Ancient Cheese May Be Edible but Finders Aren’t Eager to Try It

Workmen digging peat in a County Tipperary bog have found what probably is the world’s moldiest piece of cheese and it may still be edible after 1,400 years, archaeologist Tony Candon said Wednesday.

He said the lump was either cheese or butter, weighed “about one hundredweight (100 pounds)” and was found under five feet of bog Monday, preserved by the moist conditions.

“We think it would still be edible but we’re not keen on trying it as it seems from the depth at which it was found to have been buried in the 5th or 6th century A.D.,” he said.

Paddy Coughlan and Dan O’Connor unearthed the find on farmland at Glenahilty, near Cloughjordan, and had to join in lifting it out.

“We know from historical sources that people buried such items in bogs right up to modern times and they do turn up from time to time,” Clandon said.

The discovery’s wrapping is more important than the food itself because of what it can tell about ancient crafts, he said: “We don’t know for sure what the wrapping is, but it looks like some kind of wickerwork.”