I think this blog was helping me remember what it used to be like to sit in a restaurant and eat cheesecake. Remember the good old days. This got me thinking about the cheesecake of the past. So heres a look at where Cheesecake came from and how it changed over the years.
We have to go way back to the 5th Century and travel to Ancient Greece where absolutely everything seems to have begun lol The earliest mention is by Aegimus the Greek physician. He wrote a book on the Art of Making Cheesecake. Sounds like a brilliant book to me. Unfortunately there are no surviving copies of this book.
There is however a book still in existence that contains cheesecake recipes. The book is called De Agri Cultura, this book is a manual on running a farm written by Cato the Elder. Cato was a Roman soldier, senator and historian born in 234 BC. He was big into conservatism and was opposed to Hellenization. Cato is said to be the first to have written history in Latin. Anyways lets get back to Cheesecake. His book contains recipes for three cakes that were for religious uses. These cakes are libum, savillum and placenta. Placenta is most like the modern cheesecake that we have come to love as it has a crust base that is prepared and baked separately.
Forme of Cury is an English cookbook written in 1390. It contains a recipe for a cake called Sambocade which resembles that of a cheesecake recipe. It is for this reason that the chef Heston Blumenthal has said cheesecake is an English invention. You're wrong Heston!!!
The name Cheesecake has only been used since the 15th Century. The cheesecake style didn’t become what it is today until the 18th Century. Over the years the recipe has changed. The styles and flavours have become plentiful. There doesn't seem to be a cheesecake flavour that hasn't been tried. Over the years Europeans have taken out the yeast and instead have used eggs. It is said to have a more dessert like taste due to this.
Modern American cream cheese was developed in 1872 by William Lawrence. He accidentally made un-ripened cheese that was heavier and creamier while trying to make a new version of Neufchátel. Neufchátel is a soft crumbly, mold-ripened cheese made in France. This is the reason why the style of Cheesecake that is made up of uncooked cream-cheese lying on a crumbled cookie base was invented in the United States.
So there we have it a brief history of Cheesecake. A little information on the earliest mentions and how it has evolved. I think its still evolving and its only getting better and garnering more and more appreciation. I hope you enjoyed this little insight into the cheesecakes beginnings.
Caz xx
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