Tiny bacteria, too small to be seen by the unaided eye, produce a nourishing food for you and your family. It is a tasty food that can be enjoyed just as it is, or it can be used to enhance many other foods. This delicious food is cheese.
There are many varieties. But, of course, the ones you see in a market are not all of them. All together, there are approximately four hundred different kinds. When you look at the variety of cheeses where you shop, do you ever wonder how they are made and what makes one differ from another?
Cheese is usually made from cow’s milk, but the milk of any animal can be used. In India there are cheeses made from buffalo’s milk, and in the Middle East camel’s milk is used to make a cheese called Krutt. Laplanders make one from reindeer milk, and in Nepal yak milk is used. The milk of goats and sheep is also used in a number of countries.
But when you look at a glass of milk and a piece of cheese you do not see much resemblance, do you? Yet the one comes from the other. Bacteria make possible the remarkable transformation of milk to cheese.
