Cheese-making may have originated from nomadic herdsmen who stored milk in vessels made from the stomachs of sheep and goats.
Because their stomach linings contained a mix of lactic acid, bacteria and rennet, the milk would ferment and coagulate. A yoghurt-like product would have been the result, which, through gentle agitation and the separation of curds from whey would have produced cheese.
Traditionally Scottish cheese differed from that of England and Wales. English cheese-making was influenced by the Romans, while the Scots made crowdie that was introduced by the Vikings. It was a type of cottage cheese which, being made from skimmed milk, was very low in fat and had a slightly sour taste. In the absence of refrigeration, crowdie had to be eaten within a couple of days before it went off.
In the early 18th century Barbara Gilmour successfully manufactured a type of hard cheese until then unknown in Scotland, being made from unskimmed milk from Ayrshire cows. Her process was copied by her neighbours in Dunlop, East Ayrshire, and making Dunlop cheese extended rapidly to other districts until it fell out of popularity some time after the end of the Second World War.
Cheddar cheese originated in England in the 15th century and became very popular south of the Border. In 1854 the Ayrshire Agricultural Association sent a deputation of agriculturists to study cheese-making in Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. They were "to visit and inspect various of the best dairy districts in England and afterwards to report to the Association which of the English modes in their opinion was the best adapted for introduction to this country, granting of course, if a better method could be found than the old Ayrshire or 'Dunlop'."
The deputation thought the Cheddar system in Somerset was the best and a leading cheese-maker was brought to Scotland to give a series of demonstrations - and Scottish Cheddar was born.
Today there are award-winning, Scottish cheese-making creameries at Lockerbie, Stranraer and Campbeltown, and on the islands of Bute, Arran, Islay, Mull, Gigha and Orkney as well as a host of smaller farmhouse and artisan cheese-makers. Scottish cheese is now exported all over the world, including to France where it has a growing reputation.
Promotion is the name of the game and one of the best campaigns popularised the ploughman's lunch of bread, cheese and pickles.
Now cheese lovers can sleep easy, as the British Cheese Board, a promotional body, has unveiled the results of a study that debunks the age-old myth that eating cheese before bed gives you nightmares. In fact, the results indicate that cheese might even give some people a more pleasant night's sleep. The two-week study, conducted with students from Middlesex University, looked at the effects of consuming five British cheeses on the quality of sleep and the content of the students' dreams. They were also asked to consume a vegan alternative, which acted as a placebo for the study.
When asked to describe the quality of their sleep on a scale of one to 10 (with one being unenjoyable and 10 extremely enjoyable) after eating the cheeses, when compared to their regular sleep patterns, the average score came out at 5.9, indicating the students had experienced a slightly more enjoyable sleep than usual.
This was confirmed by the fact the average score for the placebo on the same question was five, suggesting that there had been no effect either way from consuming the vegan alternative.
When it comes to dreaming, the study revealed students claimed to experience fewer dreams than they normally had - with Cheddar proving particularly inhibitive to dreams.
The average score for Cheddar was just 3.5, with one meaning they recalled having much fewer dreams than usual, and 10 meaning they recalled having many more dreams.
Sleep expert Professor Ian Hindmarsh, who supported the study, said: "The relationship between cheese and sleep is a particularly complex one, but it was interesting to see that the study suggested no causal relationship between eating cheese and nightmares.
"Tryptophan, one of the amino acids found in cheese, has many positive effects on mood and sleep. It could well be that the different effects of various cheeses on dreams and sleep found in this study are due directly to the effects of this substance.
Overall, this study suggests that in changing the levels of tryptophan, cheese can assist in improving our mood and help to promote a good night's sleep."
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