What is the history of cheese?

How old is cheese?

The oldest direct evidence comes from chemistry, not texts. Researchers at the University of Bristol found milk fat in pottery sieves from prehistoric Northern Europe and described this as the first unequivocal evidence of cheesemaking, more than 7,000 years ago. A later study reported milk-fat residue on 15 of 50 fragments from 34 sieves found at eight sites in Poland dated to roughly 6,800 to 7,400 years ago.

How was the first cheese made?

Pots with holes worked as strainers. When milk curdles it separates into fatty curds and watery whey, and the holes let the whey drain away, much as strainers are used today. Cloth or baskets could also have been used, and they would leave no trace.

Why did people make cheese?

Many adults cannot digest much lactose. Draining off the whey removes much of the lactose, and the curds store better than fresh milk, so cheese turned a perishable food into one that lasts. This explanation is a scientific suggestion, not a certainty.

What we do not know

• Who made the first cheese or where. The oldest chemical evidence is only the oldest one found so far.
• Exact dates. Ages are estimates and may be revised.
• What early cheeses tasted like. They are usually assumed to have been fresh, soft and sour.

From early farms to modern cheese

Over time makers added salt, rennet to set the curd, pressing and aging, which led to the many styles we know. Today, pasteurized milk, standard cultures and controlled aging make results more consistent.

Takeaway

Cheese is among the oldest processed foods, and the earliest proof we have points to Europe around 5,000 BCE. Newer finds could push the date back.