Monday, October 21, 2013

Cheese in Late Colonial Maryland...

This article is an update of an earlier article I wrote on the subject of Cheese in Late Colonial Maryland. It is hoped the new information will be of interest to reader.

Cheese is a very common item imported into the British North American Colonies. But with so many varieties available today, it can be quite a struggle to discover which cheeses are well documented as being consumed in places like Annapolis.

Luckily for us, the order books of Wallace, Davidson and Johnson provide a very good insight into many of the goods which were being imported between 1771 and 1775.

On 25 April 1771, they ordered 5ct Double Gloucester cheese, 2ct Single Gloucester cheese and 2ct Cheshire Cheese.

Then on 4 August 1771, they ordered 5ct Double Gloucester cheese, 2ct Single Gloucester Cheese and 5ct Cheshire cheese.

And on 26 November 1771, they ordered 3ct each of Gloucester cheese and Cheshire cheese.

This is as far as we have progressed through their order books at the moment, but it is clear that, with no reference to any other types or styles of cheese, these are the three main types of cheese being imported into Annapolis in the early 1770s.

So what are these three different types of cheese which are no longer common features of the American market.

Following a cattle plague which all but wiped out the Old Gloucester cows, the area surrounding Gloucester was replaced with the Longhorn. By 1789, production of Gloucester cheese was estimated at more than 1000 tons.

There are two types of Gloucester cheese, single and double.

Single Gloucester cheese were typically the same diameter but half the height of Double Gloucester cheeses.

Double Gloucester cheese was a prized cheese, comparable in quality to the best Cheddar or Cheshire cheese, and was exported out of the County, where Single Gloucester cheese tended to be consumer within the County.

Single Gloucester was sometimes known as the hay maker’s cheese; as it was matured for a short time it was ready for eating by farm laborers during the haymaking season.

Double Gloucester cheese has a characteristic light orange hue given by the addition of annatto to the milk. This has been a traditional characteristic of the cheese since the 16th century when producers of inferior cheese used a coloring agent to replicate the orange hue achieved by the best cheese makers who were probably making the cheese from the evening’s milking to which was added the separated cream of the morning’s milking. During the summer months the high levels of carotene in the grass would have given the milk an orange color which was carried through into the cheese. This orange hue was regarded as an indicator of the best cheese. 

Flavor levels depend on the age of the cheese. Most Double Gloucester is sold at about 4 months of age and has a firm close texture and a clean mellow, creamy or buttery flavor. Older cheeses will develop more complex and nutty flavors.
    
The first reference to Cheshire cheese is in 1586, where it is recorded as "more agreeable and better relished than those of other parts of the kingdom." From 1739, the Royal Navy only bought Cheshire cheese with London being the major market for Cheshire cheese.

Cheshire Cheese is sold at different ages and like all cheese, as it matures, its taste and texture will develop. Young Cheshire is naturally bright and white in color. It is a firm bodied cheese with a crumbly texture that breaks down easily in the mouth. It has a mild, milky taste and aroma and is clean on the palate with a very slightly tangy finish.

As Cheshire matures so it becomes firmer in texture and slightly darker in color. The flavors become more complex but the cheese remains clean tasting with no hint of bitterness. The crumbly texture remains but the cheese has a drier mouth feel.

Now it would be wrong to assume that all cheese was in fact imported into the Province. In fact an article in the November 11, 1773 issue of the Virginia Gazette relates that cheese production has recently been begun in Frederick County and they are producing the best cheese on the continent, perhaps in part due to the large influx of German immigrants. Unfortunately there is no detailed information about the style of cheese which is being made in that part of Maryland, though its German origins are clearly mentioned in the article.




The sale of country made cheese, in addition to imported English cheese, also shows up in Annapolis at the store of James Dick & Stewart in Church Street in their advertisement in the June 23, 1774 issue of the Maryland Gazette. They operated a store in Frederick Town and it is quite likely that the cheese mentioned is from that place.




So the next time you are seeking out a cheese which is appropriate for the 1760s and 1770s, be sure to pick up some Cheshire and Single or Double Gloucester cheese. You can't go wrong with those choices.

All Rights Reserved.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Highlanders, Harry and the Great Mogul...

It's hard to buy a deck of reproduction 18th century playing cards without noticing the wrapper in which they are sold.

We are always quick to notice the "tax stamp," but what do we know about the other side of the package? Perhaps the most common reproduction deck of cards are the "I. Hardy" cards which are claimed to be based upon a deck which was printed about 1765.

On the other side is the picture of "The Great Mogul." This is part of a grading system of playing cards. The finest cards were called "Moguls," the next best "Harrys," and those with imperfections "Highlanders." Tradition has it that the finest, the Moguls, were named after the Mogul emperors, the Harrys, were named after Henry VIII, and the Highlanders, after Bonnie Prince Charlie.

And to ensure that the necessary duty was paid, each ace of spades was printed in the Stamp Office at Somerset House, and then given to the card printers once they had paid the duty for them.




"I. Hardy" mentioned above is actually James Hardy who operated from 1798 to 1824. The ace in this pack is number 33 which places it some time before 1817. (Ace number 37 was used from 1817 to 1820)




The other common playing card available as a reproduction today, in this case an example of a Harry's Card, is the Aesop's Fables cards which were first manufactured around 1759 by John Kirk.




Unfortunately there are currently no examples of the last sort of card, the Highlanders, but above you can see an example of a Highlanders wrapper. This example is from Henry Hart about 1757.


(from Maryland State Archives, Chancery Court (Chancery Papers, Exhibits) Wallace, Davidson Johnson, Order Books, 1771/4/25-1775/11/16. MSA S 528-27/28)  

And finally we can't forget to mention the merchant connection to playing cards, in this case that of Wallace, Davidson and Johnson and their orders for all of these various qualities of cards, as seen above in their order books, this order being placed April 25, 1771.

So the next time you go selecting 18th Century playing cards to buy, you will have a better understanding for the wrapper and information upon it as to what was inside.

All Rights Reserved.