Before empires and royalty, before pottery and writing, before metal tools and weapons – there was cheese. As early as 8000 BCE, the earliest Neolithic farmers living in the Fertile Crescent began a legacy of cheesemaking almost as old as civilization itself. The rise of agriculture led to domesticated sheep and goats, which ancient farmers harvested for milk. But when left in warm conditions for several hours, that fresh milk began to sour. Its lactic acids caused proteins to coagulate, binding into soft clumps. Upon discovering this strange transformation, the farmers drained the remaining liquid – later named whey – and found the yellowish globs could be eaten fresh as a soft, spreadable meal. These clumps, or curds, became the building blocks of cheese, which would eventually be aged, pressed, ripened, and whizzed into a diverse cornucopia of dairy delights.
Pre carstava i plemića, pre grnčarstva i pisma, pre metalnog oruđa i oružja - postojao je sir. Još 8 000. godine p.n.e, najstariji neolitski zemljoradnici koji su živeli u Plodnom polumesecu započeli su tradiciju proizvodnje sira koja je gotovo stara koliko i sama civilizacija. Uspon zemljoradnje je doveo do pripitomljavanja ovaca i koza, koje su drevni zemljoradnici uzgajali radi mleka. Međutim, kada se ostavi na toplom na nekoliko sati, to sveže mleko se ukiseli. Zbog mlečne kiseline se mlečni proteini zgrušavaju, vezujući se u meko grumenje. Otkrivši ovaj neobični preobražaj, zemljoradnici bi iscedili preostalu tečnost - koja je kasnije nazvana surutkom - i otkrili su da se žućkasti ugrušci mogu jesti sveži kao mek namaz. Ovo grumenje ili grude postali su osnova za sir, koji će kasnije da puštaju da ostari, iscedi se, sazre i zapeni u obilje mlečnih poslastica.
The discovery of cheese gave Neolithic people an enormous survival advantage. Milk was rich with essential proteins, fats, and minerals. But it also contained high quantities of lactose – a sugar which is difficult to process for many ancient and modern stomachs. Cheese, however, could provide all of milk’s advantages with much less lactose. And since it could be preserved and stockpiled, these essential nutrients could be eaten throughout scarce famines and long winters. Some 7th millennium BCE pottery fragments found in Turkey still contain telltale residues of the cheese and butter they held.
Otkriće sira je neolitskim ljudima pružilo značajnu prednost u preživljavanju. Mleko je bogato esencijalnim proteinima, mastima i mineralima. Međutim, takođe sadrži visoke količine laktoze - šećera koga su teško prerađivali mnogi drevni i savremeni stomaci. Sir, međutim, mogao je da obezbedi sve prednosti mleka uz mnogo manje laktoze. A kako je mogao da se čuva i skladišti, ove esencijalne hranljive materije je bilo moguće jesti tokom sporadičnih perioda gladi i dugih zima. Neki komadi grnčarije iz sedmog milenijuma p.n.e. pronađeni u Turskoj i dalje sadrže nagoveštaje ostataka sira i maslaca koji su u njima stajali.
By the end of the Bronze Age, cheese was a standard commodity in maritime trade throughout the eastern Mediterranean. In the densely populated city-states of Mesopotamia, cheese became a staple of culinary and religious life. Some of the earliest known writing includes administrative records of cheese quotas, listing a variety of cheeses for different rituals and populations across Mesopotamia. Records from nearby civilizations in Turkey also reference rennet. This animal byproduct, produced in the stomachs of certain mammals, can accelerate and control coagulation. Eventually this sophisticated cheesemaking tool spread around the globe, giving way to a wide variety of new, harder cheeses. And though some conservative food cultures rejected the dairy delicacy, many more embraced cheese, and quickly added their own local flavors.
Do kraja bronzanog doba, sir je bio uobičajena namirnica u pomorskoj trgovini širom istočnog Mediterana. U gusto naseljenim gradovima-državama Mesopotamije, sir je postao temelj kulinarskog i religioznog života. Neki od najranijih poznatih zapisa uključuju administrativne beleške o sledovanjima sira, nabrajaju razne sireve za različite rituale i narode širom Mesopotamije. Zapisi iz obližnjih civilizacija u Turskoj takođe pominju sirište. Ovaj životinjski nusproizvod, koji nastaje u stomacima određenih sisara može da ubrza i kontroliše zgrušavanje. Vremenom se ovo prefinjeno sredstvo za izradu sira proširilo svetom, krčeći put širokoj lepezi novih tvrđih sireva. Iako su neke konzervativnije kulture hrane odbacivale ovaj mlečni delikates, mnogo više njih je prigrlilo sir i ubrzo su dodali sopstvene lokalne ukuse.
Nomadic Mongolians used yaks’ milk to create hard, sundried wedges of Byaslag. Egyptians enjoyed goats’ milk cottage cheese, straining the whey with reed mats. In South Asia, milk was coagulated with a variety of food acids, such as lemon juice, vinegar, or yogurt and then hung to dry into loafs of paneer. This soft mild cheese could be added to curries and sauces, or simply fried as a quick vegetarian dish. The Greeks produced bricks of salty brined feta cheese, alongside a harder variety similar to today’s pecorino romano. This grating cheese was produced in Sicily and used in dishes all across the Mediterranean. Under Roman rule, “dry cheese” or “caseus aridus,” became an essential ration for the nearly 500,000 soldiers guarding the vast borders of the Roman Empire.
Nomadski Mongoli su koristili mleko jaka da bi proizveli tvrde grude bjaslaga koje suše na suncu. Egipćani su uživali u kozjem sitnom siru, cedeći surutku kroz rogozinu od trske. U Južnoj Aziji, mleko je zgrušavano kiselinama iz raznih namirnica, poput limunovog soka, sirćeta ili jogurta, a potom je vešano da se suši u vekne panira. Ovaj meki, blagi sir je mogao da se dodaje u kari i soseve ili da se prosto prži kao brzi vegetarijanski obrok. Grci su proizvodili ploče usoljenog feta sira, pored tvrđe vrste slične današnjem pekorinu romanu. Ovaj sir za rendanje se proizvodio u Siciliji i korišćen je u jelima širom Mediterana. Pod rimskom vladavinom „suvi sir“ ili „caseus aridus“ je postao suštinsko sledovanje za skoro 500 000 vojnika koji su čuvali ogromne granice Rimskog carstva.
And when the Western Roman Empire collapsed, cheesemaking continued to evolve in the manors that dotted the medieval European countryside. In the hundreds of Benedictine monasteries scattered across Europe, medieval monks experimented endlessly with different types of milk, cheesemaking practices, and aging processes that led to many of today’s popular cheeses. Parmesan, Roquefort, Munster and several Swiss types were all refined and perfected by these cheesemaking clergymen. In the Alps, Swiss cheesemaking was particularly successful – producing a myriad of cow’s milk cheeses. By the end of the 14th century, Alpine cheese from the Gruyere region of Switzerland had become so profitable that a neighboring state invaded the Gruyere highlands to take control of the growing cheese trade.
A kada je Zapadno Rimsko carstvo palo, proizvodnja sira je nastavila da se razvija na načine koji su bili tipični za srednjovekovna evropska sela. U stotinama benediktinskih manastira raspoređenih širom Evrope, srednjovekovni kaluđeri su stalno eksperimentisali sa različitim vrstama mleka, praksama proizvodnje sira i procesima sazrevanja koji su iznedrili mnoge trenutno popularne sireve. Parmezan, rokfor, munster i nekoliko švajcarskih vrsta su sve preradili i usavršili ovi sveštenici sirari. U Alpima, švajcarska proizvodnja sira je bila naročito uspešna - proizvodeći bezbroj sireva od kravljeg mleka. Do kraja XIV veka, alpski sir iz oblasti Grijer u Švajcarskoj postao je toliko profitabilan da su susedne države izvršile invaziju na grijerske visoravni kako bi preuzele kontrolu nad rastućom trgovinom sira.
Cheese remained popular through the Renaissance, and the Industrial Revolution took production out of the monastery and into machinery. Today, the world produces roughly 22 billion kilograms of cheese a year, shipped and consumed around the globe. But 10,000 years after its invention, local farms are still following in the footsteps of their Neolithic ancestors, hand crafting one of humanity’s oldest and favorite foods.
Sir je ostao popularan tokom renesanse, a Industrijska revolucija je preselila proizvodnju sira iz manastira u mehanizaciju. Danas, svet proizvodi otprilike 22 milijarde kilograma sira godišnje, koji se izvozi i konzumira širom sveta. Međutim, 10 000 godina nakon njegovog otkrića, seoska domaćinstva i dalje idu tragovima svojih neolitskih predaka, ručno proizvodeći jednu od najstarijih i najvoljenijih namirnica čovečanstva.