No one knows when cheese-making started, but it's believed to be
linked to the taming of domestic animals 10,000 years before Christ.
The Bible tells that when David escaped across the Jordan River, he
was fed with "cheese of kine [cows]" and that he presented 10 cheeses
to the captain of the army drawn up to do battle with Saul. At one
time, there was even an area near Jerusalem known as the Valley of
the Cheese Makers.
Vicki Dunaway likes the legend that traces the origin of cheese-
making to an ancient traveler who put his day's supply of milk into a
pouch made from an animal's stomach. As he set out across the desert,
the rennet in the lining of the pouch - along with the jiggling of ...