A Story of Sheep Cheese
Frank Antoine Bail, Two Milkmaids, 1906
The origin of cheese predates recorded history. The earliest archeological evidence of cheesemaking was found in Egyptian tomb murals,from 2000 BCE. Cheese, however, is probably much older, dating back to about 8000 BCE, when goats were first domesticated. The ancient tribes of the Middle East used animal skins and inflated internal organs to store the goats’ milk. The rennet from the animal’s stomach turned the milk into curd and whey, and so cheese was discovered, accidentally.
Delightful accident, really. 10 thousand years later, cheese is still one of the most interesting foodstuffs around. My favorite is Israeli sheep cheese. My grandparents were sheep breeders and my grandmother Esther used to make the most fabulous cheese from their milk. It was snowy-white, delicate, firm but smooth, slightly salty, and absolutely delicious. Every few weeks she’d give my father a perfect wheel of cheese for us. My mother kept it in a special box at the back of the fridge, like a treasure.
10 years after my grandmother passed away, my mother went on a shopping trip with friends, and came home with a bunch of new home-made cheeses from a local dairy. One of them looked and tasted exactly like the sheep cheese that grandmother Esther made. Needless to say that our family has become regular customers of that local dairy. This year I bought 2 pounds of sheep cheese from them. I may bake something interesting with it later this week, but so far I’m mostly interested in eating thick slices of the cheese straight from the box.
Faboulous things to do with sheep cheese: Greek salad, onion and cheese quiche, cheese tomatoe & basil sandwich, roast red and yellow peppers cheese terrine, eggplant and red pepper cheese terrine, cheese stuffed pita bread.
