Got Cheese? - Where Age Does Matter!
 Legend has it that cheese was first invented by a shepherd, carrying milk in a pouch made from a sheep's stomach. The rennet from the sheep's stomach lining and heat from the sun separated the milk into curds and whey. Although the legend may be an exaggeration, cheese has been around for a very long time. Greek mythology addresses the cheese-making process, as Odysseus confronts the Cyclops in Homer's Odyssey.
Throughout the ages, cheese making has been a highly prized skill. The French hold their cheese in high regard and some manufactures even refuse to pasteurize the cheese, for fear the taste will suffer. When cheese is pasteurized, milk is heated up to 72°C for 20 to 30 seconds, effectively getting rid of dangerous bacteria. Next, the living organisms lactic bacteria are added to the milk to restore flavor and continue the aging process. French cheese makers don't wish to stop the aging process of cheese, so they don't pasteurize the milk and continue their process with the original bacteria.
 Developing the animals from which to obtain milk also has been a labor of biotechnology. Goats, sheep and cows are prized for their milk, but different cheeses use milk from different animals. Farmers have used selective breeding to produce animals prized for their delicious milk.
When cheese is pasteurized, as most American cheeses are, biotechnology has helped farmers once again. The type of bacteria integrated into the milk and the length of time allowed for curdling and ripening has been specified after many trials and scientific inquiries to make the best-tasting cheeses!
 The newest biotechnology of cheese deals with the enzyme, chymosin, previously found only in the protein of rennet. Scientists found that rennet contained chymosin, and that this made it possible to separate milk in the manufacture of cheese. Rennet was previously obtained only from young calves, but through biotechnology, it can now be manufactured in a laboratory. Chymosin was created by using a genetically engineered bacterium and was introduced to the market in 1990, making it the first product of recombinant DNA. Using Chymosin to create cheese is an exciting part of genetic engineering!
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