Cheese: Difference between revisions
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=== Origins === | === Origins === | ||
[[File:Ricotta affumicata della sila.jpg|thumb|A piece of soft curd cheese, oven-baked to increase [[shelf life]]]] | [[File:Ricotta affumicata della sila.jpg|thumb|A piece of soft curd cheese, oven-baked to increase [[Wikipedia:shelf life|shelf life]]]] | ||
Cheese is an ancient food whose origins [[prehistory|predate recorded history]]. There is no conclusive evidence indicating where cheesemaking originated, whether in Europe, Central Asia or the Middle East. Earliest proposed dates for the origin of cheesemaking range from around 8000 BCE, when sheep were first [[domestication|domesticated]]. Since animal skins and inflated internal organs have, since ancient times, provided storage vessels for a range of foodstuffs, it is probable that the process of cheese making was discovered accidentally by storing milk in a container made from the stomach of an animal, resulting in the milk being turned to [[curd]] and [[whey]] by the rennet from the stomach. | Cheese is an ancient food whose origins [[:en:prehistory|predate recorded history]]. There is no conclusive evidence indicating where cheesemaking originated, whether in Europe, Central Asia or the Middle East. Earliest proposed dates for the origin of cheesemaking range from around 8000 BCE, when sheep were first [[:en:domestication|domesticated]]. Since animal skins and inflated internal organs have, since ancient times, provided storage vessels for a range of foodstuffs, it is probable that the process of cheese making was discovered accidentally by storing milk in a container made from the stomach of an animal, resulting in the milk being turned to [[curd]] and [[whey]] by the rennet from the stomach. There is a [[Wikipedia:legend|legend]]—with variations—about the discovery of cheese by an Arab trader who used this method of storing milk. | ||
The earliest evidence of cheesemaking in the archaeological record dates back to 5500 BCE and is found in what is now [[Kuyavia]], Poland, where strainers coated with [[buttermilk|milk-fat]] molecules have been found. | The earliest evidence of cheesemaking in the archaeological record dates back to 5500 BCE and is found in what is now [[Wikipedia:Kuyavia|Kuyavia]], Poland, where strainers coated with [[:en:buttermilk|milk-fat]] molecules have been found. | ||
Cheesemaking may have begun independently of this by the pressing and salting of curdled milk to preserve it. Observation that the effect of making cheese in an animal stomach gave more solid and better-textured curds may have led to the deliberate addition of rennet. Early [[archeology|archeological]] evidence of [[Egyptian cheese]] has been found in [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] tomb murals, dating to about 2000 BCE. | Cheesemaking may have begun independently of this by the pressing and salting of curdled milk to preserve it. Observation that the effect of making cheese in an animal stomach gave more solid and better-textured curds may have led to the deliberate addition of rennet. Early [[:en:archeology|archeological]] evidence of [[Egyptian cheese]] has been found in [[:en:Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] tomb murals, dating to about 2000 BCE. A 2018 scientific paper stated that the world's oldest cheese, dating to approximately 1200 BCE (3200 years before present), was found in ancient Egyptian tombs. | ||
The earliest cheeses were likely quite sour and salty, similar in texture to rustic [[cottage cheese]] or [[feta]], a crumbly, flavorful Greek cheese. Cheese produced in Europe, where climates are cooler than the Middle East, required less salt for preservation. With less salt and acidity, the cheese became a suitable environment for useful [[microbe]]s and molds, giving aged cheeses their respective flavors. The earliest ever discovered preserved cheese was found in the Taklamakan Desert in [[Xinjiang]], China, dating back as early as 1615 BCE (3600 years before present). | The earliest cheeses were likely quite sour and salty, similar in texture to rustic [[cottage cheese]] or [[feta]], a crumbly, flavorful Greek cheese. Cheese produced in Europe, where climates are cooler than the Middle East, required less salt for preservation. With less salt and acidity, the cheese became a suitable environment for useful [[microbe]]s and molds, giving aged cheeses their respective flavors. The earliest ever discovered preserved cheese was found in the Taklamakan Desert in [[Wikipedia:Xinjiang|Xinjiang]], China, dating back as early as 1615 BCE (3600 years before present). | ||
=== Ancient Greece and Rome === | === Ancient Greece and Rome === | ||
[[File:Formaggi.JPG|thumb|Cheese in a market in [[List of Italian cheeses|Italy]]]] | [[File:Formaggi.JPG|thumb|Cheese in a market in [[List of Italian cheeses|Italy]]]] | ||
Ancient [[Greek mythology]] credited [[Aristaeus]] with the discovery of cheese. [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'' (8th century BCE) describes the [[Cyclops]] making and storing sheep's and goats' milk cheese (translation by [[Samuel Butler (novelist)|Samuel Butler]]): | Ancient [[Wikipedia:Greek mythology|Greek mythology]] credited [[Wikipedia:Aristaeus|Aristaeus]] with the discovery of cheese. [[Wikipedia:Homer|Homer]]'s ''[[Wikipedia:Odyssey|Odyssey]]'' (8th century BCE) describes the [[Wikipedia:Cyclops|Cyclops]] making and storing sheep's and goats' milk cheese (translation by [[:en:Samuel Butler (novelist)|Samuel Butler]]): | ||
{{quote|We soon reached his cave, but he was out shepherding, so we went inside and took stock of all that we could see. His cheese-racks were loaded with cheeses, and he had more lambs and kids than his pens could hold...<br /> | {{quote|We soon reached his cave, but he was out shepherding, so we went inside and took stock of all that we could see. His cheese-racks were loaded with cheeses, and he had more lambs and kids than his pens could hold...<br /> | ||
When he had so done he sat down and milked his ewes and goats, all in due course, and then let each of them have her own young. He curdled half the milk and set it aside in wicker strainers. | When he had so done he sat down and milked his ewes and goats, all in due course, and then let each of them have her own young. He curdled half the milk and set it aside in wicker strainers. | ||
}} | }} | ||
[[Columella]]'s ''De Re Rustica'' (c. 65 CE) details a cheesemaking process involving rennet coagulation, pressing of the curd, salting, and aging. According to [[Pliny the Elder]], it had become a sophisticated enterprise by the time the [[Ancient Rome|Roman Empire]] came into being. | [[Wikipedia:Columella|Columella]]'s ''De Re Rustica'' (c. 65 CE) details a cheesemaking process involving rennet coagulation, pressing of the curd, salting, and aging. According to [[Wikipedia:Pliny the Elder|Pliny the Elder]], it had become a sophisticated enterprise by the time the [[:en:Ancient Rome|Roman Empire]] came into being. | ||
Pliny the Elder also mentions in his writings ''[[Swiss cheeses and dairy products|Caseus Helveticus]]'', a hard [[Sbrinz]]-like cheese produced by the [[Wikipedia:Helvetii|Helvetii]]. | |||
[[:en:Pliny the Elder|Pliny's]] [[:en:Natural History (Pliny)|''Natural History'']] (77 CE) devotes a chapter (XI, 97) to describing the diversity of cheeses enjoyed by Romans of the early Empire. He stated that the best cheeses came from the villages near [[Wikipedia:Nîmes|Nîmes]], but did not keep long and had to be eaten fresh. Cheeses of the [[Wikipedia:Alps|Alps]] and [[Wikipedia:Apennines|Apennines]] were as remarkable for their variety then as now. A [[:en:Ligures|Ligurian]] cheese was noted for being made mostly from sheep's milk, and some cheeses produced nearby were stated to weigh as much as a thousand pounds each. Goats' milk cheese was a recent taste in Rome, improved over the "medicinal taste" of [[Wikipedia:Gaul|Gaul]]'s similar cheeses by [[:en:smoking (cooking)|smoking]]. Of cheeses from overseas, Pliny preferred those of [[Wikipedia:Bithynia|Bithynia]] in Asia Minor. | |||
=== Post-Roman Europe === | === Post-Roman Europe === | ||
[[File:9-alimenti, formaggi,Taccuino Sanitatis, Casanatense 4182..jpg|thumb|Cheese, [[Tacuinum sanitatis]] Casanatensis (14th century)]] | [[File:9-alimenti, formaggi,Taccuino Sanitatis, Casanatense 4182..jpg|thumb|Cheese, [[Wikipedia:Tacuinum sanitatis|Tacuinum sanitatis]] Casanatensis (14th century)]] | ||
As Romanized populations encountered unfamiliar newly settled neighbors, bringing their own cheese-making traditions, their own flocks and their own unrelated words for ''cheese'', cheeses in Europe diversified further, with various locales developing their own distinctive traditions and products. As long-distance trade collapsed, only travelers would encounter unfamiliar cheeses: [[Charlemagne]]'s first encounter with a white cheese that had an edible rind forms one of the constructed anecdotes of [[Notker the Stammerer|Notker]]'s ''Life'' of the Emperor. | As Romanized populations encountered unfamiliar newly settled neighbors, bringing their own cheese-making traditions, their own flocks and their own unrelated words for ''cheese'', cheeses in Europe diversified further, with various locales developing their own distinctive traditions and products. As long-distance trade collapsed, only travelers would encounter unfamiliar cheeses: [[Wikipedia:Charlemagne|Charlemagne]]'s first encounter with a white cheese that had an edible rind forms one of the constructed anecdotes of [[:en:Notker the Stammerer|Notker]]'s ''Life'' of the Emperor. | ||
The British Cheese Board claims that Britain has approximately 700 distinct local cheeses; | The British Cheese Board claims that Britain has approximately 700 distinct local cheeses; | ||
France and Italy have perhaps 400 each (a French proverb holds there is a different French cheese for every day of the year, and [[Wikipedia:Charles de Gaulle|Charles de Gaulle]] once asked "how can you govern a country in which there are 246 kinds of cheese?"). Still, the advancement of the cheese art in Europe was slow during the centuries after Rome's fall. Many cheeses popular today were first recorded in the late [[Wikipedia:Middle Ages|Middle Ages]] or after—cheeses like [[Cheddar cheese|Cheddar]] around 1500, [[Parmesan cheese|Parmesan]] in 1597, [[Gouda cheese|Gouda]] in 1697, and [[Camembert]] in 1791. | |||
In 1546, ''[[The Proverbs of John Heywood]]'' claimed "[[The Moon is made of green cheese|the moon is made of a green cheese]]" (''Greene'' may refer here not to the color, as many now think, but to being new or unaged). | In 1546, ''[[Wikipedia:The Proverbs of John Heywood|The Proverbs of John Heywood]]'' claimed "[[:en:The Moon is made of green cheese|the moon is made of a green cheese]]" (''Greene'' may refer here not to the color, as many now think, but to being new or unaged). Variations on this sentiment were long repeated and [[Wikipedia:NASA|NASA]] exploited this myth for an [[Wikipedia:April Fools' Day|April Fools' Day]] spoof announcement in 2006. | ||
=== Modern era === | === Modern era === | ||
[[File:Cheese display, Cambridge MA - DSC05391.jpg|thumb| Cheese display in grocery store, [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], United States]] | [[File:Cheese display, Cambridge MA - DSC05391.jpg|thumb| Cheese display in grocery store, [[Wikipedia:Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge, Massachusetts]], United States]] | ||
Until its modern spread along with European culture, cheese was nearly unheard of in east Asian cultures and in the pre-Columbian Americas and had only limited use in sub-Mediterranean Africa, mainly being widespread and popular only in Europe, the Middle East, the [[Indian subcontinent]], and areas influenced by those cultures. But with the spread, first of European imperialism, and later of Euro-American culture and food, cheese has gradually become known and increasingly popular worldwide. | Until its modern spread along with European culture, cheese was nearly unheard of in east Asian cultures and in the pre-Columbian Americas and had only limited use in sub-Mediterranean Africa, mainly being widespread and popular only in Europe, the Middle East, the [[Wikipedia:Indian subcontinent|Indian subcontinent]], and areas influenced by those cultures. But with the spread, first of European imperialism, and later of Euro-American culture and food, cheese has gradually become known and increasingly popular worldwide. | ||
The first factory for the industrial production of cheese opened in Switzerland in 1815, but large-scale production first found real success in the United States. Credit usually goes to Jesse Williams, a dairy farmer from [[Rome, New York|Rome]], New York, who in 1851 started making cheese in an [[assembly line|assembly-line]] fashion using the milk from neighboring farms; this made cheddar cheese one of the first US [[Food industry|industrial foods]]. | The first factory for the industrial production of cheese opened in Switzerland in 1815, but large-scale production first found real success in the United States. Credit usually goes to Jesse Williams, a dairy farmer from [[:en:Rome, New York|Rome]], New York, who in 1851 started making cheese in an [[:en:assembly line|assembly-line]] fashion using the milk from neighboring farms; this made cheddar cheese one of the first US [[:en:Food industry|industrial foods]]. Within decades, hundreds of such commercial dairy associations existed. | ||
The 1860s saw the beginnings of mass-produced rennet, and by the turn of the century scientists were producing pure microbial cultures. Before then, bacteria in cheesemaking had come from the environment or from recycling an earlier batch's whey; the pure cultures meant a more standardized cheese could be produced. | The 1860s saw the beginnings of mass-produced rennet, and by the turn of the century scientists were producing pure microbial cultures. Before then, bacteria in cheesemaking had come from the environment or from recycling an earlier batch's whey; the pure cultures meant a more standardized cheese could be produced. | ||
Factory-made cheese overtook traditional cheesemaking in the [[World War II]] era, and factories have been the source of most cheese in America and Europe ever since. | Factory-made cheese overtook traditional cheesemaking in the [[Wikipedia:World War II|World War II]] era, and factories have been the source of most cheese in America and Europe ever since. By 2012, cheese was one of the most [[shoplifted]] items from supermarkets worldwide. | ||
== Production == | == Production == | ||