Mary from the Dairy Trivia Quiz

Answer: Yoghurt

The use of yoghurt in ancient Iran, and also in India, has been recorded as far back as 500 BC.

Answer: Milk

This is milk without the fat content removed or reduced. Interestingly, it has also been found that the consumption of products made from full cream milk slightly increases a woman's fertility rate - and the consumption of low-fat dairy products slightly reduces this rate.

Answer: Butter

Butter was also once used as a medicine and as a form of fuel for light. In western countries top quality butter is made from full cream, whereas in some part of the world, such as India and Egypt, it is made with the solids removed. Known as ghee or clarified butter, this product is used for cooking purposes there.

Answer: Yoghurt

Because yoghurt was mixed with honey in this civilisation, this probably contributed to Abraham's good health as well. From the fruit of his loins would eventually spring many of the world's great nations and religions.

Answer: Cheese

Cheese is made from the milk of cows in many countries, but also buffalo, goats or sheep in other lands or cultures. It is usually manufactured by curdling milk with a product known as rennet, or other substances, until it separates into various sized lumps of goo. These are then drained and pressed and compacted until they form into hard blocks of cheese. That is cheese making in its most basic form.

Answer: Milk

They still do it tough in some parts of the world today. Something we take for granted without a second thought in affluent societies is a test of endurance for milkmen in this country - and in many others. In Pakistan, milk, when it is supplied, comes in jugs. Because of easy access to supermarkets and corner shops in affluent countries, the sight of the local milkman delivering his products there is becoming a rare sight indeed.

Answer: Butter

How clever were they? Butter making evolved from that to the use of hand churns, and from there to mechanical processes. On farms in the olden days, freshly obtained milk from cows was allowed to settle until the cream had risen to the top. This was scooped off and placed in churns which were rotated laboriously by hand until a solid lump of butter was formed and a watery milk product was left. Salt was added to this solidified form in some cultures and then the resulting mix was packed into various containers and used as required.

Answer: Yoghurt

Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) was a Roman author and philosopher. By the 11th century AD, the use of yoghurt as a food product had spread throughout the Mediterranean and the Middle East. In Turkey, for example, they allowed it to ferment in bags made from the skins of goats.

Answer: Cheese

Today, various other products are added to the cheese making process to give the more than 700 varieties of this delicious food throughout the world their flavours. The shelf age of a cheese can also impact on its flavour. Did you know that medical science now believes that consuming a small amount of cheese before retiring for the night can help produce a good night's sleep?

Answer: Cheese

Though Switzerland takes the credit for the construction of the first factory to produce cheese, it was in America that large scale manufacture of cheese began. It was given impetus by a farmer from New York who, with his neighbours, began producing cheese on an early type of an assembly line on his property. Did you know that some cheeses can help prevent tooth decay? They do this by protecting the enamel on teeth.