1. Ale Cheese
Cheese rounds air
drying & aging in
shelf’s, pressing by
hand, and draining
whey.
Fig.1: Cheese manufacture, 1390-1400, Illustration from "Tacuinum Sanitatis",
illuminated medical manual based on texts translated from Arabic into Latin, in the
collection of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. 1
1
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, http://images.imagestate.com/Watermark/1276116.jpg
1

2. Making an Ale Cheese in Period
Some types of cheese were named for the area that they were being made such as Gouda
(in Holland); or the religious orders that made the cheese. An example of this was
documented in 1543 in the ledgers of Saint-Aman Abby of Rouen, where the cheese
called Neufchatel2 was recorded in the book “A Proper newe Booke of Cokerye.”
Another example would be a variety of cheeses called Trappist after the order of Trappist
monks who made them. There are also verities of cheeses that were made in a certain
town or region.
This cheese is based on a recipe that called for Ale to be used to set the curd c.1430~1450
A.D. The version I cited was from “Take a Thousand Eggs or More”, but can also be
found in “Two Fifteenth Century Cook Books”.
Fig 2: Dairymen and Cheese Sellers (Mid 13th C., San Marco, Venice)3
The milk was collected twice a day (morning & evening) at the milking house to be
processed (fig.3 & 5). In period they would have left the skimmed milk to warm over
night by the fire near the hearth. A milk starter often cream (see Ref. 3) from the next
2
Norman Cheeses, www.formages.org/fnd/fdn_neufcatel_en
3
At the Table of the Monks: Cheese, Of Course (Part V)
http://gherkinstomatoes.com/2009/05/22/at-the-table-of-the-monks-cheese-of-course-part-v/
2

3. mornings milking4 (a bacterial agent some times referred to as a live culture) was added
that acted as an agent to help back down the proteins in the milk so that the milk solids
out separate out (the curds) . Another method used in period for the source of a starter
was to save a small amount of milk from a previous batch of cheese before the rennet (or
agent was added to cause the curd to separate from the whey). Then something was added
like thistle, safflower juice, or an acid (vinegar or verjuice), ale, or rennet5 to cause the
milk to clabbered (the curd to separate from the whey).6
The milk purchased for this project was Raw Whole Cows Milk that I low temperature
pasteurized for modern safety reasons (The raw whole milk that I used was low
temperature pasteurized by me, then processed into the cheese see details below). The
Raw milk came from free range Short Horn Milking Cows, and Belted Galloway which
was breeds known in the middle ages.
Medieval Method of making cheese:
Reference 1:
“Take a gallon of milk from the cow, and seethe it, and when it doth seethe put thereunto
a quart or two of morning milk in fair cleansing pans in such place as no dust may fall
therein. This is for you clotted cream. The next morning take a quart of morning milk,
and seethe it, and put in a quart of cream thereunto, and when it doth seethe, take if off
the fire. Put it in a fair earthen pan, and let it stand until it be somewhat blood warm. But
first over night put a good quantity of ginger, rose water, and stir it together. Let it settle
overnight.”
“The next day put it into your said blood warm milk to make your cheese come. Then
put the curds in a fair cloth, with a little good rose water, fine powder of ginger, and a
little sugar. So lash great soft rolls together with a thread and crush out the whey with
your clotted cream. Mix it with fine powder of ginger, and sugar and so sprinkle it with
rose water, and put your cheese in a fair dish. And put these clots around about it. Then
take a pint of raw milk or cream and put it in a pot, and all to shake it until it be gathered
into a froth like snow. And ever as it cometh, take it off with a spoon and put into a
colander. There put it upon your fresh cheese, and prick it with wafers, and so serve it.”7
4
Power, Eileen, The Goodman of Paris, New York, 1992, pg.169
5
Arne Emil Christensen is Professor, Dr. Phil. at the University Museum of National Antiquities in Oslo,
author of this article (He specializes on shipbuilding history and craftsmanship in the Iron Age and the
Viking period), http://ezinearticles.com/?Dairy-Products-in-Anglo-Saxon-Times-%28Part-of-the-Anglo-
Saxon-Survival-Guide%29&id=3754387
6
Power, Eileen, The Goodman of Paris, New York, 1992, pg.169
7
Dawson, Thomas, The Good Housewife’s Jewel, Southover Press, 1996, pg.17~18
3

4. Fig.3 Women had charge of the domestic animals including milking, butter making, and
cheese making production. (Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 764, fol. 44)8
Reference 2:
I was reluctant to include this but since there so little in print on how to make cheese that
includes the pressing and rubbing the outside with salt I have chosen to do so. Please
keep in mind that the process described below has not changed since Columella described
this same process in the first century (see reference #4).
(England, 17th century, “A True Gentlewomans Delight”, 1653)
To make a slipcoat Cheese
“Take five quarts of new Milk from the Cow, and one quart of Water, and one spoonful
of Runnet, and stirre it together, and let it stand till it doth come, then lay your Cheese
cloth into the Vate, and let the Whey soak out of it self; when you have taken it all up, lay
a cloth on the top of it, and one pound weight for one hour, then lay two pound for one
hour more, then turn him when he hath stood two houres, lay three pound on him for an
hour more, then take him out of the Vate, and let him lie two or three houres, and then
salt him on both sides, when he is salt enough, take a clean cloth and wipe him dry, then
let him lie on a day or a night, then put Nettles under and upon him, and change them
once a day, if you find any Mouse turd wipe it off, the Cheese will come to his eating in
eight or nine dayes.”9
8
Hanawalt, Barbara, A., The Ties That Bound – Peasant Families in Medieval England, Oxford Univ.
Press, Chapter 8 “The Husbandman’s Year and Economic Ventures:, pg.148
9
Gode Cookery, Matterer, James L. site owner, http://www.godecookery.com/engrec/engrec77.html
4

5. The reference above about the cheese being ready to eat in 8 or 9 days is very close to the
process that I used for one of the versions you will sample.
Reference 3:
“My Lady of Middlesex makes excellent slipp-coat Cheese of good morning milk,
putting Cream to it. A quart of Cream is the proportion she useth to as much milk,
as both together make a large round Cheese of the bigness of an ordinary Tart-plate, or
cheese-plate; as big as an ordinary soft cheese, that eh Market women sell for ten
pence…”10
Reference 4:
Columella on Cheese Making:
(Although an early source from 70 A.D. Columella was a contemporary of Pliny & Cato,
and at this point in time this was the most complete written source of instructions I have
found for making cheese both pressed & soft)
"Cheese should be made of pure milk which is as fresh as possible....It should usually be
curdled with rennet obtained from a lamb or kid, though it can also be coagulated with
the flower of the wild thistle or the seeds of the safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), and
equally well with the liquid which flows from a Fig-tree...".
"A pail when it has been filled with milk should always be kept at some degree of heat: it
should not however be brought into contact with the flames....but should be put to stand
not far from the fire..."
"...when the liquid had thickened, it should immediately be transferred to wicker vessels
or baskets or moulds..."
"...as soon as the cheese has become somewhat more solid, they place weights on the top
of it, so that the whey may be pressed out;....then they are placed into a cool, shady place,
that it my not go bad....it is often placed on very clean boards, it is sprinkled with
pounded salt so that it may exude the acid liquid,...when it has hardened it is pressed
again..."
"...the method of making what we call "hand pressed" cheese is the best-known of all:
when the milk is slightly congealed in the pail and still warm it is broken up and hot
water is poured over it, and then it is either shaped by hand or else pressed into box-wood
moulds." (fig. 1)
"Others allow thyme which has been crushed and strained through a sieve to coagulate
with the milk and curdle it in this way, similarly, you can give the cheese an flavor you
like by adding any seasoning which you choose....Cheese also which is hardened in
brine and then colored with the smoke of apple tree wood or stubble has a not unpleasant
flavor..."11
Period Recipe for Ale Cheese:
10
The Project Gutenberg eBook “The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby”, www.gutenberg.org/files/16441, “To
make Silpp-coat cheese”
11
E.S. Forster & E. Heffner (Translated by), Columella II de re Rustica V-IX, , Book VII, pg.285~289
5

6. (I also have this book in hard copy at home)
Harleian MS. 279 - Potage Dyvers
COOKERY BOOK. I. HARLEIAN MS. 279. POTAGE DYVERS. 15
.1. A potage on fysshday. — Take an Make a styf Poshote of Milke an
Ale; Jjan take & draw J^e croddys J^orw a straynoure wyth^ whyte Swete
Wyne, or ellys Rochelle Wyne, & make it sum-what rennyng an sum-what
stondyng, & put Sugre a gode quantyte ]7er-to, or hony, but nowt to moche ;
J^an hete it a lytil, & serue it forth al a-brode in Ipe dysshys ; an straw on
Canel, & Gyngere, and jif [l^ou] haue Blank powder, straw on and kepe it
a[s] whyte as yt may be, & jjan serue f [orth]. 12
Harleian MS. 279 - Potage Dyvers
13
Supplies:
12
Two Fifteenth-century cookery books, Haleian ms. 279 (ab. 1430),
Internet Archive,COOKERY BOOK.I.HARLEIAN MS.279. POTAGE DYVERS.15
http://www.archive.org/stream/twofifteenthcent00aust/twofifteenthcent00aust_djvu.txt
13
Renfrow, Cindy, Take a Thousand Eggs or More, Vol. 1, 1998, United States, pg.40~41
6

7. 2 gallons Raw Whole Cows Milk
(Raw Milk or non-homogenized milk will give you a richer cheese)
There is an additional step here for me since I used Raw Milk. I needed to heat
the milk for 30 min. to a temperature of 145°, then place the pot immediately into
a sink filled with cool water and ice if necessary to bring the temp of the milk
down quickly, then after cooled place sterile clean container and proceed, with
cheese making steps below.)
1 pkg. Mesophilic Culture Direct Set
1 tsp. Rennet
32 oz. (or two bottles) A good Ale (Ale made by *Brewed by Malcolm the Tall*)
For the Hard Cheese Used: For the Soft Cheese Used:
*Heather Ale * *Saxon Brown Ale*
Peat Smoked Barley Malted Amber Roast Barley Malt
Honey Wheat Malt
Wheat Malt Rye Malt
Malted Oats Sweetgale (Myrica gale L.)
Flaked Oats Juniper (Juniperus Communis)
Sweetgale (Myrica gale L.) Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Heather
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
8 oz. of mead (or sweet white wine)
For this Cheese Camelot Mead was used
8 oz. of Honey
Spices (your choice)
Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum)
Ginger (Zingiber officinale)
Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans)
¼ cup cool water
1 Tablespoon Sea Salt
2 Stainless Steel Pots
1 Slotted Stainless Steel Spoon
1 yard of cheese cloth
1 Colander
1 Stainless Steel Ladle
1 Thermometer
1 Cheese Press
1 Cheese Mold & Follower
1 timer
1 large plastic cake container (Tupperware style)
2 Reed Mats to place the cheese on
Ale Cheese
7

8. (Basic cheese making instructions were in “Cheese Making Made Easy” by Ricki &
Robert Carroll, and adopted for this type of cheese)14
Modern Method:
(My version)
Modern stainless steel was used to conform to modern health and safety
guidelines.
Take raw whole milk (after low temperature pasteurized) and warm it (heat it a little),
then add the Ale, starter, and rennet. When the curds have formed cut them. Place the
curds into a fine cloth (draw them through a fine strainer), add the sea salt, and hang until
the whey has stopped dripping. Take the curds and add Honey, Sweet White Wine (or
Mead), and Spices (Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, or what spices you may have). Press
lightly and serve it forth.
I have included both pressed and non pressed forms of Ale cheese here. The softer
spredable version is similar to that described in the period recipe. I also took the basic
recipe above and adopted it into a pressed cheese that would be served at 10 days of age.
2-gallon raw whole milk
2 bottles of a good Ale (I used a Heather Ale [see note above])
8 oz. of a Sweet White Wine or Mead (I choose to use Mead)
1 package of Mesophilic Culture DS (this is used for temperatures under 105º)
½ tsp. of Rennet for 2 gallons of milk
¼ cup of cool water to dilute the rennet into
1 Tablespoon Coarse Sea Salt
4 tsp. of mixed spices
Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum)
Ginger (Zingiber officinale)
Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans)
1 cup of Honey
Day 1:
Place milk into large pan (fig. 6). Warm milk (after low temperature pasteurized) until it
has risen to a temperature of 90° F. (Use the in-direct warming method using a large
metal pan in a sink of warm water, or inside of a second larger pot).
Add the Ale, and Mesophilic Starter DS, and allow to sit for 45~60 minutes to ripen.
Next add the Rennet (diluted to 1/4 cup of cool water) and stir for several minuets. Let
milk sit covered for 1 hour or until a curd has formed and a clean break (which is if a
clean knife or finger is put into the curd the curd should separate cleanly). Cut the curds
14
Carroll, Ricki & Robert, “CheeseMaking Made Easy”, Storey Books, 1996, Chapter on “Hard Cheese”
pages ( )
8

9. into ½ inch cubes, and then let sit for 5 minutes. Ladle the warm curds into a cheesecloth-
lined colander (fig. 8) while still warm (fig.7) and hang to drain for overnight.
Day 2:
Take the curds and place into a bowl and add honey, wine, a little more ale, and spices
cover and refrigerate overnight. Good for about two weeks.
CHEESE #1 is finished at this point.
Day 3: Cheese #2
Place the curds into a cheese cloth lined mold place the follower (fig.1). Place the cheese
mold and follower into the cheese press and apply 15 pounds of pressure for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes remove weight & follower and turn the round of cheese, replace the
follower and return to cheese press for additional 15 minutes. Turn every 15 minutes for
the next 2 hours. After 2 hours increase weight to 30 pounds and turn every ½ hour for
the next hour. Then replace into press and leave in press for 12 hours or over night.15
Day 4:
Remove cheese round and place on reed mat. Turn once a day for the next 2~4 days until
a nice rind has developed and the surface remains dry. After 2~4 days rub the outside of
the cheese all round with a damp cloth of Ale & Honey (making sure not to overly wet
the surface of the cheese), and a little salt. Place in your cheese cave at 55ºF degrees
turning once a day for the next 10~14 days (repeat the previous step as needed) then once
a week there after. After 2 weeks wrap the cheese round in wax paper, sealing the cheese
will keep it form drying out and loosing too much moisture, and it also keeps out
unwanted molds.
Age Cheese #2 for 10~14 days then serve.
Observations:
In reading many period cooking recipe’s there is as much written as unwritten. I believe
that the authors of recipes in period assumed that the reader had a certain amount of basic
knowledge when it came to cooking or in this case making cheese. With that in mind I
have drawn on my experience of cheese making over the last 4 years to fill in the blanks
and reproduce this cheese in a period style.
I have been working on this cheese for about the last 1 ½ years. My early attempts
resulted in a cheese that was barely eatable due to the fact that I failed to compensate for
the salt that was being rubbed on the outside of the cheese. Through the learning process
I have found that semi-hard & hard cheeses will continue to absorb salt from the outer
layers toward the center. I also adopted other references to using wine or other sprits
15
Carroll, Ricki & Robert, Cheese making made Easy, United States: Capital City Press, 1996, page 36~37
9

10. cure to outer surface of the cheese and affect the flavor of the final cheese. So I choose to
use an honey & mead, and salt to aid in the flavor profile of this cheese.
The next item that I address was the spices used in this cheese of cinnamon, ginger, and
nutmeg. From my experience I knew that if a soft cheese is flavored it taste better if you
allow the flavors to sit for 1 to 5 days before eating. Again with this in mind I choose to
mix the spices into the cheese and allow it to sit for 24 hours before pressing so the flavor
would be better and for the soft version for at least 2 days.
The next thing I had to do with the type of wine used in this cheese. I have made this
cheese without the wine, with a semi-sweet white wine, a sweet white wine, and mead. I
had asked a local Venter in the SCA what type of white wines were period and was told a
Riesling would certainly work. Again I was looking at the flavor profile of this cheese
and considered that mead was made with honey and I wanted to enhance and complement
the honey used in the cheese. I believe the original intention of the sweet wine was to off
set the bitterness from old Ale. If you notice in the period recipe they were using the ale
to set the curd. Again I talked to local SCA brewers and the best reason could possibly
be that ale was made fairly frequently, and as ale ages it could begin to turn (like a wine
into a vinegar like base) and it is actually the higher acid content of the Ale that is setting
the curd. Also as part of this process and a certain flavor pallet in mind I also choose to
use an organic wild honey to complement the ale.
In reading the period recipe for “A Pottage on Fishday” the end product reads like you
are getting a soft spread able cheese product. Again I have made this cheese in both
forms, and the product you are seeing today is in the soft form (Cheese #1), and of a
lightly pressed semi-soft cheese round (Cheese #2) because I wanted to see if I could get
a slicing style cheese with a similar flavor profile.
Conclusion:
I have also learned that time is much more critical for making semi-hard & hard cheeses,
and the process of making these types of cheeses is not nearly as forgiving as making soft
cheeses.
Some of the things I learned were if my house is too cold the curd will not set. I can
warm the milk and add more Rennet, and that if using a raw milk product that is
produced near the end of the cows or goat’s lactation cycle the milk does not contain
enough milk fat to set a curd (you get a weak or soft curd that does not hold up during the
cheese making process for hard cheese). On adding rennet I learned early on that a little
goes a long way and adding two much of something in the case of making cheese can be
a bad thing. Adding not enough rennet and your curd will not set, but I have found that
you can add a little more if necessary. Adding to much rennet will give it a rubbery
texture and a bitter under taste. This also will happen if your rennet is too old.
This last statement is important because it explains a couple of written statements I found
in period sources that talked about the time of year and the quality of the cheese products
10

11. produced. For example in the spring and early summer the milk is rich and contains a
large of amount of protein and milk fat due to new pastures and lactation for their young,
so the cheese is going to be very rich in body and flavor. If the milk is in the fall then it
is not as rich due to the decline of pasture feeding and that they are no longer lactating, so
the cheese produced in the fall will take more milk to produce a pound of cheese due to a
lower amount of protein and fat making the milk thinner (the cream that comes to the top
is not as thick as in the spring/ summer milk). What the animals eat also effect the flavor
of the cheese as well.
Part of the preservation of any cheese comes in how moisture can I get the curds to give
up without taking out too much and making a very dry cheese (i.e. how much whey can
I get out of the curd). This is done in several ways thru the process, by hanging, pressing,
and salting. Cheeses pressed and aged in this manner can and do last years.
Another lesson that applies as much now as then is keeping things clean, “morning milk
in fair cleansing pans in such place as no dust may fall therein”16. There are times when
no matter what you can do the milk will not set and all you can do is start over and feed
the previous batch to the pig.
This is a process I have been learning about for the last 4 years, I started Medieval
Cheese Forum a year ago (www.medievalcheese.blogspot.com) so I could keep track of
mistakes and successes, share information I have learned about cheese making also.
Enjoy sampling the cheese.
Please reference Illumination in Fig.1, look on the left hand side, and notice the wooden
form that the bundle of cheese is being pressed in and the container below to catch the
whey. Above are two images taken from a modern video showing traditional cheese
making. The form and methods have not changed since the 14th century.
16
Dawson, Thomas, The Good Housewife’s Jewel, Southover Press, 1996, pg.17~18
17
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4LNS7F_-DM&feature=related
587 Gyimesközéplok Traditional cheese-making, Sajtkészítés
11

12. The cheese on the far left is one of the
early Ale cheeses
The cheese on the far right is another
Ale cheese without the spices
12

13. 18
fig. 5
18
Norman Cheeses, www.formages.org/fnd/fdn_neufcatel_en
13

14. 19
fig. 6 Warming the milk
Warming
milk
Slotted ladle &
strainer
20
Fig. 7 Draining Whey
19
From Tacuinum Sanitatis (ÖNB Codex Vindobonensis, series nova 2644), c. 1370-1400)
http://www.godecookery.com/afeast/foods/foods.html
20
Take 1000 Eggs or More, pg. 45, from Schweizer Chronik, c. 1548
14

15. 21
Fig. 8 Roman Cheese Press in form and function very
similar to those found from 600 – 1600A.D.
All other photos unless otherwise noted were taken by me.
21
Roman Cheese Press, Greyware circular straight-sided bowl, used for training the Whey from cheese, c.
450 A.D., http://www.museumoflondonprints.com
15