A grater mission

When archaeologists discovered mysterious white granules smeared on the heads of Bronze Age mummies, and on the jewellery they wore, they suspected it was some kind of fermented dairy product. But they didn't have the technology to tell exactly what it was.

- Natasha Rego

A decade later, in 2014, protein analysis had advanced to the point where it could confirm that the granules found on the mummies in Xinjiang, China, were a type of kefir cheese-making this the oldest-known intact cheese sample in the world.

Another decade later, genetic analysis has revealed how it was made.

It turns out that the recipe from more than 3,500 years ago is remarkably similar in some ways, and in others, dramatically different, from the methods in use today.

The similarities are evocative: Two of the cheese samples were made from cow's milk; a third from goat's milk. These remain among the most popular choices today.