close

"There's no doubt that cheese is one of the most varied and well-loved foods in the world. The taste can be bland, buttery, rich, creamy, pungent, sharp, salty, light or delicate. The texture can be hard, soft and runny or between these two extremes. In aroma, cheese can be delicately aromatic, overpowering or virtually unnoticeable. With such a diverse selection, it’s hardly that anyone dislike cheese. Part of the fascination with cheese stems from the amazing diversity that is created out of a single product - milk. Mostly made from cow’s milk, some from the milk of other animals such as goat, water buffalo, sheep or even donkeys and horses.

There is no conclusive evidence indicating where cheese making originated, most cheese authorities and historians consider that cheese was first made in the Middle East. The legendary story has it that cheese was discovered by an unknown Arabian nomad. He is said to have filled a saddlebag with milk to sustain him through the journey across the dessert by horse. After several hours of riding he stopped to quench his thirst only to find that the milk has separated into a pale watery liquid and solid white lumps. Because the saddlebag, which was made from the stomach of a young animal, contained a coagulating enzyme known as rennin, the milk had been effectively separated into curds and whey by the combination of the rennin, the hot sun and the galloping motions of the horse."