Interesting facts about cheese

cheese

The word cheese comes from Latin caseus, from which the modern word casein is also derived. The earliest source is from the proto-Indo-European root *kwat-, which means “to ferment, become sour”.

There is no exact information regarding the origin of cheese, archaeological studies have shown the origin of cheese dates as far back as 6000 BC. Studies also show that during that era cheese was made from cow’s milk and goats in Mesopotamia.

Ancient Greeks and Romans were the first to turn cheese making into a fine art. Larger Roman houses even had a special kitchen, called a careale, just for making cheese.

The first cheese factory was established in Switzerland in 1815, however successful mass production began in 1851 in the United States.

Cheese isn’t just made with cows milk, but also with sheep milk, goat milk and less commonly buffalo milk, horse milk, camel milk, donkey milk and even moose milk!

Cheese comes in a seemingly endless variety of shapes, textures, colors, smells and flavors.

There are more than 2000 varieties of cheese available worldwide, mozzarella is the favorite around the globe, and the most consumed.

cheese varieties

It takes around 10 liters (2.6 US gallons) of milk to make 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of hard cheese.

Cheese is kept for a period of time before its ready to eat. Some varieties of cheese, blue cheese, gorgonzola, and brie are exposed to mold which helps them age properly.

Cheese is most flavoursome when eaten at room temperature, so if you are serving cheese at a dinner party, be sure to get it out of the fridge about an hour before serving.

People of Greece are the largest consumers of cheese worldwide. An average person from Greece consumes around 27.3 kilograms (60.1 pounds) of cheese every year, about 3/4 of which is feta cheese. On the second place is France and third is Iceland.

Like all dairy foods, cheese provides calcium and protein, as well as some vitamin A, B12, riboflavin, zinc and phosphorus. And it’s a source of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a fat that may have anti-cancer, weight-reducing, and heart-protective effects.

Vieux Boulogne (a French cheese made with cows milk and washed in Beer) is widely considered to be the smelliest cheese in the world. Washed rind cheeses have a strong scent by nature. Stinking Bishop is an English cheese washed in fermented pear juice that also has quite a pong! Bear in mind that just because a cheese smells really whiffy, doesn’t necessarily mean that it tastes bad!

The most expensive cheese in the world, Pule, Is Worth $576 per pound  (0.45 kilograms ). As cheeses go, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Camembert are both very pricey. But they don’t even hold a candle to pule, an extremely rare cheese made in Serbia from donkey milk that was recently named the most expensive cheese in the world.

donkey cheese pule the most expensive cheese in the world

Cheese made from Moose milk is successfully made on a farm in Sweden, despite the short lactation period of the Moose.It is second most expensive cheese in the world with price of $455 per pound  (0.45 kilograms).

The largest cheese sculpture weighs 691.27 kg (1,524 lb) and was achieved by The Melt (USA) in Hollywood, California, USA, on 18 September 2015.

largest cheese sculpture the melt

Pizza Hut is the largest cheese-using fast food giant, it uses approximately 136 million kilograms (300 million pounds) of cheese annually, mostly on pizza.

Some varieties of cheese like mozzarella, cheddar, Swiss and American, help prevent tooth decay. It promotes the flow of saliva which leads to elimination of sugar and acids from the mouth.

Another benefit associated with cheese is that it helps protect tooth enamel and has an antibacterial
effect. If consumed in moderate quantities it has various health benefits.

Studies have shown that eating cheese before bed can help you sleep.

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