Cheese
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(1 Sam. 17:18)—curdled or pressed milk, a common food in pastoral lands. Jesse sent ten cheeses with David for the commander of Saul’s unit. The Tyropoeon, or “Valley of the Cheesemakers,” in Jerusalem preserves a Greek name known from Josephus, though it does not prove the encyclopedia’s claim that an entire ancient quarter was devoted to making modern-style cheeses.