History of cheese
Today cheese is one of the most popular products.
A legend says how cheese was ‘discovered’. One day a man filled his saddlebag with milk and started his way across the desert. After several hours riding he stopped to have a drink but he found that the milk had separated into a pale watery liquid and solid white lumps. As the saddlebag was made from the stomach of a young animal, it contained rennin and the milk had been effectively separated with the help of the rennin, the hot sun and the galloping of the horse.
It is considered that cheese was first made in the Middle East. Thanks to monks, who were innovators and developers, we have many of the classic varieties of cheese.
Cheese was known to the ancient Sumerians four thousand years before the birth of Christ.
Interesting facts
– Some kinds of cheese, especially those with mold, are aphrodisiacs, products that increase sexual sensuality.
– In France there is a cult of cheese. Some cheeses are an obligatory attribute of state ceremonies. Once Charles de Gaulle said: “It is impossible to govern a country in which there are 246 kinds of cheese!”
– Charlemagne was one of the most devoted connoisseurs of cheese. Brie cheese was his favorite kind of cheese. It is very “moody”: it “lives” only for 84 days, 4 hour and 23 minutes. After this period you shouldn’t eat it because you can be poisoned.
– The circle of Cheddar cheese was presented to Queen Victoria on the wedding day. It weighed half a ton.
– In 1841, there was a battle between the fleets of Uruguay and Argentina. When there were no more cannonballs, Uruguayan Admiral ordered to use cheese heads instead of them. Argentines decided it was a new type of weapon and stopped the battle.
– The most famous book about cheese was written by a French cheesemaker Andre Simon. He had been writing his treatise “On the cheese business” for 17 years.
– The famous philosopher Zarathustra ate practically only cheese for more than twenty years.
– It is said that soft cheese Camembert inspired Salvador Dali to create his painting Melting Clock.