Cheeses come in many complex and unique varieties — and the English knew it as far back as the 1580s .
Anew transcriptionof the oldest known English book about cheese — titledA pamflyt compiled of Cheese , contayninge the difference , nature , quality , and goodnes , of the same — reveal a host of insights and trace for the tall mallow lovers of the late 16th century . While the 112 - Sir Frederick Handley Page manuscript was never publish and its author stay unknown , it was jimmy by its premature possessor , let in members of parliament and a imperial physician . understandably , cheese was rightfully venerated even 445 days ago .
“ I ’ve never seen anything like it : it ’s likely the first comprehensive academic subject field of a unmarried foodstuff to be indite in the English spoken language , ” author and food for thought historiographer Peter Brears say in a University of Leedsstatement . The University of Leeds acquired the vellum - bound holograph at auction in 2023 , before its value was widely know . “ The Pamflyt testify that cheese of unlike kinds were being considered , and also studied from a dietary decimal point of persuasion . ”
The introductory page of the cheese book.© University of Leeds Cultural Collections
For object lesson , one incision explain that Milk River from camel , donkeys , and horses are worthy for make cheese , but cheese from dog ’s milk will make a meaning woman give birth early on . It also define that the author is not aware of anyone who uses women ’s milk to make cheese . And while “ dairy intolerance ” was credibly an unfamiliar term in the sixteenth century , the text present that people were nevertheless familiar with the idea that tall mallow did n’t sit well with certain mortal , explained Alex Bamji , associate professor of other modern history at the University of Leeds .
One transition reads :
He that will judge whether cheese be a convenyent foode for him , must consider the nature of the body , and the temperamente of the high mallow and both moot he shalbe hable to approximate whether he is like to take harme be cheese or not .
Other parts include the hint to use fish gumption to curdle Milk River , and a technique to make hard cheese that ’s still used today . Scholars even identified the names of three of the book ’s owner : a physician to Queen Elizabeth I , a extremity of sevens who mention that he require the book returned after it had been ‘ perused , ’ and a extremity of another parliamentary class .
As for the source , “ there are a number of names in the track , ” Brears admitted . “ I look forward to somebody undertaking a Ph.D. on it , because there are clues to its author that requirement study in astuteness : hand stylus ; grounds of regional idiom ; which modernistic localization are actually being refer to … There ’s so much more to be learnt from this manuscript . ”
It ’s good to say this 16th - century manuscript is genuinely a grating piece of dairy history .
BooksEnglandFood
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , skill , and culture intelligence in your inbox daily .
News from the future , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
