MDMD(11): A Much-Rumoured Prodigy

[Dave Monroe]

"a much-rumoured Prodigy, styled 'The Octuple Gloucester,'-- a giant Cheese, 
the largest known in the Region, perhaps in the Kingdom." (M&D, Ch. 16, 
p.167)

prod·i·gy
'prä-d&-jE
noun
plural -gies
Middle English, from Latin prodigium omen, monster, from pro-, prod- + 
-igium (akin to aio I say) -- more at ADAGE
15th century
1 a : a portentous event : OMEN b : something extraordinary or inexplicable
2 a : an extraordinary, marvelous, or unusual accomplishment, deed, or event 
b : a highly talented child or youth

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

On "Double Gloucester" ...

"... this dense, satiny, golden yellow cheese is one of England's finest.  
It was once made only with the milk from Gloucester cows (now almost 
extinct) and until the end of World War II single (smaller) Gloucester 
rounds were also available.  The mellow, full-flavored double Gloucester 
comes in large, flat rounds or tall cylinders--both with a natural rind.  
It's a fine, multipurpose cheese equally as good with a meal or after it."

http://www.foodtv.com/terms/tt-r2/0,4474,2860,00.html

"The rich soil is ideal for cattle and milk from the Old Gloucester breed 
was used to produce Double Gloucester Cheese. This is a cheese with a long 
history and barge-loads of it used to be carried up the Thames from Lechlade 
to London. Until 1945, it came in two varieties, Single Gloucester and 
Double Gloucester. Double Gloucester was made between May and September and 
used the morning’s milk with some from the evening. A cheese weighs between 
fifteen and twenty five pounds and takes several months to mature. Single 
Gloucester was made from either the morning’s milk or skimmed evening milk 
and was much smaller, between nine and twelve pounds. It did not need 
ripening and was mainly eaten on farms. It is not made nowadays but Double 
Gloucester is still very popular although there are only a few herds of Old 
Gloucester cattle left Other milk can be used but theirs had very small fat 
globules ideal to give the cheese a very special fine texture. It is a good 
golden colour with a mellow flavour. Its texture means that it melts easily 
and is excellent for cooking."

http://www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/gbk/regional/southmidlands.htm

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/gloucest/

"Double" seems immediately to refer to the size of the cheese (hence, 
"Octuple," "Quincentenariduodecimal" [M&D, Ch. 16, p. 167]), but ...

"... in southwest England in Gloucestershire they make double round 
Gloucester Cheese. This food product is made from the full cream milk of 
Gloucester black cows collected during two milkings, hence 'double' in the 
name."

[...]

"The Brits, however, like to play with their food. They mess about with 
cheese every May in Birdlip, England on Coopers Hill. The practice may date 
from medieval times and may have something to do with ensuring fertility, or 
establishing which villagers may graze sheep on the hill. No one can quite 
remember because they wash down Gloucester Cheese with good quantities of 
wine. Their playful ritual requires young men to climb up Coopers Hill and 
chase a double round Gloucester cheese rolling down a 200-yard grassy 
meadow.

"There is genuine physical jeopardy for someone chasing an errant cheese 
ball. Coopers Hill is so steep that before attempting the slope, advanced 
skiers would stop by Wal-Mart for a box of Depends. Moreover, a Double Round 
  Gloucester Cheese is four inches thick, twelve inches in diameter and 
weighs 7.5 pounds. If you don't want to do the physics to calculate momentum 
and the forces involved in an elastic collision between a 7.5 round of 
cheese traveling at 40 miles per hour and your stationary body, just know 
that in 1997, thirty-three people were injured and seven were hospitalized 
during the Birdlip Cheese Roll. Birdlip is the only town in the world to 
suffer serial attacks by a killer cheese ball.

"In the nearby village of Randwick they do the Randwick Wap. In this ritual, 
the Mayor and Queen of the festival are carried shoulder high around the 
town followed by flag boys, ladies in waiting and cheese bearers. The 
procession is led by a 'mop man' who swishes a wet mop to clear the crowd. 
The procession ends at the Mayor's pool where the Mayor and the Queen get 
dunked. Then everyone repairs to the Well Leaze where two double Gloucester 
Cheeses are rolled down the hill and chased by young men."

http://www.capitol-college.edu/troxler/blacklite/101600.html

Double Gloucester seems, however, to have either come into existence or to 
have been named as such, only in 1816 ...

Double Glouces·ter
-'gläs-t&r, -"glos-
noun
Gloucester, England
1816
: a firm mild orange-colored English cheese similar to cheddar

Caseifaction = "the act of turning into cheese" ...

cheese
'chEz
noun
often attributive
Middle English chese, from Old English cEse, from Latin caseus cheese
before 12th century
1 a : a food consisting of the coagulated, compressed, and usually ripened 
curd of milk separated from the whey b : an often cylindrical cake of this 
food
2 : something resembling cheese in shape or consistency

See, e.g. ...

http://www.ebs.hw.ac.uk/SDA/cheese2.html

According to the Guinness Book of World's Records ...

"Agropur made a cheddar weighing 26.09 tonnes (57,508 lb., 8 oz.) for 
Loblaws Supermarkets Ltd. at Granby, Quebec, Canada on September 7, 1995."

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/

(search "largest cheese"; there be pictures ...)

There's a replica of a former World's Largest Cheese (The World's Largest 
Replica Cheese) in Neillsville, Wisconsin ...

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/map/wi.html

Home also of the World's Largest Talking Cow ...

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/set/cow.html

Now if they only had the World's Largest Six-Pack ...

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/set/drink.html

They'd have a tourist destination to rival the Randwick Wap ...

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