"colostrum," late Old English bysting, from beost "first milk of a cow after calving," a general West Germanic word (cognates: Old High German biost, German Biest, Middle Dutch and Dutch biest, North Frisian bjast) of unknown origin.

Species and Find sites:

butter butere

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Culinary:

cracked grain boiled and served with butter, milk or vegetables
enriched loaves could be kneaded with butter
cooked with salt beans and meal for a savoury pottage
salt meat and fish boiled in butter or milk (isotope analysis of pot sherds)
butter used for frying also
broth was enriched with milk or butter

Medical:

' then give barley bread and pure new butter to the invalid to eat' (þam mannum sceal sellan ægra to suppane, beren bread, clænr niwe buteran)
'drink a bowlful of melted butter' (drican amy; te buteran bollan fulne)
it was recommended as an antidote to wolf's bane
herbs or vegetables are to be cooked in butter sometimes with the addition of honey
'salt butter' (sealte buteran) is mentioned
cow butter (cu buteran) is specified
to treat an internal stomach injury give the patient 'eggs to sup up, barley bread, clean new butter and new barley meal or groats made into a brewit as cooks know how' (ægru to supanne beren bread clæn niwe buteran niew beren mela oððe grytta togædre gebrewid swa cocas cunnon)
(gesleah þonne in buteran lege in ele ado þonne hwon ofer fyr . . .) for an egg 'beat in butter and cook in oil over the fire'
'1 pint of butter weighs 80 pence less than a pint of water' (i pund buteran gewihð lxxx penegum læsse þonne pund wætres)
one Leechdom says 'boil in milk butter is better'

Agricultural:

Etymology

Old English butere "butter," general West Germanic, an early loan-word from Latin butyrum "butter", from Greek boutyron, perhaps literally "cow-cheese," from bous "ox, cow" + tyros "cheese;" but this might be a folk etymology of a Scythian word.

Notes:

modern milk has been homogenised which means that the fat has already been smashed to bits which is why you don't get the cream settling at the top of your pint anymore! To make butter from milk, you need milk that has it's cream intact - that way you can make cheese from what's left (see below).

Literary:

Ælfric's Colloquy (late 10th Century)

produced by the Shepherd ge cyse ge buteran ic do 'either cheese or butter I make'
the Salter says, 'Even buttercurd and cheesecurd would be lost to you without my presence . . .' (Efne, butergeþweor . . . 7 cysgerunn losaþ eow buton ic hyrde ætwese . . .)
one of the clean things eaten by the novice monk

Aethelreds laws- Customs of Billingsgate refer to smearing-mongresses who make butter and cheese (Smeremangestre, que mangonant in caseo et butiro)
of the cheesemaker in the Rectitudines Singularum Personarum it is said that 'she is to make butter for the lord's table from the whey pressed from the cheese' (þæt heo of wringwæge buteran macige to hlafordes beode)
'an amber full of butter' (amber fulne buteran) was part of the food rent from a 10 hide estate according to the 'Laws of Ine'
At Boile on the Canterbury lands, the provision of food in return for weeding service was three quarters of wheat, a ram, a pat of butter, a piece of cheese of second quality from the lord's dairy, salt, oatmeal for cooking a stew, and all the morning milk from all the cows in the dairy. [I presume this would be given to the group and not just to one man, or to every man!]

Species and Find sites:

butter churn lids found - Scotland dated c. 585-630; Stafford c. 715-890 (right)
churn dashers found at Viking York; Winchester and in Europe

This rather rude riddle is describing churning butter:

Hyse cwom gangan - þar he hie wisse stondan - Inwinc sele stop feorran to - Iiror hæg steald mon hof his agen hrægl hondum up - rand under gyrdels hyre stondendre stiþes nathwæt worhte his willan wagedan buta þegn unnette wæs þragum nyt - tillic esne teorode hwæþre æt stunda gehwam strong ær þon hie ó - werig þæs weorces hyre weaxan ongon under gydelse þæt oft gode men ferð þum freogað & mid feo bicgað.

A young man came walking - to where he knew her to be, standing in a corner. The lusty batchelor approached her, lifted up his clothes and thrust something stiff under her girdle where she stood, had his way, so both of them were shaking. The thane worked hard; his good servant was sometimes useful, but, though strong, he always became tired and weary of that work before she did. Beneath her girdle there began to grow what good men love in their hearts and buy with money.

Exeter Book 10th c

butter

butter-milk sýring(e)

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Culinary:

can be drunk, tastes like skimmed milk

Notes:

liquid leftover from producing butter, literally the "sour-wring"

Medical:

Literary:

Rectitudines Singularum Personarum specifies the cheese-maker as a woman 'she is to have all the buttermilk except the herdsman's share' (& hæbbe hire þe syringe ealle butan þæs hyrdes dæle)
Sceáphyrdes riht is ðæt hé hæbbe ... blede fulle hweges oððe syringe ealne sumor ' the sheep-herder's right is that he have ... a dish full of whey or buttermilk all Summer'

Agricultural:

Etymology

no etymology for this, but my own conclusion is that it may be sýr and ing. Syr seems to have a similar meaning to swilige which is related to swilian 'to wash, swill the mouth or throat, gargle'. Ing is used in forming masc. concrete nouns, especially patronymics, so this word could literally mean 'the swill' which seems to make sense to me!

Species and Find sites:

buttermilk

C

cheese

cheese cyse, cise

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Notes:

the 'wise reeve' ought to have a cheese vat cysfæt
part of the duties of 'the wise reeve' was
- to pay attention so that nothing goes wrong to 'either cheese or rennet' ne cyse ne cyslyb
in monasteries the cellerar looked after cheeses

Culinary:

flowers of wild thistle, seeds of safflower, 'lady's bedstraw' (galium verum), boiled nettle and the flower of the teasel could all have been used to curdle milk for the preparation of cheese. Rennet was favoured, though. Vinegar was used for cottage cheese.
cheeses could be hung up to smoke, or keep them out of reach of animals (would naturally get smoked if stored in the rafters)
mature cheese was eaten as a novelty by the wealthy (cheese left for a long time matures - only the wealthy would be able to leave it to mature - everyone else would need to eat it straightaway)

Medical:

'turn the milk with rennet' (þa meolc geren mid cys[l]ybbe) or by using hot stones or a hot iron
'take new cheese' (nim niwne cysan)
cheese with dry bread was for an invalid diet and a 'wit-sick' man
old cheese in goats milk or roasted was good for dysentery
'shred up new cheese' (screda niwne cysan)

Literary:

Rectitudines Singularum Personarum specifies the cheese-maker as a woman: 'the cheese-wright is allotted a hundred cheeses, and she . . .' (Cyswyrhtan gebyreð hundred cyse & $ heo)
At Boile on the Canterbury lands, the provision of food in return for weeding service was three quarters of wheat, a ram, a pat of butter, a piece of cheese of second quality from the lord's dairy, salt, oatmeal for cooking a stew, and all the morning milk from all the cows in the dairy. [I presume this would be given to the group and not just to one man, or to every man!]

Ælfric's Colloquy (late 10th Century)
- produced by the Shepherd ge cyse ge buteran ic do 'either cheese or butter I make'
- the Salter says, 'Even buttercurd and cheesecurd would be lost to you without my presence . . .' (Efne, butergeþweor . . . 7 cysgerunn losaþ eow buton ic hyrde ætwese . . .)
- one of the clean things eaten by the novice monk

a will fragment from Bury St. Edmunds leaves 'eight pence for a cheese' (viii pe. an. cese)
Ine's Laws says ten hides of land were to furnish ten cheeses
Offa took forty cheeses from a royal estate at Westbury, Glocs
Æthelgifu left St. Albans '30 cheeses' (xxx cysa)
the Rule of Chrodegang suggests cheese as both a first or second course
the Rule of St. Benedict says cheese could be eaten at prandium
Regularis Concordia states the normal midday meal was to consist of two cooked dishes, to be eaten as an accompaniment to bread - cereals, beans or other pulse, eggs, cheese, etc
Corsnæd, panis conjuratus, offa consecrata; a species of ordeal in which the accused had to place in his mouth a slice bread or cheese; if he ate it freely and without hurt he was considered innocent; but guilty, if it stuck in his throat, and had to be extracted. In Christian times the host was used for this purpose. From 'cor, cer, cyrr a choice; snæd a bit, piece'.
Aethelreds laws- Customs of Billingsgate refer to smearing-mongresses who make butter and cheese (Smeremangestre, que mangonant in caseo et butiro)

Agricultural:

Etymology

Old English cyse "cheese," from West Germanic *kasjus, from Latin caseus "cheese", perhaps from a PIE root *kwat- "to ferment, become sour".

Species and Find sites:

cheese-curd cýs-gerunn

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Culinary:

cheese-curd is the solid part left in the milk after it has been curdled; the liquid part is the whey

Medical:

Agricultural:

Etymology

early 14c., creyme, "the rich and buttery part of milk," from Old French cresme, craime, creme "chrism, holy oil" (13c., Modern French crème). This word is a blend of Late Latin chrisma "ointment" (from Greek khrisma "unguent;" from PIE root *ghrei- "to rub") and Late Latin cramum "cream," which is of uncertain origin, perhaps from Gaulish. The French word replaced Old English ream; it was re-borrowed 19c. as creme.

Notes:

cys-gerunn is also rennet - which is the substance used to curdle the milk in cheese-making, glossed as cheese-drug

Literary:

Butergeþweor @lc and cýsgerunn losaþ eów butyrum omne et caseus pereunt vobis 'all butter and cheese is lost to you' without the Salter's craft from Aelfric's Colloquy (the OE has it as butter-curd and cheese-drug)

Species and Find sites:

cheesecurd

cream fléte or reám or clut

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Notes:

Culinary:

Medical:

in Leechdoms ripened or newly skimmed cream is called for in one recipe
in two others hens' eggs are to be mixed with 'cream' (fletan), and three pieces of old lard or butter are to be taken with fletum
Lacnunga mentions a mixture of 'cream or good skimmings' (ream oþþe gode flete)

Literary:

flete refers to cream and ream would appear to mean ripened cream or cream which had been heated to preserve it and thicken it, clut or clotted cream may have been made

Species and Find sites:

Agricultural:

Etymology

cream

curd, butter-curd buter-geþweor

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Culinary:

butter-curd is the solid part left in the milk after it has been churned; the liquid part is the butter-milk

Notes:

Medical:

Agricultural:

Etymology

"coagulated or thickened part of milk," c. 1500, metathesis of crud (late 14c.), which originally was "any coagulated substance," probably from Old English crudan "to press, drive," perhaps via ancestor of Gaelic gruth (because cognates are unknown in other Germanic or Romance languages) from a PIE *greut- "to press, coagulate."

Literary:

Butergeþweor @lc & cýsgerunn losaþ eów butyrum omne et caseus pereunt vobis 'all butter and cheese is lost to you' without the Salter's craft from Aelfric's Colloquy (the OE has it as butter-curd and cheese-curd)

Species and Find sites:

curd

M

milk

milk meoluc, melc, meolc

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Culinary:

feast day loaves could be made with milk
cracked grain could be eaten with milk
may have been used for frumenty, syllabub, sweet curds or junket
to drink with fish or cook fish
the most general use of milk is as a liquid for boiling herbs in, or for making broth
broth could be enriched with milk or butter
20 to 30 pints of milk will make 1 pound of butter
drinking full cream milk was a luxury - more references are to thin milk, as the by products from butter and cheese making can be drunk
provision of milk at funeral feasts

Medical:

Leechdoms contain 10 references to goats milk, 3 to cows 2 where goat or cow will do and 2 to ewes milk
sometimes taken warm from the cow, ewe or goat, to be drawn at one milking, or to be not sour
sometimes boiled or turned by heating with hot stones, iron or with rennet
the woman who could not feed her child was to take a mouthful of milk from a cow of one colour
"boil in milk butter is better"

Agricultural:

the average cow will produce 3 to 4 gallons of milk a day.
Cows need to calve at least once for the lactation process to start, but then can milk for a few years before they go dry. If you milk once a day the calf can get fed too.

Notes:

milk was made into cheese and butter to preserve it
it comes from cows, sheep and goats
there is a charm for the milk pail to stop it souring

Literary:

Rectitudines Singularum Personarum says
- the cowherd is to receive the milk of an old cow for 7 days after she has calved
- the shepherd is to have the milk of his herd for 7 days after the equinox
- the goatherd is entitled to the milk of his herd after Martinmas

St Columba reproved Colomban for not casting out the demon that was lurking in the bottom of the milk pail
the shepherd of the Colluquy milked his sheep twice a day
St, Columba's servant secretly added milk to his nettle broth
At Boile on the Canterbury lands, the provision of food in return for weeding service was three quarters of wheat, a ram, a pat of butter, a piece of cheese of second quality from the lord's dairy, salt, oatmeal for cooking a stew, and all the morning milk from all the cows in the dairy. [I presume this would be given to the group and not just to one man, or to every man!]

Species and Find sites:

Etymology

"opaque white fluid secreted by mammary glands of female mammals, suited to the nourishment of their young," Middle English milk, from Old English meoluc (West Saxon), milc (Anglian), from Proto-Germanic *meluk- "milk" (source also of Old Norse mjolk, Old Frisian melok, Old Saxon miluk, Dutch melk, Old High German miluh, German Milch, Gothic miluks), from *melk- "to milk," from PIE root *melg- "to wipe, to rub off," also "to stroke; to milk," in reference to the hand motion involved in milking an animal. Old Church Slavonic noun meleko (Russian moloko, Czech mleko) is considered to be adopted from Germanic.

R

rennet

rennet rynning, cése-lib, cýs-lib, císe-lybb

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Culinary:

used to curdle milk for butter and cheese making

Medical:

Ða meolc geren mid cýslybbe 'the milk be turned with rennet' is the instruction in one Leechdom

Agricultural:

Etymology

"inner membrane in the stomach of an unweaned calf or other animal," used for making cheese, etc.; also the mass of curdled milk found in the stomach, mid-15c., probably from an unrecorded Old English *rynet, related to gerennan "cause to run together," because it makes milk run or curdle; from Proto-Germanic *rannijanan, causative of *renwanan "to run" (from PIE root *rei- "to run, flow"). Compare German rinnen "to run," gerinnen "to curdle." Hence, "anything used to curdle milk."

Notes:

it is the enzyme from a cow's stomach
cése- or cýs-lib = literally 'cheese-drug'

Literary:

part of the duty of 'the wise reeve' is to pay attention so that nothing goes wrong to 'either cheese or rennet' ne cyse ne cyslyb

Species and Find sites:

W

whey

whey hwæg, hwæig, hweg, wring-hwæg

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Culinary:

it can be drunk - tastes like skimmed milk

Medical:

Agricultural:

Etymology

Old English hwæg "whey," from Proto-Germanic *hwaja- (source also of Middle Dutch wey, Dutch wei), of unknown origin.

Notes:

the liquid left over from making cheese

Literary:

Ðeówan wífmen hwæig on sumera 'to a servant maid [shall be given] whey in Summer' RSP
Sceáphyrdes riht is ðæt hé hæbbe ... blede fulle hweges oððe syringe ealne sumor ' the sheep-herder's right is that he have ... a dish full of whey or buttermilk all Summer'
of the cheesemaker in the Rectitudines Singularum Personarum it is said 'that she from the whey pressed from the cheese butter to make for the lord's table ' (þæt heo of wringwæge buteran macige to hlafordes beode)

Species and Find sites:

Resources:

Anglo-Saxon Handbook of Food, Processing and Distribution, Ann Hagen
Anglo-Saxon Food, Production and Distribution, Ann Hagen
Leechdoms, Oswald Cockayne
Online Etymology Dictionary
http://www.witheridge-historical-archive.com/medieval-year.htm (The Medieval Farming Year Version 1.0, July 23, 1999 © Andy Staples, 1999)
Wikipedia
Bosworth Toller Old English Dictionary
Thorpe's Ancient Laws
https://www.medieval.eu/churning-butter-devil/
Keeping a Family Cow, Joann S. Grohman