The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-12-25

/ ~o PioSSeu lnVO Jar, but I'm
many ma families the supply is made daily at
| sne nome farm Here is one reason wbv
| outer was so little cared for In ancient
times. Ii was difficult to make. n wopId
| not keep; 1T melted in hot weather: the
Wsshing and saiting gave more trouble than
IL was worth; 1t was not easy to carry about
on journeys. Cheese, on the CONTRARY. of all
kinds, derives a flavor from age. People
Will eat cheese black in color. the reverse
OF fragrant in smell, swarming with
mites, or something worse and pronounce
1t delicacy. Who is ignorant of she
many devices to cook up a Stilton
cheese so as to assume a respectable look of
| ageE Damp cloths, damp cellars, beer drop
pings, glasses OF port wine, "inoculation',
from other cheeses. To reason about such
an article OF diet is hardly agreeable: vet
like the eating of high game or venison. il
| appears to be generally harmless-some saw
useful stimulus to digestion.
Now, we have no resson 10 suppose that
the Greeks or Romans appreciated this
highly favored commodity. We find no
term TO express our blue mould" That
cseeses were eaten fresh might be inferred
from the boast OF the Cyclops in that land
OF cheeses, Sicily, that cheese never fails
MIN either in summer or autumn or in the
depth OF winter" There was indeed word
,or cheese rlnd," but no argument for the
long Keeping of cheeses can fairly be deduced
irom 1t. Piiny, in stating that cheese is best
Kept In the leaves OF the arum lin folis ar,
caseus optime servari tradItur) seems to inn
ply that keeping it fresh was desideratum.
Pliny speaks highly of the use of butter as
food for infants, especially in teething
lnfantibus nihil butyro utilius per Sc ct
cum meile, privatim ct indentitione ct ad
gingivas ct ad Oris ulceris." He makes
rathey frqeuent mention of butyrun, but
nearly In every instance as a medical remedy.
or to be rubbed in as an ointment or salye.
Clearly, in his time, it was known to the
Romans, and used for some purposes, but
not much as an article OF food, still less as
luxury. Curd, however, (coagulum) was
so used. Ovid describes as one Ingredient of
simple banquet biquefacts coaguIa
lacte, and they also liked the thick and rich
milk that comes from a cow first after caly-
ing. They called it colostra The Saxon
WORD is boost, whence we call ii "beastings"
or blessings" PIiny says it grows hard
unless water is mixed with It. "Bos ante
partum (lac) non habet, ct primo semper
partu colostrn iupt, nj admisceatur AQUA,
In pumlcis modum coeunte duritis." SO
also in Book xviii. 123: Est autem colostra
prima partu spongea densitas lactis."
Surripult pastor quie nondum stantibus hoe
dis,
De primo matrum lacte colostra damus.
1t would seem from the context that the
Russians used beastings, though we can not
ind that they cared for cream. They liked
also sour milk (oxygala) which was made
by adding little turned milk to a quantity
of fresh. It was regarded as "good for the
chest" (utilissimum stomacbol Pliny ex-
presses his surprise that barbarous nations
who live on milk should for so many ages
have either not known or sighted the bless
ing OF cheese (casei dotem,) though they do
condense it in another way into an agree
able acid Tin jucundum acorem) or an oily
butter. This the adds, apparently meaning
the former) is froth thicker than milk, and
more sticky Qentior) than what is called
whey tserum.) He adds that itG e., butterS
contains the property of oil, and that all the
barbarians as well as Roman infants, are
smeared with it.
The process of churning butter Is thus
described in NAT Hist" xviii 133:
OF milk, butter also is made, an article of
food highly approved by barbarous nations
and the use of which distinguishes the rich
from the poor. The greatest quantity is
produced from cows milk, whence its name
Il. e., bouturon, "cow cheese" bat the
richest is made from sheep. II is also made
OF goats milk; but in winter the milk has
to be warmed, while in summer it has the
butter separated from it merely by shaking
1t for some time in pots of long shape,
with narrew aperture left TO admit the air,
but otherwise tied up close at the mouth.
A little water is added to turn it sour. The
most solid part floats at the top; this thew
take out, add salt, and call it oxygsIa The
residue is boiled down in pots (reliquam
decocunt in Oils The butter which floats
therein at the top has an oily nature, and
the nastier the TASTE the better il is thought
(quo magIs virus recip1t hoe prastantius
judicatur.) When old it is mixed with vari-
Gus preparations Its property is that of an
astringent, an emollient. satisfying food
and a pu-gative.
One may suspect that there is good deal
of error in the above account Pliny re-
garded butter a barbarous misuse of good
milk, and did not take much palms. perhaps,
to acq1alnt himself with the exact meihodss
of making it, It was considered, even in
his time, as a rather nasty thine-some hing
midway between food and drink, not so-
good or so cheap as oil for cooking, and very-
inferior 10 il as relish. We all know that
butter can be very nasty indeed, but that
cream should have renamed so lang name
less and unused, may excite urJrise And
it is the more surprising because every thing
connected with milk and cheese, making hs
such an abundant nomenclature in the clas
sical writer's