The Tarim mummies of northwestern China have been hiding a culinary secret for millennia. Now, for the first time, scientists have uncovered that secret: ancient kefir cheese. A team of researchers successfully extracted DNA from cheese found alongside these mummies, dating back 3,600 years. The Oldest Cheese Ever FoundIn 2003, archaeologists discovered white substances on the heads and necks of the Tarim mummies. These mummies were unearthed in the Xiaohe cemetery of China’s Tarim Basin, dating from the Bronze Age. For years, scientists could only speculate on what these mysterious substances…