The oldest pieces of cheese ever discovered are over 3,000 years old and were well preserved in desert tombs. While this ancient cheese is inedible, the oldest edible cheese on the market today can be aged for up to 18 years!
Bitto Storico: Oldest Bite of Cheese to Eat Today
This cheese is from the Valtellina Valley in Lombardy, Italy. There are only 12 authentic Bitto Storico producers still in existence. Bitto Storico is made from a combination of goat's milk and cow's milk. These goats and cows are free to roam the Valtellina Valley.
Older Cheeses
Some will sell cheddar that has been aged for five or six years while others will go up to seven years. The longest aged cheddar you are likely to find from a specialty seller is about 10 years old and even that can be difficult because very few people like the taste as it is so strong.
Matured for at least 15 months, the full potential of our classic authentic Cheddar Cheese has been reached. This is true 'Vintage' Cheddar. Extending the maturing time allows the cheese to develop more depth and breadth of flavour, resulting in a more vibrant, nutty cheddar with very low lactose (<0.1%).
Some experts say it might comprise the oldest collection of cheese ever assembled. MILWAUKEE — A recently discovered block of eastern Wisconsin cheddar cheese that dates back to the Nixon presidency will be sold for $10 per ounce.
But that does not mean it is safe to eat. Like most things found inside an ancient tomb, the cheese has decayed considerably and is now laced with a deadly bacteria called Brucella melitensis.
Bitto Storico can be aged up to 18 years – and no, that is NOT a typo. I did say 18 years. Ten year aged Bitto Storico is the oldest you'll most likely find available for purchase in Valtellina. Though one of the oldest wheels ever sold was a 15 year old Bitto Storico that sold for about $6,400 in China.
“It's one of the oldest cheeses in the world and is essentially still produced today the same way it was 1,000 years ago,” says Nicola Bertinelli, president of the Consortium of Parmigiano Reggiano.
The world's rarest and most expensive cheese, known as Pule, is made out of the milk of Balkan donkeys. And it is only produced at the Zasavica Special Nature Reserve in Serbia. These donkeys are endangered and are under special protection. The process of milking takes three months.
If you have issues digesting lactose, Parmesan can be a great choice—and the longer it ages, the better: "Aged cheese is much lower in lactose, so many people who can't tolerate liquid milk or soft cheese can eat aged cheeses with no issue," says Largeman-Roth.
Fresh cheeses, like cream cheese, ricotta, Neufchatel, farmer's, goat — anything white, soft and spreadable along those lines — don't have fermentation, mold or preservatives to help keep them fresh, so you'll need to enjoy them more quickly than their aged brethren.
Feta is a brined cheese (it is placed in a brine solution) that is made either only from sheep's milk or a combination of sheep and goat milk. It is aged in the brine minimally 2 months, but the good feta will be aged 12 months. Feta is a cheese that is a Protected Designation of Origin product (P.D.O.)
Some cheeses like burrata, mascarpone, feta, and mozzarella aren't meant to be aged long at all. These cheeses are typically moister varieties with a different set of microbes and bacteria. Aging them would only rob them of their form and flavor.
Hard. "Firmer cheese will have a much longer shelf life," says Horne. Since their moisture content is low, they can last in the refrigerator for a longer time, four weeks or more.
Pule cheese is the most expensive cheese in the world because it is produced exclusively at Serbia's Zasavica Special Nature Reserve. This rare cheese is made from the milk of Balkan donkeys which are endangered and native to Serbia and Montenegro.
This changes the flavor of the milk and creates an environment that is too acidic for bad spoilage bacteria to tolerate, which is why cheese can be aged for extended periods of time without it going bad.
You might even think it's Ricotta. But you'd be wrong. Today, the most popular cheese in the world is… Mozzarella.
Gruyere cheese from Bern, Switzerland has been named the world's best cheese.
A 2018 scientific paper stated that the world's oldest cheese, dating to approximately 1200 BCE (3200 years before present), was found in ancient Egyptian tombs. The earliest cheeses were likely quite sour and salty, similar in texture to rustic cottage cheese or feta, a crumbly, flavorful Greek cheese.
The reason for the unique flavors of aged cheese is because of what happens over months and years. Cheese becomes more sour and sharp over time because the lactose keeps breaking down into lactic acid.
In fact, cheese was made in many parts of the Roman Empire when it was at its height. The Romans, in turn, introduced cheesemaking to England. During the Middle Ages-from the decline of the Roman Empire until the discovery of America-cheese was made and improved by the monks in the monasteries of Europe.
Fresh cheese is cheese in its youngest, purest form. Fluffy ricotta, creamy goat cheese, soft mozzarella, crumbly feta...these are all delicious examples of fresh cheese. Cheese that falls into the category of "fresh cheese" is loved for its simple but satisfying flavor.
Archaeologists discovered blocks of ancient cheese dating back around 2,600 years at the Saqqara necropolis in Egypt. The cheese, which researchers identified as halloumi, was found inside pottery during a new round of excavations, according to Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
Traditional halloumi is typically made from fresh, unpasteurised sheep and/or goat's milk. However, for its commercial production a mixture of pasteurized sheep, goat and occasionally cow's milk is used (with the cow's milk making up the lowest proportion of the milk used, if used at all).