Under any name, cheese is a beloved food around the world, and it has been for a long time.
Cheese is made of proteins and fats from milk, often matured by bacteria or other organisms.
No one knows how it was invented, but one legend has it that a herdsman stored milk in a bag made from an animal's stomach. The heat of the day, aided by bacteria and enzymes in the stomach lining, made the milk curdle and ripen, producing cheese. True or not, this story highlights the basics of cheese production. Milk is heated, which separates proteins from the surrounding water. The process works best if there's acid in the milk.