Oldest cheese

The oldest residue of solid cheese ever found dates from the 13th-century BCE tomb for Ptahmes, the mayor of the ancient city of Memphis in Egypt. The results of the research, by Enrico Greco et al, were published in on 25 July 2018 in Analytical Chemistry. Mass spectrometry was used to analyse a few milligrams of the sample, found in a broken jar and described as a "solidified whitish mass", and helped chemists determine that it was a solid dairy product obtained by mixing the milk of cows with that of sheep or goats.

The tomb was excavated by a team from Cairo University. The dry conditions and strongly alkaline environment helped to preserve the ancient cheese specimen. This is the first physical evidence of cheese production in Ancient Egypt. Researchers also found samples of a bacterium that can cause brucellosis: an infectious and deadly disease that comes from consuming unpasteurized dairy.

Evidence for cheese making stretches back 7,400 years – perforated ceramic straining pots used to separate fat-rich milk curds from whey were found in China containing the chemical signature of milk – but physical samples of ancient cheese are rare.