Cheese was first made accidentally by prehistoric man thousands of years ago. It is probable that milk was first carried in containers made from the skin or stomach of animals.
Feta cheese has been a significant dairy product in the diet of the Greeks since the time of Homer. References to cheese production go back to the 8th century BC. The cheese making technology described in Homer’s Odyssey is similar to the technology used until recently by Greek shepherds to make Feta cheese from the milk of their sheep and goats.
It was reported that manufacturing of pickled cheeses (feta cheese) in Egypt has been dated to the First Dynasty (3200 BC). Earthen cheese pots were found in the tomb of ‘Hor Aha’ at Saqqara.
The cheese made by the Cyclops Polyphemus (shepherd and cheesemaker) and by most ancient Greeks, was undoubtably the ancestor of modern Feta.
Aristotle (384-322 BC) says that cheese is composed of water, fat, and tyrine, term used in Greece up to the early 20th century designate casein.
For many centuries, Feta cheese was known only in the Balkan region. However, during the 20th century, large Greek communities were established in various countries, mainly in Australia, USA, Canada and Germany, due to mass migration of Greeks, who retained their dietary habits.
History of feta cheese
