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Before empires and royalty,
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before pottery and writing,
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before metal tools and weapons –
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there was cheese.
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As early as 8000 BCE,
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the earliest Neolithic farmers
living in the Fertile Crescent
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began a legacy of cheesemaking
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almost as old as civilization itself.
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The rise of agriculture led to
domesticated sheep and goats,
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which ancient farmers harvested for milk.
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But when left in warm conditions
for several hours,
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that fresh milk began to sour.
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Its lactic acids caused proteins to
coagulate, binding into soft clumps.
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Upon discovering this
strange transformation,
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the farmers drained the remaining liquid –
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later named whey –
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and found the yellowish globs could be
eaten fresh as a soft, spreadable meal.
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These clumps, or curds, became
the building blocks of cheese,
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which would eventually be aged, pressed,
ripened, and whizzed
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into a diverse cornucopia
of dairy delights.
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The discovery of cheese gave Neolithic
people an enormous survival advantage.
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Milk was rich with essential proteins,
fats, and minerals.
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But it also contained high
quantities of lactose –
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a sugar which is difficult to process for
many ancient and modern stomachs.
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Cheese, however, could provide all of
milk’s advantages with much less lactose.
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And since it could be preserved
and stockpiled,
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these essential nutrients could be eaten
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throughout scarce famines
and long winters.
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Some 7th millennium BCE pottery fragments
found in Turkey
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still contain telltale residues of
the cheese and butter they held.
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By the end of the Bronze Age,
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cheese was a standard commodity
in maritime trade
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throughout the eastern Mediterranean.
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In the densely populated city-states of
Mesopotamia,
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cheese became a staple
of culinary and religious life.
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Some of the earliest known writing
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includes administrative records
of cheese quotas,
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listing a variety of cheeses for different
rituals and populations
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across Mesopotamia.
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Records from nearby civilizations
in Turkey also reference rennet.
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This animal byproduct, produced in the
stomachs of certain mammals,
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can accelerate and control coagulation.
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Eventually this sophisticated cheesemaking
tool spread around the globe,
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giving way to a wide variety of new,
harder cheeses.
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And though some conservative food
cultures rejected the dairy delicacy,
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many more embraced cheese, and quickly
added their own local flavors.
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Nomadic Mongolians used yaks’ milk to
create hard, sundried wedges of Byaslag.
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Egyptians enjoyed goats’ milk cottage
cheese, straining the whey with reed mats.
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In South Asia, milk was coagulated with a
variety of food acids,
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such as lemon juice, vinegar, or yogurt
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and then hung to dry into loafs of paneer.
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This soft mild cheese could be added to
curries and sauces,
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or simply fried as a
quick vegetarian dish.
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The Greeks produced bricks of salty brined
feta cheese,
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alongside a harder variety similar to
today’s pecorino romano.
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This grating cheese was produced in Sicily
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and used in dishes all across the
Mediterranean.
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Under Roman rule, “dry cheese”
or “caseus aridus,”
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became an essential ration
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for the nearly 500,000 soldiers guarding
the vast borders of the Roman Empire.
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And when the Western Roman
Empire collapsed,
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cheesemaking continued to evolve
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in the manors that dotted the medieval
European countryside.
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In the hundreds of Benedictine monasteries
scattered across Europe,
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medieval monks experimented endlessly
with different types of milk,
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cheesemaking practices,
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and aging processes that led to many
of today’s popular cheeses.
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Parmesan, Roquefort, Munster
and several Swiss types
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were all refined and perfected
by these cheesemaking clergymen.
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In the Alps, Swiss cheesemaking was
particularly successful –
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producing a myriad of cow’s milk cheeses.
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By the end of the 14th century,
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Alpine cheese from the Gruyere region of
Switzerland had become so profitable
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that a neighboring state invaded the
Gruyere highlands
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to take control of the growing
cheese trade.
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Cheese remained popular through
The Renaissance,
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and the Industrial Revolution took
production out of the monastery
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and into machinery.
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Today, the world produces roughly
22 billion kilograms of cheese a year,
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shipped and consumed around the globe.
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But 10,000 years after its invention,
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local farms are still following in the
footsteps of their Neolithic ancestors,
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hand crafting one of humanity’s
oldest and favorite foods.