- Did you know that like Champagne, Cheddar originally had to come from a single area as well?
If you love cheddar cheese then February 13th could be your new favorite day! From fun facts to fun uses, here’s all you need to know about cheddar cheese.
- Cheddar gets its name from the caves that were used to store the cheese, located in Cheddar, England.
- 0At first, in order to use the name cheddar, the cheese had to be crafted within 30 miles of Wells Cathedral in Somerset, England.
- Scott of the Antarctic took 3,500 pounds of cheddar, made in Cheddar, on his famous expedition in 1901.
- Tanys Pullin spent 90 hours crafting a half-ton of cheddar into a crown using a 1,322 pound block of farmhouse cheddar in 2010. This was to mark the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation on June 2nd.
- It’s said that cheddar was discovered by accident 800 years ago after a milkmaid left a pail of milk in the Cheddar Gorge caves. After returning at a later time, the milk had turned into a tasty food, cheese!
- Before WWi, more than 3,500 cheese producers were in Britain. After WWII, there were less than 100 cheese producers left.
- President Andrew Jackson once had a party at the White House where he served a 1,400 pound block of cheddar cheese.
- Between 1625 and 1649, demand outweighed supply when it came to cheddar, so much so that they only way you could get some was at the King’s court. You had to pay before the cheese was even made.
- Wisconsin crafted 34,951 pounds of cheddar cheese from the milk of 16,000 cows for the 1964 World’s Fair in New York.
- A gigantic wheel of cheddar cheese was give to Queen Victoria for her 1840 wedding. It weight over 1,000 pounds, whereas a typical cheddar wheel weighs about 60-75 pounds.
- Cheddar cheese is the second most popular in the United states, just after Mozzarella.
- King Henry II bought 10,240 pounds of cheddar in 1170. It cost the equivalent of about $16.21.
- Macaroni and cheese is the most popular recipe to make with this delicious ingredient.
- The largest cheddar cheese ever was made by members of the Federation of American Cheese-makers out of Oregon in 1989. It weighed 56,850 pounds.
- Cheese is about 1/10th the volume of the milk it was made from.
- Cheddar Gorge in Somerset, England stay at a constant 7 degrees. This is the optimum temperature at which cheese matures and still does to this day.
- During WWII while the country was rationing and for almost 10 additional years, most of the milk in Britain was used to make “Government Cheddar” which pretty much wiped out all the other production in the country.
- Jesse Williams built the first cheese factory in the United States. It was erected in 1851 in Oneida County, New York.
- Authentic English cheddar cheese has been hand-crafted, including the Westminster Farmer’s Reserve Cheddar since 1833. This has made them the oldest family this savory snack in England and subsequently, one of the oldest cheddar producers in the world.
Did you know these cheddar cheese facts? Let me know in the comments!