Its no surprise that cheese has been around for a long time. With estimates ranging from 5,000 years to 10,000 years old, cheese is actually older than history. The most accepted version of its origin is that it was likely the way that already sour milk was preserved.
By waiting for the sour milk to separate, the solids could be removed, pressed and salted and then eaten. This probably happened in the Middle East. These early cheeses were probably very salty and acidic. At a later point someone discovered that milk stored in the stomach of a calf became better cheese and rennet, the enzyme that helps digest milk entered cheese history.
Ancient to Modern
Once cheese traveled to cooler climates, salt and acid became a little less important, allowing microbes and mold to become part of the flavoring of aged cheeses. Cheese was important in ancient Greece and Rome. Cheese making was mentioned in Homers Odyssey. According to cheese history, the art of making cheese was established by the time the Roman Empire came into power.
The methods used to turn a variety of milk into a array of cheeses are similar to those used today. Cheese was considered part of...