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

[Claire Clarke]

Date: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 00:28:14 -0600
From: James Prescott <prescotj at telusplanet.net>
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] What's the right cheese for an interrogation?
Message-ID: <51D3C47E.1060101 at telusplanet.net>
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<various bits snipped>
Eating at most an ounce and a half of cheese and keeping it down does 
not sound very challenging.

Unleavened bread per se is not very hard to get down, unless the type of 
bread is unusually nasty, or is in large quantity.

As a form of trial by ordeal, the description makes it seem a very mild 
test.


****************************************
Dry bread was commonly used in ordeals, so the 'dry' part may have been
omitted but nevertheless understood. However the cheese would add moisture
and therefore kind of defeat the point. 

However, in mediaeval English medicine May butter is not just butter made in
May, but butter that has been kept until it is fairly thoroughly rancid (and
usually used for external applications). Perhaps May cheese here refers to
cheese that has gone off, in which case eating it would be a pretty
unpleasant experience. The bread may have just been a carrier for the
cheese. 

Angharad