09 Dec 15

20 wonderfully eye-opening cheddar facts all cheese lovers must know!

Cheddar cheese is undoubtedly the most delicious, creamiest and smoothest cheese out there…

Okay, we may be biased, but we bet you didn’t know that cheddar is the most popular cheese in the entire world? And to please all you cheese lovers out there, we’ve pulled together the ultimate list of must-know cheddar facts – check it out below.But beware, it will leave you craving a bite!

But beware, it will leave you craving a bite!

MIND-BLOWING CHEDDAR FACTS

– Dreamy cheddar gets its name from the caves that were used to store the cheese in Cheddar, England – just 11 miles from where our super-tasty Westminster Farmhouse Reserve Cheddar is hand-crafted.

– According to local legend, cheddar was discovered by accident over 800 years ago when a milkmaid left a pail of milk in the nearby Cheddar Gorge caves and returned some time later to find the milk had turned into a new tasty substance – cheese!

– The caves at Cheddar Gorge in Somerset, England are a constant temperature of 7 degrees, providing the optimum temperature for the cheese to mature – and it still does so to this day.

– Originally, in order to claim the name cheddar, the cheese had to be crafted within 30 miles of Wells Cathedral, Somerset in England.

– Way, way back in 1170, King Henry II purchased 10,240lbs of cheddar for a farthing per lb. (that’s the equivalent to $16.21).

– When King Charles I was on the England, Scotland and Ireland throne between 1625 and 1649, demand for cheddar outweighed supply so much that you could only get the cheese at the King’s court – even then you had to pay before the cheese was made.

– During his time in office, between 1829 and 1837, U.S. President Andrew Jackson once held an open house party at the White House at which he served a 1,400lb block of cheddar cheese.

– The Barber family have been lovingly hand-crafting authentic English cheddar cheese, including our very own Westminster Farmer’s Reserve Cheddar, at Maryland Farm in Ditcheat, Somerset since way back in 1833, making them the oldest cheese making family in England and one of the oldest cheddar producers in the world.

– A giant wheel of cheddar cheese was presented to Queen Victoria in England for a wedding gift back in 1840 – it weighed over a whopping 1,000lbs. An average cheddar wheel weighs just 60-75lbs.

– In 1901, Scott of the Antarctic took 3,500lbs of cheddar (made in Cheddar itself) on his famous expedition.

– The first cheese factory in the United States was built in 1851 by Jesse Williams in Oneida County, New York.

– Before the First World War, more than 3,500 cheese producers were in Britain – fewer than 100 remained after the Second World War.

– Due to rationing during the Second World War, and for almost ten years after, most milk in Britain was used for making a single type of cheese – ‘Government Cheddar’ – which resulted in almost wiping out all other cheese production in the country.

– For the 1964 World’s Fair in New York, Wisconsin created a 34,951lbs cheddar cheese from the milk of 16,000 cows.

– In 1989, Oregon members of the Federation of American Cheese-makers created the largest cheddar cheese ever – weighing 56,850lbs.

– In 2010, England-based Cordon Bleu trained chef Tanys Pullin spent 90 hours crafting a half-ton cheddar crown out of a 1,322lbs block of farmhouse cheddar. She carved the sculpture in the shape of a crown to mark the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation on June 2.

– In the USA, cheddar cheese is the second most popular cheese in the country, falling just slightly behind Mozzarella.

– Cheese takes up roughly 1/10 the volume of the milk it was made from.

– The most popular cheddar cheese recipe in the USA is ‘Macaroni and Cheese’ – pssst… we have a fab recipe for that!

– There are a staggering 1,500+ varieties of cheese in the world! (but we can bet none are as good as our cheddar…)

Do you have any must-know cheddar facts? We’d love to hear them! Let us know in the comments below.