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See also: Whey; Story of Curds & Whey; Dairy Articles; Blue Cheese Trivia, Roquefort Trivia, etc
CHEESE
TRIVIA
Greeks eat more cheese than anyone else, per capita consumption averages 54 pounds.
U.S. cheese consumption reached a new record high of 31.3 pounds per capita in 2005.
Americans eat over half pound of cheese per person each week.
What appears to be the remains of cheese have been found in Egyptian tombs over 4,000 years old.
More than one-third of all milk produced each year in the U.S. is used to make cheese.
Wisconsin is first in specialty cheese production. Wisconsin produces more than 45% of all specialty cheese produced in the U.S.
All cheese is made from milk, but different manufacturing and aging processes are used to produce the array of cheeses available today. Cheese is made by coagulating or curdling milk, stirring and heating the curd, draining off the whey (the watery part of milk), collecting and pressing the curd, and in some cases, ripening. Cheese can be made from whole, 2% lowfat, 1% lowfat or fat-free milk, or combinations of these milks. About one-third of all milk produced each year in the U.S. is used to make cheese.
Consuming cheese immediately after meals or as a between-meal snack helps to reduce the risk of tooth decay. Certain cheeses - aged Cheddar, Swiss, blue, Monterey Jack, Brie, Gouda and processed American cheese - have been shown to help prevent tooth decay. Calcium, phosphorus and other components in cheese may contribute to this beneficial effect.
Cheese was popular in ancient Greece and Rome, but fresh milk and butter were not. This was probably due to the fact that olive oil was available in the Mediterranean area, where the climate would have spoiled milk and butter quickly.
Cheddar, Cheshire and Leicester cheeses have been colored with annatto seed for over 200 years. Carrot juice and marigold petals have also been used to color cheeses. Coloring may have originally been added to cheese made with winter milk from cows eating hay to match the orange hue (from vitamin A) of cheeses made with milk from cows fed on green plants.
The terms "Big Wheel" and "Big Cheese" originally referred to those who were wealthy enough to purchase a whole wheel of cheese.
Cheese takes up about 1/10 the volume of the milk it was made from.
Greek historian Xenophon (430?-355? B.C.) mentions that goat cheese had been known for centuries in Peloponnesus.
The first cheese factory to make cheese from scratch was started in Rome, New York in 1851 by Jesse Williams. He had his own dairy herd and purchased more milk from other local farmers to make his cheese. By combining the milk and making large cheeses he could produce cheese with uniform taste and texture. Before then, companies would buy small batches of home made cheese curd from local farmers to make into cheese, each batch of curds producing cheese with wide differences in taste and texture from one another.
Leicester cheese is a hard cheese similar to Cheddar. It is usually orange colored. Leicester's texture is crumbly, so it does not slice good, but it as great with dishes such as Welsh Rabbit.
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