[Sca-cooks] Seeking leaves and crust

[Barbara Benson]

> and Columella (author of
> De Re Agricultura, not to be confused with Cato's De Agricultura)
> giving us a pretty fair amount of information. I vaguely recall
> something about sage leaves being crushed for their juice, used as a
> vegetable rennet substitute. Somewhere I have a smudgy little
> photocopy of some sections from Columella, but at the moment not even
> a prayer of getting at it.
>
> Adamantius

Greetings,

I just so happen to have one of the volumes (I am working on getting
them all) and it is the one with the cheese section. Keep in mind that
his discourse on cheese occurs during his discussion on keeping and
managing Goats - so he is not talking about cow cheese:

excerpt from De Re Rustica by Columella:
		VIII. 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 think 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, though 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 (Forster 285).

Hope this is helpful.

Glad Tidings,
Serena da Riva