[Sca-cooks] What's the right cheese for an interrogation?
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
JIMCHEVAL at aol.com
Tue Jul 2 07:43:52 PDT 2013
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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