Chinese archaeologists have been excavating an ancient cemetery in northwestern China since the year 2000. They've unearthed 167 graves, some reaching back as far as 3,600 years. Some of the oldest mummies recovered had a substance sprinkled on their heads and necks. Modern chemical analysis and DNA tests have revealed that this is cheese.
The origins of cheese have always been murky, but it is assumed that it was developed on the Eurasian steppes, where livestock farming always did better than agricultural crops. The ancient cheese is kefir, made by introducing bacteria and yeasts from kefir grains into milk. They've found that the burial cheese contains Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens and Pichia kudriavzevii, which are still used to make kefir today. The milk was from both cows and goats. What does it taste like? So far, no one has admitted to trying 3,000-year-old cheese from a grave, but if it weren't good, they wouldn't have put in the work to make it. Read about the oldest cheese yet found at Atlas Obscura.
(Image credit: 罗布泊)
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