Americans love cheese! In 1970, the average American consumed 8 pounds of cheese annually. That number has nearly tripled as the average person now consumes 23 pounds of cheese every year.
Many of our favorite foods have something in common… cheese! What makes a hamburger taste better? Cheese! What tastes better than french fries? Cheese fries do! What do you call a pizza without cheese? Well, it’s still a pizza, but we don’t think it would taste quite as good.
Maple Ridge Farms is located in the heart of “America’s Dairyland” and is surrounded by many of the 134 Wisconsin cheese factories. We have offered cheese gifts since 1979. Maple Ridge Farms was started as the T.L. Riordan Company when Tom stamped company names on the top of wooden boxes for holiday gifts. Since then, we have seen an increase of 2000% in cheese package sales.
June is National Dairy Month (the last week of June is National Cheese Week) and here are our favorite facts about cheese.
- It is difficult to say exactly where cheese-making originated, but strainers with milk fats molecules dating back to 5500 BC were found in what is now Kujawy, Poland.
- There is an ancient legend that cheese was accidentally made by an Arabian merchant who stored his milk in a pouch made of a sheep’s stomach. The enzymes in the lining of the pouch and the heat of the sun separated the milk into curds and whey.
- A cheese specialist is sometimes known as a “cheesemonger”.
- Cheese is produced using a variety of milk including cow, goat, buffalo, horse, camel and even moose.
- On December 23, 1941, the first recorded sign with the word "cheeseburger" was spotted over a storefront in Burbank, CA.
- People from Wisconsin are commonly referred to as “cheeseheads”. Originally a derogatory word for Wisconsinites, the word “cheeseheads” is now something they take pride in. The “cheesehead” hat was originally displayed by it’s creator, Ralph Bruno, at a Milwaukee Brewers game in 1987.
- In 1995, Frank Emmert was flying his plane home after a Packers game in Cleveland. The plane lost power and crashed to the ground. Luckily, Emmert had his “cheesehead” hat and used it to help protect himself during the impact. He survived the crash.
- Wisconsin leads the United States as the top cheese producer. It is followed by California, Idaho, New York and Minnesota.
- Cheese was carried by The Pilgrims on the Mayflower in 1620.
- The most popular cheese recipe in the United States is Macaroni & Cheese. In 1993, Crayola named one of it’s crayons “Macaroni & Cheese”.
- Cheese comes in hundreds of varieties. What is your favorite type of cheese?
June 11, 2014
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