A Brief History of Cheese
According to Greek Mythology, the gods first revealed the art of cheese
making
to Aristaeus, son of Apollo and Cyrene. Apollo was the son of Zeus and
Latona
and the most handsome and beloved of all the Olympian gods. Cyrene was a
very
beautiful Greek nymph from Thessaly. Their son Aristaeus was a shepherd
who,
in addition to developing cheese making skills, learned how to keep bees
in
hives
and how to grow olives. That Greek legend attributed the invention of
cheese
to
the son of such a powerful god indicates the fiery enthusiasm ancient man
had for
this most glorious, divine food.
What perhaps really happened is that one day a shepherd observed that milk
curdled
when placed in contact with certain herbs or the juice of certain fruits.
This
curdled milk tasted even more appetizing than regular milk and lasted
longer. The
shepherd the honed his cheese making skills as cheese became the first
man-made food.
As cheese is simply the concentrate of milk, it made sense to ancient man
that the
quality of the milk determined the quality of the cheese. Thus man began
to
relocate
his animals to the most fertile meadows full of wild herbs and aromatic
flowers and
gr*****. The early days of cheese making were not limited to cows, goats
and
sheep
however, as the great philosopher Aristotle wrote of cheese made from
mares
and
donkeys as well.
In all ancient societies, milk was always of primary im****tance, playing a
religious
and economic role. Its use is well do***ented in ancient works of poetry
and
literature. The earliest mention of cheese making is detailed in a
collection of
sacred hymns of the peoples of Tibet dating back the the 12th century BC.
Later,
cheese was mentioned in the Bible in the First Book of Samuel when Jesse,
the old
Bethlehem shepherd, calls his fourth son David and says "Here is a bushel
of
flour,
and ten loaves; take them with all speed to thy brethren in the camp; ay,
and ten
cheeses to be a gift for their commander..."
While cheese predated their society, it was the Greeks who pioneered the
advance of
cheese making techniques from rudimentary to more modern methods. However,
it was
the Romans who were responsible for teaching the rest of the world how to
make cheese.
Numerous Latin writers such as Varro, Columella, Pliny the Elder, and
Palladius
described the art of cheese making in their works. Details such as
nutrition, aging,
temperatures and salting are covered in Roman texts. Thanks to the Romans,
the Greeks
and the ancients before them, cheese today is one of the most interesting,
diverse,
wholesome and delicious foods known to man.
- igourment.com
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