Talk about stinky cheese! Scientists studying an ancient Egyptian tomb recently made an exciting dairy discovery. Tests revealed that a mysterious white substance found at the site is a hunk of 3,200-year-old cheese. It’s one of the oldest cheese specimens ever uncovered.
The tomb where the ancient food was found belonged to an official named Ptahmes, who was something of a big cheese himself. He served as mayor of the city of Memphis in the 13th century b.c. (The site is near Egypt’s present-day capital city of Cairo.)
While clearing sand from the tomb several years ago, scientists found a broken clay jar filled with a hardened white substance. They suspected it was a type of food. (Feasts were often buried alongside wealthy Egyptians so they wouldn’t go hungry in the afterlife.) The experts took a piece of the material and spent several years studying it.
Scientists are now slicing into another mystery. What might the ancient cheese have tasted like? Tests have revealed that it was made mostly from sheep’s and goat’s milk. That means it might have had a flavor similar to sour cream, says Paul Kindstedt, a professor who studies cheese chemistry at the University of Vermont.
“It was probably a very mild cheese,” he says, “spreadable and delicate.”