i.e. how much whey can I
get out of the curd). This is done in several ways thru the process, by hanging, pressing,
and salting. Cheeses pressed and aged in this manner can and do last years.
14
15. Another lesson that applies as much now as then is keeping things clean, “morning milk
in fair cleansing pans in such place as no dust may fall therein”31. There are times when
no matter what you do the milk will not set a curd and all you can do is start over and
feed the previous batch to the pig.
Enjoy sampling the cheese.
Please reference Illumination in Fig. 2, look on the left hand side, and notice the wooden
form that the bundle of cheese is being pressed in and the container below to catch the
whey. Above are two images taken from a modern video showing traditional cheese
making. The form and methods have not changed since the 14th century.
31
Dawson, Thomas, The Good Housewife’s Jewel, Southover Press, 1996, pg.17~18
32
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4LNS7F_-DM&feature=related
587 Gyimesközéplok Traditional cheese-making, Sajtkészítés
15
16. 33
fig. 5
Item #1:
To make a Tarte of Chese
“Take harde chese and cut it in slyces / and pare it / than laye it in fayre water or in
swete milke the space of thre houres / than take it vp and breake it in a morter tyll it
be small / than draw it vp thorow a strainer with the yelkes of vi egges and ceason it
vp with suger and swete butter / and so bake it.”
To make a Tart of Cheese.
“Take hard cheese and cut it in slices / and pare it / then lay it in fair water or in
sweet milk the space of three hours / then take it up and break it in a mortar till it
be small / then draw it up through a strainer with the yolks of 6 eggs and season it
up with sugar and sweet butter / and so bake it.”34
33
Norman Cheeses, www.formages.org/fnd/fdn_neufcatel_en
34
A Boke of Gode Cooke, To make a Tarte of Chese, http://www.godecookery.com/trscript/trsct032.html
16
17. 35
fig. 6 Warming the milk
Warming
milk
Slotted
ladle &
strainer
35
From Tacuinum Sanitatis (ÖNB Codex Vindobonensis, series nova 2644), c. 1370-1400)
http://www.godecookery.com/afeast/foods/foods.html
17
18. 36
Fig.7: A cheese cave as one might have seen it in the middle ages
36
Feibleman, Peter, The Cooking of Spain & Portugal, Time Life Books, 1969, pg. 130~131
18
19. 37
Fig. 8 Draining Whey
38
Fig. 9 Roman Cheese Mold in form and function very similar to those found from 600
– 1600A.D.
All other photos unless otherwise noted were taken by me
37
Take 1000 Eggs or More, pg. 45, from Schweizer Chronik, c. 1548
38
Roman Cheese Press, Greyware circular straight-sided bowl, used for training the Whey from cheese, c.
450 A.D., http://www.museumoflondonprints.com
19