By: Lucia Salas

The Start & Origin of Cheese     

     Cheese has been around for about 4000 years.There are many types of Cheese with different aromas and different taste; from Blue Cheese to Mozarella to many other ones. Most Cheese are made from the milk of cows, however there are some other Cheeses that come from the milk of goats, sheeps,reindeer,buffalo camels and yaks. Some even contain an enzyme or mold. In fact the first cheeses were fresh.They were made out of salted white curds drained of whey.France has a great variety of Cheeses and of very good quality. They have approximately 400 different kinds of Cheese. However Cheese seems to have been originatated in Pakistan.

 Types of Cheese

     Each contry has developed their own cheese according to the ingredients and con ditions available in their region. People have different preferences when it comes to Cheese. The preferences vary from region to region.

You can find cheeses with different taste; some can be salty and others can be creamy.There are  3 different categories of Cheese; hard Cheese, soft Cheese and semisoft Cheese. Some Cheeses that fall into the hard Cheese category are: Cheddar, Edam, Emmental, Gouda, Provolone, Romano and Swiss. Some soft Cheeses are Brie, Camembert, cottage, Neufchâtel, and ricotta. The semisoft ones are Gorgonzola, Limburger, Muenster and Roquefort. These are only some of the many Cheeses people eat aound the world.

  The Legend

     It is believed that the first Cheese was made in The Middle East by an Arab nomad. The first Cheese was a form of Sour milk, it was made when it was discovered that domestic animals were able to be milked. The legend tells that an Arab nomad filled a saddlebag with milk in order to survive while crossing the desert by horse. He rode his horse for several hours and when he became thirsty he decided to drink some milk, but the milk had separated into a pale watery liquid and solid white lumps. The saddlebag that contained the milk was made from the stomach of a young animal and it had a coagulating enzyme called rennin. The combination of the saddlebag and the enzyme, the hot sun and the galloping of the horse caused the milk to separate into curds and whey. Even though the milk was no longer milk, the nomad found the curds to be edible and the whey drinkable.  

 Facts About Cheese 

• Over 18 million tons of cheese was produced in 2204
• More than a third of the annual milk production in the U.S is used to make Cheese.
• More then 160 different kinds of Cheese are produced from the milk of California cows.
• The first Cheese factory in Wisconsin, opened in 1868, this factory made Limburger Cheese.
• Both France & Italy produce more than enough different types of cheese to eat a different kind every day of the year.

"Cheese." Answers.com. 2009. 6 Jan. 2009 <http://www.answers.com/cheese>. 

"Cheese facts." Bellwether farms. 6 Feb. 2009 <http://www.bellwethercheese.com/facts/>.

"History of cheese." 6 Jan. 2009 http://www.gol27.com/HistoryCheese.html.