Spring24_Week2 – Experimental Archaeology / Experiential History

Week 2 (but actually week 3): Cheese

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Lab Summary Week 2: Making Cheese

By Scott Hudson and Sadhana Mandala Introduction For our first true Experimental Archaeology lab project in Week 2, our class attempted to better understand the chaîne opératoire of pre-industrial pastoral cheese-making by setting the weighty goal of making 5 cheeses over open flame in 4 hours. While we were unable to make one of these…

Week 2 Lab Data [Group D]: Cheese-Making

Throughout my group’s cheese-making process, we recorded data concerning fire-temperature, whey temperature, yield and waste by volume, and the time at which all these data were procured. Our process began with placing 3.61 kg (or one gallon) of whole milk into a cauldron. We created a fire, which at 13:30, the time at which we…

Week 2 Lab Group Data, Group A: Cheesemaking

This week, I recorded a couple pages of assorted data throughout our cheesemaking process. Our group was assigned to make the slow-cooking cultured cheese, and we uniquely employed kefir in our cheesemaking. We took care to measure the temperature of our cooking pot, which was quite variable at times. Below is a graph detailing our…

Week 2 Group F Lab Data: Cheesemaking

This week in the lab, we made cheese. My group in particular made a Fast Mozzarella Curd. From placing our milk on the fire to pitching the whey, the process took 71 minutes. Further, the curd was allowed to sit and drain for ~24 hours. What follows is relevant data about those 71 minutes and…