List of cheeses invented over 300 years ago

[Maciamo]

I recently finished reading Alberto Angela's I tre giorni di Pompei (The [last] three days of Pompeii), in which he mentions that mozzarella didn't exist at the time, but was invented in the 5th century, at the end of the Roman empire. Wikipedia disagrees and says that the earliest buffalo milk cheese in southern Italy dates from the 12th century and that the name Mozzarella doesn't appear until the 16th century. That made me wonder how old various types of European cheese actually were. So here is what I found.

Cheese name	Region, country	When was it invented?
Ricotta	Italy	Bronze Age (2nd millennium BCE)
Salers	Auvergne, France	Possibly as early as 2000 years ago
Pecorino Romano	Lazio, Italy	Possibly from the 1st century CE
Sbrinz	Switzerland	70 CE according to their website
Banon	Provence, France	At least since 2nd century CE
Mozzarella	South Italy	5th or 12th century
Chabichou	Poitou, France	732
Brie De Meaux	Île-de-France	774
Pecorino sardo	Sardinia, Italy	Late 8th century
Gorgonzola	Lombardy, Italy	879
Munster	Alsace & Lorraine, France	9th century
Maroilles	Picardy, France	962
Feta	Greece	At least since the 11th century
Gouda	Holland, Netherlands	First recorded in 1184
Cheddar	Somerset, England	12th century
Pont-l'Évêque	Normandy, France	12th century
Parmigiano-Reggiano	Emilia, Italy	First recorded in 1254
Emmental	Switzerland	First recorded in 1293
Cantal	Auvergne, France	First recorded in 1298
Appenzeller	Switzerland	13th century
Edam	Holland, Netherlands	14th century
Herve	Liège, Belgium	15th century
Rocamadour	Occitanie, France	15th century
Époisses	Burgundy, France	16th century
Reblochon	Savoy, France	16th century
Cancoillotte	Franche-Comté, Lorraine	16th century
Gruyère	Switzerland	First recorded in 1655
Saint-nectaire	Auvergne, France	17th century
Tomme vaudoise	Switzerland	17th century

 

[Archetype0ne]

Very interesting Maciamo.

If I was to guess some kind of white cheese(akin to Feta but not limited to sheep/goat milk mixtures) has to be among the oldest, due to the nature and simplicity of production, no need for aging, and simple preservation in salt and water.

Did a little googling, and not sure about the reliability of source but here is an interesting list: https://www.oldest.org/food/cheese/

This video on cheese is also very informative, don't be fooled by the title, that cheese expert gives a lot of info on some of the most popular cheeses.

My personal favorites are hard cheeses Grana/Parmigiano, Alpine. And my absolute favorite Gorgonzola.

I suspect there have been much older cheeses than the ones on the list I provided in the link, but it was probably made by nomad herders in the steppes inside animal skins, hence no way to prove they even existed, the method of making/storing doesn't fare well the test of time.

 

[Oldfarmer]

Oscypki- Poland 12th 13th Century

 

[kureandealen]

I suspect there have been much older cheeses than the ones on the list I provided in the link, but it was probably made by nomad herders in the steppes inside animal skins, hence no way to prove they even existed, the method of making/storing doesn't fare well the test of time.

 

[Angela]

Parmigiano is the kind of Cheeses, imo, but I like many of them, even if most of them don't particularly like me if I eat too much of them: Grana Padana, fontina, bel paese, brie, camembert, munster, cheddar, gruyere, mozzarella, burrata, ricotta, mascarpone etc. I could go on and on.

I also like blue cheeses, but of them all I prefer Italian sweet gorgonzola. Just slathered on a slice of crusty, Italian bread and I'm in heaven. My mother also used to mix gorgonzola and ricotta, and stuff the mixture into celery stalks. Gorgonzola sauce is also wonderful on pasta.