National Cheese Lovers' Day

Cheese is believed to be one of the oldest processed foods. There is evidence that it has been around nearly as long as humans have been domesticating milk-producing animals like cows and goats. Some of the earliest records of cheese originated with the Sumerians, who recorded cheese making and consuming around the time they invented written language, around 3,500 B.C. The secret is to separate the protein called casein from the milk, transform it into the solid form called curd, and separate it from the liquids, called whey. In fact, Little Miss Muffet's favorite dish is a basic form of cottage cheese that still has some whey in it.

The Romans believed that cheese making could also be an art form and experimented with the process by adding herbs, spices and vegetable extracts. Later on, monasteries took on many of the cheese-making duties and many of today's popular cheeses were developed by monks. The cheese-making process migrated to the United States, where the first recorded dedicated cheese making factory was opened in the mid-19th century.

(Image credit: The Trademark Blog)