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

[James Prescott]

Interesting.  I would want to investigate more closely two things.

First, while one of the texts seems to indicate a weight of 9 denarii, 
that seems anomalous to me, and the other text seems to indicate a value 
for the cheese of 9 denarii, which makes more sense to me.

Second, "May cheese" may not indicate simply a spring cheese.  Compare, 
for example, some of the definitions / recipes for "May butter".  A "May 
cheese" might be much more *exciting* than simply an ordinary spring cheese.

Having to keep down 9 denarii worth of "May cheese" from sheep's milk, 
along with the bread, might be much more of a challenge than appears at 
first reading.

There might be something exciting about the bread too, but I know little 
about breads.  So perhaps three things to investigate.


Thorvald / James


On 2013-07-02 08:43, JIMCHEVAL at aol.com wrote:
> 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
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