Roman Era Cheese:

[fied]

Here is some info. on vegetable coagulants:

http://www.artisancheesemakingathome.com/creatingcheese-morecheeses.html

[mightyjesse]

Yet more whey expressed both in the press yesterday and during the drying phase over night. A couple of tsp, each phase. Cheese was finally dry to the touch this morning and starting to feel like a real cheese instead of wibbley curd. It's back in the press again under 8 lbs.

[Crystal]

Can i just jump in here and clarify one point?? Thanks!! lol

the word 'Cattle' origionally was used to describe any livestock that was kept for human purposes such as milk, meat, skins etc... ANY herd of animals was cattle, so, your dude could be describing either cows, sheep, goats, or even alpaccas (?sp).

Romans rarely had access to cows milk, as they didnt drink milk, and would generally have used fig sap as 'rennet' because they didnt often eat the animals they kept either, so animal rennet was rarely used.

Sorry, i have been independently researching the very subject of Ancient Roman food for weeks now! Fancy coming accross this post eh?

[Crystal]

This is a very cool experiment, cant wait to see how it goes. I do have an endless supply of fig sap, i just climbed out of the fig tree actually, so i will be trying a cheese with it this week, oh, its thursday already, ok next week! I will check back here often to see how your going.

[linuxboy]

and would generally have used fig sap as 'rennet' because they didnt often eat the animals they kept either, so animal rennet was rarely used.

Curious what primary sources you're using . IMHO, depends where you were. In the country side, in established villas, raising and eating sheep and goats was very common (based on archeological studies). Rennet paste making traditions go back to many years before Christ. Fig was more useful as a quick substitute I think. More for remote areas or in mobile situations.

[Crystal]

Of course, LB, its geographically and socially specific. Wealthier romans ate plenty of meat, my research was on mainly lower classes. And it could always be wrong, my latin is brilliant and im only reading what others have wrote... Until i get to Italy and start doing my own archeological research it'll have to do i guess.

[linuxboy]

I think it's pretty true, IMHO. For example, the old farmstead predecessor to the pecorinos is cacio fiore, often coagulated with fig or cardoon.

[Corina]

How interesting what you are doing.

[fied]

"the word 'Cattle' origionally was used to describe any livestock that was kept for human purposes such as milk, meat, skins etc."

That's true, which is why we don't know what Columella was referring to. It might help to know where he was farming, Italy or Spain, and the region, because that could help pinpoint exactly what his "cattle" were. The other difficulty is that ancient sheep and goats were often not as clearly differentiated as they are now. Breeding schedules have had 2000 years to develop and change the animals since then.

[mightyjesse]

Columella was born in southern Spain and was in Syria for most of his military career... I haven't yet worked out where he was farming... Jews used the fig rennet to make kosher cheese, while many other religions didn't care... Also, I'm betting (based on the number of deaths during lambing season my friends witness for one flock) that even if they weren't eating a lot of lamb, they still had access to plenty of rennet supply even if they weren't intentionally slaughtering unweaned cattle for food.

[Corina]

In  the Republican times, when the roman economy was restricted to the present italian teritory, before the great conquerings, the cattle grown by romans- usage preluated from the greecs that where in the south of Italy- where small ones, for the reason that there where easy to grow, without fuss and where used for meat also.
Even in the writings of those times, refering to the ratio of soldiers, the meat used was that of small animals.
From this point a Roman cheese that was made by the small agriculturer can only be made of goat or sheep milk.
More than that, even in the wars for conquering Italy it was mentioned that the samniti people where sheperders growing sheep and goats.
Cows where used mostly as working force.

It has to be studied the exact data when the figs where brought on Mediteranean shores, from Asia.
However, it must be taken in account that roman agriculture has developed once there was acces to the agricultural treaties with Cartagina, for Cartagina was the colony of Tyr, that was on the shores of Asia Minor, -the native place of figs- and that in the north of Africa the PUNS grew sheep and goats, and it is only logical that roman cheese using fig sap as coagulant to be made of sheep or goat milk, not cow.

[fied]

"I haven't yet worked out where he was farming."

Often veterans were given a piece of farm land when they retired, or they returned to their ancestral holdings. The "De Natura" type writings were more likely to be written on retiring, is my guess. I'd also guess that Columella returned to Spain, or, perhaps, Italy, and then farmed. The infuriating thing is that we just don't know!

[JeffHamm]

Any news on this one?  How did it turn out?  Have you eaten it yet? 

- Jeff

[mightyjesse]

Yes. That one was smoked and et, being as I identified some problems in the make. It was incredibly salty.... I have made it again, this time including lipase and increasing batch size to three gallons so as to increase the ratio of paste to surface area - therefore reducing salted area to paste ratio. Also being as he indicates that this cheese is to be shipped, I believe it is a grana style cheese and meant to be aged at least 6 months... if not a year...

ed - spelling and clarification

[JeffHamm]

Thanks!  A cheese for your adventures.

- Jeff