Food historians speculate that cottage cheese was probably the first cheese. And it was undoubtedly made by accident. Some anonymous nomad was probably carrying milk on a camel in the desert and at the end of the day found lumps rather than liquid. And much to the nomad’s surprise, the lumps tasted pretty good.

According to the United Dairy Industry Association, cottage cheese was made in the home all over Europe as far back as the Middle Ages. “It was called ‘cottage,’ because farmers made the cheese in their own cottages to utilize the milk remaining after the cream had been skimmed from it from buttermaking.”