[Sca-cooks] What's the right cheese for an interrogation?

[JIMCHEVAL at aol.com]

While the Romans liked certain cheeses from Gaul and Brie cheese was  
already famous in the late medieval period, "cheese" in the early medieval  
period typically is just "cheese" - no region, type, qualification, etc.
 
But here - from the Carolingian period - is one slightly more precise  
reference. This is one of a number of texts describing the curious "trial by  
bread and cheese", in which the accused was given bread (here, unleavened 
barley  bread) and cheese and considered guilty if he or she could not keep it 
down. In  this case, the cheese to be used is a "formaticus Maiensis de 
ovibus" of 9  denarii weight - that is, a May sheep's cheese.
 
_http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/goToPage/bsb00000838.html?pageNo=631&sortI
ndex=020%3A060%3A0001%3A010%3A00%3A00&sort=score&order=desc&context=formatic
um&hl=false&fulltext=formaticum_ 
(http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/goToPage/bsb00000838.html?pageNo=631&sortIndex=020:060:0001:010:00:00&sort=score&orde
r=desc&context=formaticum&hl=false&fulltext=formaticum) 
 
May cheese is mentioned in later texts like the Enseignemens - it  
essentially means spring cheese and one such cheese (very much like a soft  Gouda) 
can sometimes be found at Trader Joe's. So, if there's someone you want  to 
interrogate....
 
 
Jim  Chevallier

Comparing early and late medieval food in France
http://www.chezjim.com/food/pre-v/comparisons.html