Goats Cheese

So the ingredient for next week has been delivered, and the winner is GOATS CHEESE. An interesting ingredient which opens up a world of choices for this week's dishes. I think I will aim for three dishes this week - two mains and a dessert as well. Well, off to do some research and try and put together some great dishes that accentuate the characteristics of the ingredient, as well as illustrate its culinary history.

I looked back at the history of cheese generally and found this interesting story of its inception. Sure, it may not be strictly historically accurate, but I like the idea.

"Cheese was said to be discovered by an unnamed Arab. He is said to have filled a saddlebag with milk to sustain him on a journey across the desert by horse. After several hours riding he stopped to quench his thirst, only to find that the milk had separated into a pale watery liquid and solid white lumps. Because the saddlebag, which was made from the stomach of a young animal, contained a coagulating enzyme known as rennin, the milk had been effectively separated into curds and whey by the combination of the rennin, the hot sun and the galloping motions of the horse. The nomad, unconcerned with technical details, found the whey drinkable and the curds edible"

However it came about, it is perhaps more accepted that goats cheese was there at the beginning of the discovery of cheese. Goats were among the first domesticated animals alongside sheep in around 10,000BC. Around 8,000BC farmers in the eastern Mediterranean began keeping small herds of goats for their meat, skins and milk. The milk could be made into cheese which was less perishable, making ideal for these nomadic people. In Homer's "The Odyssey" the cyclops, Polyphemus, place goats curd in moulds made from rush. Goat cheese spread around the Mediterranean with the Islamic conquest of the area by the Saracens. They also invaded France from Spain and from there they moved north, taking with them their goats and their cheese. Another point of note is that when the Sarcens reached the Loire river, which at that time was a major trade and transport route, they did not cross the river and were eventually forced slowly south. This perhaps accounts for the many varieties of goats cheese to be found south of the river.

So if an Arab invented cheese and if the Saracens took goats and their cheese from northern Africa through Spain to France so that is the same path my dishes this week will take. Stay tuned for the first dish this weekend.