Everybody knows cheese and it tastes so good, especially when it is combined with other meals. In fact, many people have no idea where cheese came from and how it was first made.
The History of Cheese
Cheese is an ancient food that has been produced since prehistoric times although there is no definite evidence of when cheese making was first practiced. Prehistoric people began to leave the nomadic lifestyle and move into raising goats, sheep, and cattle. By raising livestock, people begin to recognize milk and its goodness.
The supply of milk also increased so people began to store it in clay or wooden vessels. Due to poor hygiene, direct sunlight, or heat from a fire, the milk in the vessel becomes sour and thick. After trying it turned out that the milk is still edible. That was the first time humans discovered sour cream cheese (sour cream cheese).
Sweet cream cheese (sweet cream cheese) was also discovered by chance. There are two legends that tell how humans discovered this type of cheese. The first tells that there were some hunters who killed a calf.
They opened the cow’s stomach and found something white which turned out to have good taste. Due to the presence of an enzyme called rennet in the cow’s stomach, the milk became thick so that it became what we call cheese today.
Another story says that cheese was first discovered in the Middle East by an Arab traveler. The traveler traveled in the desert on his horse. He carried milk in his saddle to quench his thirst. After a while, he stopped to drink the milk he brought. Apparently, the milk has turned into a pale liquid and white lumps. This is because the saddle used to store milk is made from the stomach of an animal (cow, goat, or sheep) which contains rennet.
The combination of the rennet, the hot weather, and the shaking of the horses turned the wanderer’s milk into cheese. After that, people started using enzymes from animal stomachs to make cheese.
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek mythology mentions Aristaeus as the inventor of cheese. Homer’s Odyssey (800 BC) says that the Cyclops created cheese by using and storing the milk of sheep and goats. Cheese from goat’s milk is an important commodity in Greece. The Greeks believed that cheese made officers stronger and was also an aphrodisiac. Hippocrates also used cheese to treat inflammation. The cheese was even used as an offering to the gods.
Ancient Roman
It was the Roman culture that originally developed the various types of cheese we know today. The Romans are known as the first people to carry out the process of ripening and storing cheese. They understand the effect of different ripening techniques on the taste and character of certain cheeses.
The Romans brought cheese and the art of making it with them when they conquered Gaul, which we know today as France and England, which was greeted with great reluctance in favor of the righteous. Large houses in Roman times had a separate cheese pantry called a caseale and a special area where the cheese could be cooked. Here are some posts that allude to cheese:
- Homer, c. 1184 BC
Referring to the cheese that was produced in Greek mountain caves from the milk of sheep and goats, mentions a type of cheese called Cynthos which was sold by the Greeks to the Romans (possibly Feta cheese in modern times.
- Aristotle, 384 to 322 BC
Comment on cheese made from horse and donkey milk.
- Varro, circa 127 BC
Be aware of the differences in the cheeses produced by arrays from several locations and comment on the digestibility of these cheeses.
- Columella, circa 50 AD
Write about how the process of making cheese in great detail and complete.
- Pliny, 77 CE
Wrote the book Historia Naturalis which mentions Cantal, a cheese made from cow’s milk named after the Cantal Mountains in Auvergne. This cheese is made by inserting the curd into the formation, which is a wooden cylinder. This is probably the origin of the French and Italian words for cheese, Fromage, and Formaggio.
Medieval Europe
The Roman Empire spread uniform cheese-making techniques in Europe and introduced cheese-making to areas that didn’t know it. The fall of the Roman Empire led to variations in cheese making in Europe, with certain regions developing different cheese-making techniques. However, progress in the art of cheese-making began to decline several hundred years after the fall of Rome. Many kinds of cheese known today were first documented in the Middle Ages or later, for example, Cheddar cheese in AD 1500, Parmesan cheese in 1597, Gouda cheese in 1697, and Camembert cheese in 1791.
During the reign of Charles the Great, monasteries were entrusted with cultivating the land and developing agricultural production. It is these monks and nuns who play an important role in the production of cheese and its variations. Many recipes were written by the monks although it is impossible to say whether they were written by themselves or copied from local people. Because of the work of monks and nuns, people didn’t have to starve in winter when milk was hard to come by.
Cheese in Modern Times
In the 19th century, Ferdinand Cohn was the first to discover that the ripening process of cheese was regulated by microorganisms. After that, most of the research carried out related to cheese and the process of making it. With the development of knowledge about cheese favor of both biologically and chemically, the process of making cheese has become common in the community. As a result, small companies and farms are competing to produce their own cheese.
The first factory to produce cheese was opened in 1815 in Switzerland, but it was in the United States that large-scale cheese production was first successful. Currently, it is estimated that there are more than 400 types of cheese in the world. During World War II, factory-made cheeses were more popular, beating out traditional cheeses. Since then, factories have become the largest source of cheese in America and Europe.
