How Roquefort and other fascinating facts about cheese appeared from the Neolithic to the present day

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

This is not just a tasty and healthy product, it is the hero of many legends and traditions, the most ancient of which date back to the Neolithic times! As a matter of fact, the cheese itself existed even then - and the attitude towards it in various cultures was equally respectful: the ancient Greeks associated cheeses with the gods of Olympus, and fans of surrealism - with the creations of Salvador Dali.

How did cheese come about?

The history of the origin of cheese is lost somewhere in the third millennium BC. It is said that a certain Arabian merchant Hanan (or Kanan) set off, taking food and milk with him to refresh himself on the road. The day was sultry, and, stopping to rest, the merchant found that the milk had turned into a dense clot surrounded by a watery liquid. Apparently, the hunger was too strong, because the unknown product was tried by the merchant. He liked the new dish, and the merchant told others about it, so the recipe spread! Long before the new era, in hot countries, cheese was made as follows: cow's or sheep's milk was dried and heated in the sun, then flavored with roots and spices. Later they began to add enzymes of plant or animal origin.

In ancient Greece, cheese was so highly valued that it was attributed to its appearance by the will of the Olympian gods: supposedly the goddess Artemis gave cheese to people. According to other legends, the son of the god Apollo Aristey became the benefactor. Homer's Odyssey describes in detail how the product was made by Cyclops Polyphemus, the owner of the cheese dairy. The ancient Romans simply valued cheese as a delicacy; this dish was served during feasts as a symbol of wealth and prosperity.

After the fall of the ancient world, the revival of the traditions of cheese making took place thanks to medieval monks. In Russia, the word "cheese" was familiar from time immemorial, however, for a long time this word was called cottage cheese. By the way, in European countries, these two products are usually combined under the common name of cheeses. Cheese business in Russia began to develop on an industrial scale since the time of Peter the Great, when the tsar returned from a trip to Europe, inspired, among other things, by the traditions of cheese making.

Many Russian cheesemakers were trained in Switzerland, one of the countries claiming the title of the most "cheese" - no wonder, because at present it produces about 2,400 varieties of cheese! As an excursion route on the Swiss land runs the "Cheese Train" - from the town of Montreux to Gruyeres, where the cheese of the same name is produced.

History of some French cheeses

Legends about the emergence of different cheeses could constitute a whole book on "cheese" mythology. For example, Roquefort, a soft cheese made from sheep's milk, was allegedly first created thanks to a shepherd boy who, in order not to carry a bundle of bread and cheese to the pasture, left it in a cave, and returned only a few weeks later. The bread was spoiled, and the cheese was streaked with noble mold. But, having tasted it, the boy was very pleased and hastened to tell the inhabitants of the village of Roquefort about his discovery - this is how this variety appeared.

But brie cheese, about which they say that it lives exactly 83 days, 4 hours and 23 minutes, and then becomes poisonous, once played a cruel joke with one of his ardent admirers - Louis XVI. They say that it was during the tasting of this cheese in the town of Varenne that the French king was captured by the revolutionaries. The secret of the production of Camembert cheese was revealed to a certain young French woman by a monk hiding from the same leaders of the Revolution - so he repaid his savior. It is believed that the creation of the famous painting "The Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dali was inspired by this particular type of French cheese.

In France, the art of cheese production and consumption has been elevated to the rank of a cult, and it is not surprising that it is in this country that one can find, for example, the book "On the Cheese Business", which the author, cheese maker André Simon, has been writing for seventeen years. The book includes a story about more than eight hundred varieties of cheese. But not only France is fighting for the title of the most "cheese" country. There are varieties of this product in different cultures and in different regions of Europe and the world.

Not only France - the birthplace of cheese

The Greeks, for example, by right of “seniority”, ascribe this title to themselves, because the same Polyphemus, who was immortalized in Homer's poem, created the cheese called feta - the very one that is an indispensable component of Greek salad. This name can only be used for cheeses produced in Greece, therefore products with similar tastes often acquire other original names, such as "fetaki" or "feta feta".

Several legends tell about the origin of the Adyghe cheese. One of them says that once upon a time, a young girl managed to save a whole herd of animals in a storm and received from the gods the recipe for the best cheese in the world. Another legend tells that a certain young man, during a duel with a giant, imperceptibly replaced the stone in his hand with a piece of cheese, squeezed it in his fist, and the enemy, seeing water oozing from the “stone”, preferred to flee.

Italian parmesan cheese, whose admirers were Pushkin, Gogol, Moliere - who did not recognize almost any other food in his declining years, won the love of gourmets long ago. It is believed that this variety, which was suitable for long-term storage, was invented by Benedictine monks. Parmesan is originally called "Parmigiano Reggiano", is considered the king of cheeses and can only be produced in the provinces of Parma and Reggio nel Emilia. It takes 16 liters of milk to make one kilogram of cheese, and the product itself matures for two years or more. This brittle, crumbly cheese has long been considered the best end to a meal and is served with pears and nuts - but it’s not the only way culinary experts use it.

Different countries, provinces and even small villages often become the only cheese producers under a certain name. This is a way to protect the quality of the product - after all, its taste depends, among other things, on the taste of milk, and therefore on the pasture for farm animals. English Stilton cheese, semi-soft, with blue veins of mold, has become one such protected name - under this name cheese can only be produced in the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. It's funny that the village of Stilton itself, which gave the name to the variety, was not included in the list of places where such production is allowed - it is located in Cambridgeshire. But it was the inhabitant of this town, the owner of the local inn, who bought the rights to distribute this cheese in the eighteenth century - having tasted it once during one of his trips.

If you think about it, cheese occupies a much larger place in the history of culture than is usually given to food: cheeses have long been considered a worthy gift - including to royalty; in honor of cheese, not only legends are made, but also monuments are erected; and the famous phrase, preceding photographing, whatever one may say, refers to the same cheese - both in English and, remarkably, in Russian too.