SC - coloring cheese?

[Philip & Susan Troy]

ND Wederstrandt wrote:
> 
> I didn't think so either... I mean I knew they colored cheese but didn't
> know everything they used... when I pulled the sope recipe this morning
> from Good Huswife's Jewel(1596) I saw the note on a different page stuck in
> the middle of how to preserve apples and what makes a good pig.  It makes
> sense since vast quantities of saffron were grown around Saffron-on-Waldon
> (hence the name)  I make soft cheese so next time I make some I'm going to
> try it.  I haven't tried marigolds either but will try a batch with that as
> coloring. Does anyone else know what coloring agents were used?
> 
> Clare St. John

Well, various green leaves, primarily sage and parsley, are known to
have added both flavor and color to soft cheeses eaten fairly fresh.
This may have arisen as a side effect of using herbs to curdle the milk
(sage and nettle tops seem to be the standard).  Markham (Again! Oy!
[Slaps forehead]) calls for saffron to be added to the peculiar mixture
he says should be used to "run" your milk into curds. Another thing to
consider is that for aged cheeses, they tend to become fairly
yellowish-brown as they become drier, with the ratio of fat to total
mass becoming higher.

Just a side note on the whole Saffron Waldon issue. I remember reading
somewhere that the idea of growing saffron crocuses in the area was
something of a failed experiment. It was evidently done for a time, but
there is some question as to how much impact the practice had on the
trade in a spice that remained consistently one of the more expensive
ones. One possibility has to do with fluctuating weather across Europe,
and another has to do with the cost of labor required to turn crocuses
into saffron.

That, of course, has little to do with the point you were making... .

Adamantius