Although there is some evidence on tomb murals dating back to 3000 BC to suggest the practise of cheese making was carried out in ancient Egypt, the origin of cheese has no precise date in history... there was no eureka moment recorded, alchemist slighted, or any claim on copyright made. It is perhaps fitting then that this simple nutritious food stuff came into being as something of a happy accident and has remained fundamentally unchanged over the centuries while continuing to grace the tables of people the world over. It is probable that nomadic tribesmen, who had begun to domesticate cows and goats and use them as a source of milk as well as meat, first discovered cheese by chance in the Middle East. The story goes that one such nomad set out on horseback on a long journey carrying a bag of milk to quench his thirst along the way. Not unusually for the time, the bag was made of animal skin. After many miles he stopped to drink, only to find the milk had been transformed into semi-solid white lumps or curds and a separate watery liquid, or whey. Both of these he found to be pleasing to eat and drink.

The explanation for this is more to do with a coincidence of events than some magical invention. The bag of milk he carried was made from an animal's stomach, containing a coagulating enzyme called Rennet. As he rode his horse, this agitated the milk and the heat of the desert combined with the action of the rennet curdled the milk until it divided into curds and whey. From its discovery, we have the Romans to thank for the growth in popularity of the art of cheese making, as it spread throughout the expansive boundaries of their empire into Europe. Here during the Middle Ages, as dairy farming developed, monastic settlements were at the forefront of producing new varieties of cheese in France, Holland, Italy and Germany. In Britain, a certain Doctor William Cheddar first created his namesake cheese, which is now the most popular of its kind in the world, particularly in Ireland, where Mitchelstown Cheddars are made to the highest standards of flavour and quality.

The name Munster, the province in which Mitchelstown is situated is a derivation of the Greek-Latin word monasterium or monastery, on account of the contribution monks made to the refinement of cheese in the Middle  Ages.