A good vintage cheddar is a staple on any decent cheeseboard.

But while most varieties are aged for around 12 months, this pales in comparison to the world’s oldest cheese, which dates back 3,600 years.

The ancient cheese was discovered back in 2014 alongside mummies unearthed in China.

Now, scientists have extracted DNA from the cheese to reveal its key ingredients.

Their analysis suggests that the ancient cheese was made from kefir – a trendy fermented milk drink that’s excellent for gut health.

Two hundred mummies were discovered in the 1930s by Swedish archaeologist in the Taklimakan Desert north of Tibet.

Small River Cemetery was rediscovered in 1934 by Swedish archaeologist Folke Bergman and then lay forgotten until it was relocated using GPS navigation by a Chinese expedition. Archaeologists began excavating it from 2003 to 2005.

The people died around 3,600 years ago but their bodies were preserved because of the air-тιԍнт nature of their unusual graves and salty soil.

The people had European features with light brown hair and have no name.

They were buried in up-turned boats wrapped in animal skin to be air-тιԍнт on the top of sand dunes.

The mummies are wearing felt caps with feathers, woollen capes and leather boots and were buried with precious objects including woven baskets, carved masks and a medicinal herb, as well as the cheese – which might have been intended for the afterlife.

 

Around two decades ago, a team of archaeologists discovered mysterious white substances smeared on the heads and necks of several mummies found in the Xiaohe cemetery in Northwestern China’s Tarim Basin.

These mummies dated back to about 3,300 to 3,600 years ago, from the Bronze Age.

At the time, scientists thought these substances might be a type of fermented dairy product, but they couldn’t identify exactly what kind.

Now, using advanced DNA analysis, researchers have finally unravelled the mystery.

They identified cow and goat DNA in the cheese samples, and confirmed the white substances were in fact kefir cheese.

The samples from three different tombs contained species of bacteria and fungi including Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens and Pichia kudriavzevii – both commonly found in present-day kefir grains.

Kefir grains are groups of microorganisms containing multiple species of probiotic bacteria and yeast, which ferment milk into kefir cheese.