What Adam Smith Ate: Fresh Dairy Cheese

Adam Smith thought it was important that people were being paid their wages in real money – not in, say, products from the employer that they would then have to sell. This transactional payment would decrease the value of their wage since bringing products to market via individual sellers would cost money for the employee – and depress the value of the product. While some employers probably thought it was easier, it was the definition of a “lose-lose” situation all around. 

Once everyone was paid wages in real money, Smith noted everyone benefits “…when barter ceases and money has become the common instrument of commerce.”

A system of commerce based on money relied on consistently made and measured coinage as well as a consistent set of weights and measures used by all businesses and merchants. Once this system is in place, vendors could sell their products at a reliable market-determined price. As Smith notes in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, “The butcher seldom carries his beef or his mutton to the baker, or the brewer, in order to exchange them for bread or for beer, but he carries them to the market, where he exchanges them for money, and afterwards exchanges that money for bread and beer.”

Once producers were using a consistent currency-based system, the pricing regulated itself. The maker of the bread or ale could sell his product and estimate its value based on the quantity of money he expected to make, creating an “exchangeable value.” 

This value extended to include the quality of a particular product, like the beef or mutton the butcher carried. As agricultural techniques and farms improved in the 18th century, the quality of cattle and meat improved. And as the quality of meat improved, the overall health of the population improved as well. Healthier, stronger workers could do better work and produce better – and more – products.  Everyone wins.

Smith talks about cattle specifically as a marker of this improvement since it was a clear benefit to the common worker. Venison required an expensive deer park. Poultry and hogs might or might not make money, but nearly every family could keep a cow, and cows produced milk. Families could justify the cost of feeding a cow because it produced milk, butter, cheese, and other saleable goods as well as meat once it was butchered. 

If prices were high, dairy products went to market. If prices were low? The farmer could store some goods, like cheese, to sell later and feed his family. And if he employed efficient production methods, the whole situation grew more profitable. He could invest in a barn or separate dairy which produced better quality products which, in turn, sold for higher prices.

The quality/price relationship seems like common sense to us today. And in most countries, we have the added layer of safe food regulation, which ensures that even the cheapest dairy products don’t come from dairies managed in a “very slovenly and dirty manner” as in Smith’s day. “Organic”, “pasture-raised”, and “hormone-free” are popular words for consumers today, not unlike “clean, modern, and following the latest in agricultural techniques” would have been in the 1760s.  

Cookbooks of the day all included recipes for making butter and cheese – from fresh farmers or cream cheese to those that could age for 2 years. Cheese recipes call for rennet (or “runnet”) which is an enzyme from a cow’s stomach critical to creating the solid cheese curds and separating them from the liquid whey. In Smith’s time, it would be made when butchering a cow, but today we can easily order it online or find it at our local natural food store. 

Don’t feel like making your own cheese?  Here’s an end of summer recipe you can make with pre-purchased fresh cheese generally sold as “fromage blanc” or “fromage frais” due to its modern popularity in the French tradition.

Stuffed Jalapeno Peppers

·         4 of your favorite fresh peppers from the garden including jalapenos, red sweet peppers, or poblanos. You can even try small red or yellow bell peppers, small yellow sweet peppers or something spicier.

·         2 tbsp olive oil

·         1 tsp salt

·         1 1/2 cups Fromage blanc, fromage frais, or ricotta 

·         1 egg 

·         3 tablespoons minced fresh leafy herbs such as cilantro, parsley, and chives 

·         Season with up to ½ tsp of cumin, coriander, onion powder, paprika, or other dried flavors of choice

·         Salt and freshly ground pepper

 

1.       Preheat the oven to 400F or a BBQ grill to hot. Wrap a baking tray with foil. 

2.       Slice the peppers in half lengthwise and remove the ribs and seeds. Toss the peppers in a bowl and coat with olive oil and salt.

3.       In a bowl, combine the fresh cheese, egg, and fresh herbs. Season with salt and pepper.

4.       Fill each pepper with the cheese mixture and set filling-side up on the baking sheet.

5.       Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or on the grill until the peppers are blistered and the filling is melted and puffed.



Still hungry?
Renee Wilmeth's What Adam Smith Ate: Cheese (& a recipe for Whiskey Rarebit/Scotch Rarebit)
Renee Wilmeth's What Adam Smith Ate: Potatoes (& a Rumbledethump recipe)
Renee Wilmeth's What Adam Smith Ate: Ice Cream


More from AdamSmithWorks
Paul Schwennesen's The Future of Farmers – Adam Smith Weighs In
Alex Aragona's Are the Interests of Those Who Live by Profit Ours? and Adam Smith and the Costs of the Division of Labor