Being that I am a huge fan of anything with cheese in it, I did a little research and found a very interesting article all about cheese. Read it and enjoy!
The Wonder of Cheese
by Antonio Gazquez Ortiz
Looking back in history we can speculate on how man first came upon the production of cheese, possibly just by coincidence or intuition. Regardless of how it happened, it was thousands of years ago.
It could have been that on the evening of an ordinary day after milking his sheep, a shepherd lay down under a shadowy tree and satisfied his appetite with the product of his animals: a bowl of creamy and tasty milk. The morning after, he woke up happy but with such a sensation of emptiness in his stomach, that made him think of the bowl of milk he drank the night before. He grabbed the bowl with the leftover milk. However, instead of milk he found a miracle: a few flowers had dropped in the milk and the milk had thickened. He felt so hungry though that he tried the cream. Never had he tried such a delicacy before!
I also heard that the same shepherd, after observing for long time, discovered that those lambs, which died for unknown reasons, housed in their stomachs this same creamed milk. So, he tried that too. It looked like the one he had found in the bowl, and that made him reflect on the matter. That is how he figured out the mystery of cheese.
First references to the use of cream cheese appears in the Third Brahman Book of Manu, where worshipping the gods by pouring liquid butter over the sacrifice pyre is encouraged. According to Herodotus, the first cheese makers were Scythians who prepared it by shaking milk in animal skins. They prepared sheep’s milk cheese and goat cheese. However, the oldest existing image on making of cheese is one belonging to the Frieze of the Milk Shop from Ur around 3000 B.C.
Cheese was produced by the first Jews in Jericho by taking part of the innards of sheep and mixing it with milk. By Homer’s time there are reports of the existence of expert producers of cheese. There are references to the production of cheese in The Odyssey. Greeks used the juice extracted from freshly collected figs or cardoon flowers to thicken the milk. Thus, Aristotle in his third book of History of Animals wrote: “fig tree latex and the wild cardoon flower thicken the milk. So, the fig tree sap is squeezed and collected in wool.”
Cheese in ancient times was not only a basic food but also a very appreciated one. King Darius even had in his court the so-called “mouth servants”, who were in charge of the Royal milk supply and production of cheese. In the Greek culture, cheese was a main product, found even in the Agora in Athens. Markets would sell the acclaimed Lesbos, Sicilian and onion cheeses. Recipes, such as hypotrima which was prepared with white fresh cheese mixed with nuts and boiled wine, were considered a delicacy.
Romans also shared a predilection for this food. Columela, a Roman citizen from Hispania, described the production of cheese in the Imperial Rome: Use the finest quality milk, collect it in barrels at lukewarm temperature. Thicken the milk with small, fig-tree branches or pistils of wild cardoon flowers . It was made in a similar way to that of la Torta del Casar, even though the pistils from the Cynara Cardunculus cardoon were first used in Lusitania.
Cheese was an ordinary food. One of the best known was the Velabro herb cheese, which was sold in the Oil Quarter in Rome. There were other cheeses such as Luna’s, Vestinos’, Trebula’s and the ones from Liguria and Sassina. The most appreciated cheeses within our peninsula, according to Strabone, were the extra creamy ones from Gades (Cádiz).
Around the late Middle Ages and with the arrival of Goths to the peninsula, food became scarce, although Roman habits were kept. Cheese production and consumption, therefore, continued to occur but in smaller amounts and its consumption was reduced to basically the rural areas.
Cheese was an important part of the diet in Al-Andalus. Fresh cheese was a favorite ingredient of their sweet desserts. One of their preferred dishes was a blend of cheese, cinnamon and pepper topped with honey and figs. Another tasty Moorish dish was called Zirbava, made with fresh cheese mixed with onions, green coriander, pepper and oil. Cheese experienced also a relevant revival within the Christian Spain.
In 1273 a crucial rise of the sheep stockbreeding was perked up by the Honorable Council of La Mesta, the national shepherd council, reinforcing the production of wool, milk, cheese and meat. We find a reference to sheep in these lines from the Book of Treasures, dating back to the 15th century: “They are very productive animals from which milk, cheese, wool for clothing and meat to eat are obtained.” It was back in these days when cheese consumption was greatly expanded and a broad variety of cheeses was created. The seeds of the many varieties we have nowadays.
Cheese production and consumption was well spread among Medieval and Renaissance Spaniards as we discover in these lines from La Lozana Andaluza or The Lusty Andalusian Woman: ” And we made him kill the chicken and hang the rooster from his belt, that way we made him understand that the other one would soon die, and that he remained bound to her and not to the other one, and that was to come soon. And that way it happened, and we ate a seasoned dish with lots of cheese.” The Launderer shows her appreciation for cheese as well as she talks: “I value more what youths give me: meat, bread, wine, fruit, olives, capers, chunks of cheese, candle tallows, salt, fish stomachs, vinegar.”
Cheese had also a good value; it could keep in good condition for long periods of time. Therefore, it was a suitable food for traveling and to keep for coming seasons. Cheese is frequently mentioned as a basic element among their provisions in the letters that Spanish immigrants to America wrote in the 15th century. In the letter number 183 a list of provisions is suggested: “four Ronda pork hams, four cheeses, twelve pounds of rice, chickpeas, kidney beans, seasoning herbs, vinegar, etc.”
Cheese was also used as a dowry. As an example, we can read an extract from the letter from Juan Rodriguez de la Huerta to María Magdalena written in 1620 “I received (…) and one hundred and sixty six reales (a unit of currency) are given up as a dowry from the thirty ducats that were surrendered to Diego de la Parra, resident of Villamuelas, in provision of certain amount that he is engaged to hand in to Maria Magdalena within the specified terms by a deed granted in the presence of the town clerck. Although it is certain that the previously mentioned Diego de la Parra has received for in provision of the amount of the mentioned cheese.”
Cheese continues to be used in tithe payments until the 19th century. In reference to tithe payments we find that in El Casar in 1791 and with the permission of the Royal Court, Gregorio Sanchez de Dios inspected the conditions of the Southern villages. Gregorio Sanchez wrote the following about his findings: “Sheep cheeses are relevant for tithe payment” and back then the total sheep stock registered 18,000.
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