the history of cheese

From what I've read, the first cheese was made in the Middle East (big surprise since that is where sheep, cattle, and goats were first domesticated). Of course the first step in cheese making is getting some domesticated animals and miking them. All reports seem to indicate that the first farming and animal husbandry happened in the Fertile Crescent due to a combination of favourable plant and animal species, as well as a mild climate in the wake of retreating glaciers.


People came to utilize the abundance of wild grains in the area, and captured sheep and goats to bring along with them on their wandering . Next they settled in sites close to native wild grains, later planting and encouraging these grains to grow. With permanent settlements these people would have been able to keep animals as an easily accessible source of meat and milk. Although milk was a great boon to these Neolithic people (new stone age people) there was the slight problem that refrigeration was still a couple of thousand years away. Meat could be dried, smoked, or salted, but what of milk?


One legendary story tells that cheese was first created by a wandering nomad. He is said to have filled a saddlebag with milk to bring with him on a journey. After several hours riding he stopped to quench his thirst, only to find that the milk had separated into a pale watery liquid and solid white lumps. Because the saddlebag, which was made from the stomach of a young animal (very common they are great waterproof pouches) contained an enzyme known as rennin, the milk had been separated into curds and whey. Of course this is not necessarily the case, (I think cheese might proceede the domistication of horses) and since writing was not yet invented, we can never be sure, but it is a plausible explanation...


We do know that neolithic people used animal stomachs to carry fluids, and the rennet in the stomach would separate the milk into curds and whey. From there people would have experiment in preserving the curds. Luckily sun-dried curds did not take off, but the addition of salt as a preservative and smoking (think Gouda - mmmm yum) did the trick. Cheese, an ingenious method for taking a liquid perishable protein and turning into a tasty, transportable and easy to preserve treat!