CHEESE

Job in poetic language figuratively described how he had been formed in his mother’s womb, saying to the Grand Creator: “Did you not proceed to pour me out as milk itself and like cheese to curdle me?”​—Job 10:10.

Making cheese differed from making butter; the latter was obtained by churning. To make cheese in ancient times, milk was quickly curdled with rennet from an animal’s stomach or with juice of certain leaves or roots. After curdling, the whey was drained off, and the fresh curds were eaten.

David was instructed to take “ten portions of milk” to the chief of the 1,000 under whom his brothers served in Saul’s army. (1Sa 17:17, 18) The literal reading of the original is “ten cuts of milk,” which may have meant “ten fresh-milk cheeses.” The Latin Vulgate reads “ten little forms [or, molds] of cheese.” During the civil war instigated by Absalom, friends sent David provisions of food, including “curds of cattle,” and these too may have been soft cheeses.​—2Sa 17:29.