Is there anywhere where it is possible to buy different sorts of
cheese than the usual cow, goat etc. Presumably all mammals produce
milk so where is the monkey cheese and the duck-billed platypus
cheese?
(Apologies for the extreme oddness of this question!)
Thanks

Good morning, rai130,

Historically, cheese is a milk product discovered, most likely by
accident, millenia ago. According to the brief history on this page,
it probably originated in the Middle East.

E-Cookbooks.net | Cheese History and Glossary
http://www.e-cookbooks.net/cheese.htm

I'll try to work logically through the 'why' part of your question,
although it's 6 a.m. and rather early for logic.

Off-hand, I'd say that the key to cheese-making was/is domestication.
It's much easier to milk a farm cow than a wild buffalo. This brings
us to monkeys who might be cute one-on-one in a circus or movie, but
in a 'herd' they aren't so easily dealt with. Also, even if they could
be tamed en masse to suffer the milking process, how many would you
need to get an adequate supply of milk to make the whole process
worthwhile? Of course, gorillas are much bigger and no doubt produce
more milk, but it would be a brave soul who'd attempt to milk one,
much less a large number of them, twice a day.

Platypuses present a similar problem -- too small, not easily
accessed, and not completely 'mammalized.'

What about human cheese? More and more (western, at least) women have
neither the time nor the desire to breastfeed their own children as it
is. I think hiring a sufficient number of lactating woman to be milked
daily would be a hard row to hoe. And seriously, who would buy the
resulting cheese?

Dogs? Cats? I don't know about you, but I don't think I could handle that!

So far, I've offered you just my morning muses on the whole question,
but there is a scientific explanation for why cow milk (and sometimes
goat) is most commonly used. Different animals produce different types
of milk -- some have more fat, some more sugar, some less water, etc.
All of this affects the curdling action that is required to produce a
good cheese. If you go to this page and scroll down to page five, you
can read the HTML version of a PDF site.

The AAEC Pony Express
://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:VfLiy4afbPcJ:www.aaeci.org/Pony%2520Express%2520April%2520Issue.pdf+Juustoleipa+Cheese+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

If you have Adobe's Acrobat Reader, you can go to page five from here:
http://www.aaeci.org/Pony%20Express%20April%20Issue.pdf


Reindeer milk is known in Finland as Juustoleipa. I found a webpage
from a Wisconsin factory that is currently making this cheese, but
with cow milk, not reindeer.

Wisconsin Cheese - Juustoleipa Cheese
http://www.fennimorecheese.com/juusto-article.html

~~~~~~~~~~

Jonatham White has an interesting account about yak cheese here:
Grassland Cheese Consortium -Yak cheeses from the nomads of the ...
http://www.cowsoutside.com/yak_cheese.html

In the article he mentions, "But the aged wheels of yak cheese are now
a commercial reality--we are importing it into the US, where it has
been very well received: The first shipment sold out in a few weeks."
I've checked high and low for specialty shops that state flat out that
they carry yak cheese, but to no avail. I'd suggest that you contact
Mr. White at his e-mail address: jonathan@cowsoutside.com.  He should
be able to steer you in the right direction.

The other best suggestion I can offer you is to e-mail the people at:

Cheese.com - Cheeses, Cheese Making and Cheese Supplies and ...
http://www.cheese.com/

They advertise a selection of 700 cheese varieties. I did a search for
yak and reindeer and came up empty, but the webmaster advises:

"if you still can't find the item you are looking for, we can help you
get that hard to find item, so please: CALL US! 1-866-7-CHEESE or
write us."
http://www.cheese.com/contact_us.php

I hope you find what you're looking for!

Regards,
revbrenda1st 

Search strategy:

odd cheeses
://www.google.ca/search?q=odd+cheeses&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

mammal +milk +cheese
://www.google.ca/search?q=mammal+%2Bmilk+%2Bcheese&btnG=Google+Search&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

history cheese
://www.google.ca/search?q=history+cheese&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

---

Request for Answer Clarification by rai130-ga on 28 Jan 2004 06:58 PST

Thank you very much... I'm now off to London zoo to milk a gorilla or
perhaps a posse of meercats if I can get the pesky little f*****s to
stay still.

---

Clarification of Answer by revbrenda1st-ga on 28 Jan 2004 08:44 PST

An act of derring-do! Good luck. I shall watch the evening news.
Thanks again for the question.

You can also get sheep cheese, buffalo cheese, and Water Buffalo
Cheese.  Just put those names into your favorite search engine.

You theoretically should be able to get horse cheese, as horses are
milked, but I cannot find any references.

I once tried buffalo mozzarella, and found it quite enjoyable.

http://www.deliaonline.com/ingredients/food/a_0000000188.asp

Here's an online source:

http://www.cheesesupply.com/product_info.php/products_id/164

And don't forget Roquefort, the "king of cheeses," which to be labeled
such must come from France and be made from sheep's milk. This
distinguishes it from the other blue-veined cheeses: gorgonzola
(Italy), stilton (UK), Danish blue (Denmark--surprise!), and Maytag
blue (USA). If you really want to kick it up a notch, try Norwegian
Gjetost (YAY-toast), a hard brick brown (!) goat cheese that bears no
resemblance to the goat cheeses we're familiar with in the USA.

Camel cheese.  This story appeared on Yahoo! News in November:

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania - Herd boys tug at camels' udders, loosing the 
raw material for a unique, creamy cheese this desert nation's growers 
hope to place alongside Roquefort and cheddar on the world's crackers.
[...]
"I thought it was absurd that they had all of these dairy animals and 
were importing all of this ultra-pasteurized milk," the 56-year-old 
Briton says. "I so missed fresh milk. And I love camel's milk; it's 
exquisite."

So, with $250,000, she launched her company in 1987. It started with 
packaged camel milk, then quickly branched into yogurt and creme 
fraiche.
[...]
"Mauritanians don't eat cheese because they don't know it and don't 
like the taste," she says. "So we made it for the European market, this 
wonderful cheese with this handsome packaging."