According to the legend cheese has been discovered by one of Alpo’s sons, Aristeu, king of Arcadia. Although many details about the exact origin of this food are ignored, history confirms its antiquity.

As a malted of fact it’s supposed to be invented before butter. Assyrian, Chaldean and Egyptians and subsequently Greek and Romans appreciated cheese, from which they produced several kinds and whose virtues they knew for they used it in soldiers and athletes nourishment.

In Planto, at the Roman comedian, one can read about the class cheese (caseus) reached in ancient Rome.

The elaboration of this food we appreciate so much is based on three major discoveries, which will remain forever.

First was achieving to milk more than 10.000 years ago. This is used by man as a component of this food since he got the idea of milking animals.

The influence of temperature was not unobserved. Due to fire and heat milk curdle quickly in the cellar, that’s how the second discovery was made: when milk curdled and solified a liquid drained and the curdled-milk was more consistent. Later on this process was accelerated by cropping the curdled milk in an osier basket or other recipient with holes to let the whey drain.
This way a white and consistent paste is obtained (curd cheese that even nowadays is produced by the same process).

The third discovery about cheese is curdling; a digestive enzyme one gets out goat stomach.

There would be a lot of interesting things to tell about the long way of cheese and cheese making through time, since Antiquity
until our days. Through the centuries 400 kinds of cheese were numbered in all the world: each kind little by little took its own reputation and complete with pleasure any meal.

The authenticity of cheese is very important for in many countries like Portugal there is a rule about its manufacture and origin certificate.

In the end of a meal and before sweeties or fruit one must serve a dish with several kinds of cheese, chosen according to the season and attended by dark bread, white bread and rye bread, with little butternuts, cumin, and a pepper mill.

Portugal is a country of fine pasture-land, and tending flocks has been always a mean of subsistence or an important traditional activity. Surely in a land of flocks cheese is king.

The several kinds of cheese made with milks of sheep, cow goat, or mixed, the consistence of the paste, the flavour and flat
degree are different in each region.

Making cheese is an art that comes to the table as an important element of gastronomy in that region and reveals the skill of the hands that give them shape.

Some people still afirm that "the cheese makes the cheese-maker and not the other way around". In a way or another the secret goes from generation to genaration and till today cheese is hand-made. The oil-lamp is out of fashion but the flavour remains.
And to preserve it were created the "Delimited Regions" now "Protect origin Denominations". Serra da Estrela, Serpa, Beira Baixa, Azeitão e S.Jorge started as the five delimited regions. Today the origin denominations are eight.