[Sca-cooks] historic accuracy

[Lady Celia]

Eibhlin replied to Vitha with:

  <<< Ah, but right there's the difference.  You actually did discuss in
your documentation what the proper breed would be in that time/ place, what
the composition of the milk would have been compared to what you did use,
and then you corrected your milk to make the correct ratio of milk fat to
fluid milk.  Plus, you tested with raw Jersey which allows you to compare
the seasonality/terroir of that grass fed cow's fluid milk to the bulk fluid
milk sold in supermarkets.  There's a big difference both in flavor and how
it responds to the cheesemaking process. >>>

O.K., I know that this is one of those questions which will show my
ignorance, but without admitting our ignorance, how do we learn? 

Just out of curiosity, where did you (or the person who wrote the article)
find documentation on things like the viscosity of milk, the ration of milk
fat to fluid milk and such?  I can understand how we might know the
difference in species of fruit as recordedly used in period, but how can we
be certain of characteristics such as viscosity and flavor?  Where were such
things recorded? 

Always learning, 
Celia