117 Fun Facts About Cheese

Which cheese, the UK's most popular, is named for a Somerset village with a cave-filled gorge?

Cheddar takes its name from the Somerset village beside Cheddar Gorge, whose caves kept a steady temperature and humidity for ageing; tradition once required the cheese to be made within 30 miles of Wells Cathedral.

Which blue cheese became the first French cheese granted an appellation d'origine, in 1925?

Roquefort, a sheep's-milk blue ripened in the caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, was the first French cheese given a protected appellation, by a law of 1925; every wheel uses only Lacaune ewes' milk.

Which English cheese cannot legally be made in the village it is named after?

Only cheese made in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire qualifies; the village of Stilton, where it was originally sold at a coaching inn, is in Cambridgeshire.

Which Sardinian sheep's-milk cheese with live insect larvae is banned across the EU?

Casu martzu, Sardinia's 'rotten cheese', is a pecorino in which cheese-fly larvae break down the fats until it weeps a liquid called lagrima (teardrop); EU food-hygiene rules bar its sale.

Pule, a rare Serbian cheese from the Zasavica reserve, is made mostly from which animal's milk?

Pule is made mostly from donkey milk: only about 100 jennies at Serbia's Zasavica reserve are milked for it, and roughly 25 litres of milk go into a single kilogram.

Sales of which English cheese rose 23% after the 2005 film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit?

Wensleydale is the cheese Wallace names as a favourite in the 1995 short A Close Shave, and the creamery later licensed an official Wallace & Gromit brand.

Which cheese is chased down Cooper's Hill at the annual cheese-rolling?

A wheel of Double Gloucester is rolled down Cooper's Hill near Brockworth, Gloucestershire; it gets a one-second head start and is rarely caught, and the first runner to reach the bottom wins the cheese.

Which grillable cheese must be made in Cyprus to carry its name in the US or the EU?

Halloumi's high melting point is why it can be fried or grilled without collapsing, and the UK is its largest importer.

Under EU rules, feta's sheep's milk may be mixed with up to 30% milk from which other animal?

Feta's PDO allows the sheep's milk to be blended with up to 30% goat's milk from the same Greek regions; most feta sold in the United States is made from cow's milk and would not qualify.

The zig-zag rind on Manchego comes from pressing the curd in baskets plaited from what?

The zig-zag pattern came from esparto grass baskets (pleitas) that pressed the curd; modern moulds carve the pleita pattern into their inner surface, and Manchego must be made from Manchega sheep's milk.

Marie Harel, a farmer from Normandy, is traditionally credited with creating which soft cheese in 1791?

Legend credits Marie Harel of Camembert village with the first Camembert in 1791; the round wooden box arrived a century later, in 1890, when an engineer named Ridel designed it so the cheese could travel further.

Which Dutch city's cheese market is held in front of a weigh house built in 1668?

Gouda's cheese market takes place before the Waag, built in 1668; prices were traditionally settled by handjeklap, the hand-clapping haggle in which farmer and trader slap palms with each bid until they agree.

Which Dutch cheese, sold in red-wax spheres, was reputedly the world's most popular from the 14th to 18th centuries?

Edam, the red-waxed ball from North Holland, was reputedly the world's most popular cheese from the 14th to the 18th century; in Spanish-speaking countries it is queso de bola, and Yucatán's queso relleno stuffs a hollowed ball with spiced meat.

Which semi-hard orange cheese was created in 1885 in the Midwestern town it is named after?

Colby was first made in 1885 by Joseph Steinwand in Colby, Wisconsin; instead of stacking and turning the curd as for cheddar, the curd is washed with cold water, giving a softer, moister cheese.

Which mild white cheese was first made by Franciscan friars in California?

Monterey Jack descends from the queso del país made by Franciscan friars at the Monterey missions; businessman David Jacks marketed it in the 1880s as 'Jacks' cheese', which became Monterey Jack.

Which bright-orange Lille cheese owes its grey rind to deliberately added cheese mites?

Mimolette, made around Lille, is coloured with annatto, and its pitted grey rind is the work of cheese mites introduced on purpose; legend says Louis XIV ordered it as a French rival to Dutch Edam.

Which smelly washed-rind cheese originated in the Herve area of what is now Belgium?

Limburger originated around Herve, in the old Duchy of Limburg, now in Belgium; Brevibacterium linens, the same bacterium found on human skin, is smeared on the rind and produces the smell.

Which beer-washed French cheese did Cranfield University researchers rate the smelliest of 15 in 2004?

Vieux-Boulogne, a beer-washed cheese first made near Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1982, topped Cranfield University's 2004 ranking of 15 smelly cheeses, and a 2007 electronic-nose study confirmed the result.

Charles Martell's Stinking Bishop cheese takes its name not from a clergyman but from what?

Stinking Bishop is named for a variety of pear, the Stinking Bishop, itself named after Gloucestershire farmer Frederick Bishop; the rind is washed in perry made from that pear, which gives the cheese its pungent smell.

Which Italian blue cheese, named after a town near Milan, is said to have been created around AD 879?

Gorgonzola is named for the town east of Milan where legend says it was first made around AD 879; it comes in buttery dolce and crumbly piccante styles, and its PDO zone spans Piedmont and Lombardy.

Havarti, renamed in 1952 after the farm where Hanne Nielsen worked, comes from which country?

Before 1952 it was sold as 'Danish Tilsiter'; in 2019 the EU gave the name protected geographical status after four years of lobbying.

Jarlsberg, a mild holey cheese named after a manor estate, comes from which Nordic country?

Norway's modern Jarlsberg recipe was developed in 1956 at an agricultural university, and it tops Grandiosa, the country's best-selling frozen pizza.

Mozzarella takes its name from the Italian verb mozzare, which means what?

Mozzarella comes from mozzare, 'to cut off', because the cheesemaker pinches portions off the hot, stretched pasta filata curd by hand to shape each ball.

Burrata, stretched curd filled with cream and cheese scraps, comes from which Italian region?

Burrata comes from Puglia: Lorenzo Bianchino of Andria is usually credited with inventing it in the early 20th century, and Burrata di Andria was granted EU protected geographical status (PGI) in 2016.

Ricotta, whose name means 'recooked', is traditionally made from which leftover of cheesemaking?

Whey left over from other cheeses is heated again to near boiling, so its albumin and globulin proteins clump into a fine, slightly sweet curd.

Which soft Italian dairy product is not technically a cheese, since it is set with acid and heat, not rennet?

Mascarpone is cream thickened with acid and heat rather than rennet, so it is not strictly a cheese; one traditional Lombard recipe used tartaric acid scraped from the sides of wine barrels to set it.

Philadelphia Cream Cheese was first mass-produced in the town of Chester, in which state?

Chester is in Orange County, New York: dairyman William A. Lawrence began making the cheese there around 1873, and distributor Alvah Reynolds attached the Philadelphia name in 1880 purely as marketing.

The first factory for the industrial production of cheese opened in 1815 in which country?

The first cheese factory opened in Switzerland in 1815; large-scale production only truly took off in 1851, when Jesse Williams began assembly-line cheesemaking in Rome, New York.

Which processed cheese brand, sold to Kraft in 1927, first won the American Medical Association's seal in the 1930s?

Velveeta was developed in 1918 by Emil Frey of the Monroe Cheese Company in New York from broken bits of cheese that would otherwise be thrown away; the name was meant to suggest 'velvety', and Kraft bought it in 1927.

Cheez Whiz was originally developed by Kraft in the early 1950s as a ready-made sauce for which dish?

Cheez Whiz was developed by a Kraft team under food scientist Edwin Traisman as a quick sauce for Welsh rarebit; it went on sale in 1952 and later became a fixture on Philadelphia cheesesteaks.

In 1992 the FTC ordered Kraft to stop implying each Kraft Singles slice had as much calcium as what?

The ads claimed five ounces of milk went into each slice, implying a glass of milk's worth of calcium; the FTC ruled that misrepresented how much calcium survived processing.

Which emulsifying salt lets American cheese be pasteurised without its fat and protein separating?

Sodium citrate keeps the melt smooth. Two Swiss chemists first tried it on melted Emmentaler in 1911, and James L. Kraft patented his own process in 1916.

Which hard grating cheese, the staple of cacio e pepe, is mostly produced in Sardinia?

Pecorino Romano, the sheep's-milk cheese of cacio e pepe, was a ration for Roman legionaries; most of it has been made in Sardinia since producers moved there in the late 19th century, and its PDO covers Sardinia, Lazio and Grosseto.

Which pungent Burgundy cheese, a Napoleon favourite, is rind-washed in Marc de Bourgogne?

Époisses is washed with Marc de Bourgogne as it ripens, which gives its orange rind and powerful smell; production had all but died out by the 1950s until farmers Robert and Simone Berthaut revived it in 1956.

Which cheese, named after a Fribourg town, is the classic choice for French onion soup and croque-monsieur?

Gruyère, named for the town of Gruyères in the canton of Fribourg, is the classic melting cheese for French onion soup and croque-monsieur; unlike Emmental, with which it is often confused, modern Gruyère has few if any holes.

Scientists found the holes in Emmental depend on microscopic particles of what getting into the milk?

Agroscope researchers showed in 2015 that tiny particles of hay dust in the milk seed the eyes: bacteria gather around the specks and release gas, and cleaner modern milking methods let fewer in, so the holes began to vanish.

Raclette originated in which Swiss canton?

Raclette comes from the canton of Valais, where herders melted cheese by the fire and scraped it onto bread; the name is from racler, 'to scrape', and it is traditionally paired with Fendant white wine or hot tea.

Only two Bries hold PDO status: Brie de Melun and the Brie of which other town?

Brie de Meaux and Brie de Melun are the only Bries with protected status, both granted AOC in 1980; Melun's version is smaller and stronger, and both come from the old Brie region east of Paris.

Some Italian banks, such as Credito Emiliano, accept wheels of which cheese as collateral for loans?

Credito Emiliano's vaults hold hundreds of thousands of wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano, each worth several hundred euros, which makers pledge against loans while the cheese ages; thieves stole more than 2,000 wheels from warehouses between 2013 and 2015.

During the Great Fire of London, Samuel Pepys buried his wine and which cheese to save them?

On 4 September 1666 Pepys recorded burying his wine and 'my Parmazan cheese' in a pit in Sir William Penn's garden; Parmesan was a costly import in Restoration London, well worth digging a hole for.

Which stringy Mexican cheese, also called quesillo, is wound up like a ball of yarn?

Queso Oaxaca is a pasta filata cheese: Dominican friars brought the Italian stretched-curd technique to Oaxaca, where the strands are wound into a ball like yarn and sold as quesillo.

Cabrales, a pungent blue cheese aged in mountain caves, comes from which Spanish region?

Cabrales comes from Asturias, in the Picos de Europa; it ripens two to five months in natural limestone caves at around 90% humidity and 7–13 °C, where native moulds vein the cheese blue.

Which crumbly cheese, first recorded around 1580, did the Royal Navy order for its ships?

Cheshire, first recorded around 1580, is among Britain's oldest named cheeses; in 1758 the Royal Navy ordered its ships stocked with it, and sales peaked at around 40,000 tonnes in 1960.

Which natural colouring gives Red Leicester and yellow American cheese their orange hue?

Annatto, an extract of achiote seeds, colours Red Leicester and American cheese; Red Leicester was originally tinted with carrot or beetroot juice before annatto took over in the 18th century.

Which US president's White House open house served a 1,400 lb block of cheese?

Andrew Jackson received a 1,400 lb cheddar wheel and invited the public to eat it at the White House in February 1837; the event inspired The West Wing's fictional 'Big Block of Cheese Day'.

Which French leader reportedly asked how anyone could govern a country that has 246 kinds of cheese?

Charles de Gaulle is credited with asking how anyone can govern a country that has 246 kinds of cheese (the figure varies with the telling); France is generally reckoned to have around 400 distinct cheeses.

In the 1546 proverb 'the moon is made of a green cheese', 'green' most likely meant what?

In Heywood's 1546 proverb 'green' meant fresh and unripened, a young cheese not yet aged, whose mottled surface resembled the moon; the saying was always a jibe at gullibility, not a belief anyone seriously held.

In which country was the earliest evidence of cheesemaking, milk-fat residue on strainers from c.5500 BCE, found?

The sieves came from Kuyavia in central Poland, where pottery strainers dated to about 5500 BCE carried milk-fat residue; the find predates the earliest Mediterranean evidence, from the Croatian coast, by roughly 300 years.

The oldest preserved cheese, from c. 1615 BCE, was found on desert mummies in which country?

The cheese came from the Xiaohe Cemetery in the Taklamakan Desert of Xinjiang, China; the desert's dryness preserved lumps of kefir-style cheese on the mummies for more than 3,500 years.

The 'eyes' in Swiss cheese are bubbles of which gas, released by Propionibacterium?

Propionibacterium freudenreichii ferments lactic acid into propionic acid and carbon dioxide; the carbon dioxide collects at weak points in the curd to form the eyes, and the propionic acid gives the nutty flavour.

In 2022 the United States produced roughly what share of the world's cheese made from whole cow's milk?

The United States made about 6.2 million tonnes in 2022, roughly 28% of a global total of 22.6 million tonnes of cheese from whole cow's milk; Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands followed.

In Homer's Odyssey, which monster makes and stores sheep's and goats' milk cheese in his cave?

Odysseus and his men find the cave's racks loaded with cheeses before Polyphemus returns from shepherding.

In which country is Hallstatt, whose salt-mine faeces show miners of 800-400 BC ate blue cheese and beer?

Hallstatt is in Austria's Salzkammergut; a 2021 study of paleofaeces from its prehistoric salt mine found DNA of blue-cheese mould and brewer's yeast, showing Iron Age miners ate blue cheese and drank beer. The salt itself preserved the evidence.

What replaced the real cheese wheel at the 2013 Cooper's Hill cheese-rolling for safety reasons?

For 2013 the organisers rolled a lightweight foam replica instead of the real Double Gloucester after police warned that a wheel reaching 70 mph could injure spectators; in 1993 fifteen people were hurt at the event.

Chymosin, the key enzyme in rennet, curdles milk by cleaving which protein?

Chymosin cleaves kappa-casein, snipping off its charged fragment so the casein micelles lose their mutual repulsion, clump together and trap fat, which is essentially what a curd is.

Fermentation-produced chymosin, the rennet substitute approved in the US in 1990, is made by what?

Fermentation-produced chymosin is made by genetically engineered microbes carrying the calf chymosin gene; the FDA approved it in March 1990, the first genetically engineered food ingredient cleared for sale in the United States.

Fans of which NFL team are famous for wearing foam 'cheesehead' hats?

Green Bay Packers fans adopted the foam cheesehead, first made by Ralph Bruno of Milwaukee in 1987, turning Illinois fans' 'cheesehead' taunt for Wisconsinites into a badge of pride.

Taleggio, a washed-rind Lombardy cheese, is traditionally wiped weekly with what?

Taleggio's rind is wiped once a week with a sponge of seawater (salt water), which keeps unwanted mould off and builds the thin pinkish-orange crust that gives the cheese its aroma.

Munster cheese comes from the high pastures of which French mountain range?

Munster is made on both sides of the Vosges, the range dividing Alsace from Lorraine; herders known as marcaires drove cattle up to the high pastures each summer and paid their tithes in cheese and butter.

Why do fresh cheese curds squeak when you bite them?

Fresh curds squeak because elastic protein strands rub against tooth enamel: the springy casein network has not yet relaxed, and as the curd ages the bonds loosen and the squeak fades within a day or so.

Cheese curds, French fries and gravy make up which dish from Quebec?

Poutine, which emerged in rural Quebec in the 1950s, tops French fries with fresh cheese curds and hot brown gravy; across the border in the upper Midwest the same curds are more likely to be breaded and deep-fried.

In which state was a record 56,850 lb cheese produced in 1989 by the Federation of American Cheese-makers?

Oregon members of the Federation of American Cheese-makers made the 56,850 lb cheddar in 1989; it beat the 34,591 lb Wisconsin cheese made for the 1964 New York World's Fair, which needed a day's milk from 16,000 cows.

Which genus of mould produces the blue-green veins in cave-ripened cheeses such as Cabrales?

Penicillium, the same genus that gave the world penicillin, is left to ripen Cabrales in cool, humid caves at around 90% humidity and 7 to 13 °C.

The English word 'cheese' descends from which Latin word?

Cheese comes from Latin caseus, via Old English cīese; behind it lies a conjectured Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to ferment, become sour', and caseus also gives the milk protein casein its name.

In which Dickens story does Scrooge blame a ghostly visitation on the cheese he ate?

In A Christmas Carol Scrooge tells Marley's ghost it may be 'an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese'; the belief that late-night cheese causes nightmares predates Dickens and has no solid evidence.

Microbial rennet, the common vegetarian coagulant, is produced by fermenting which mould?

Mucor miehei (now Rhizomucor miehei) is fermented to make the main microbial rennet, an aspartic protease that mimics chymosin; other vegetarian coagulants come from Cynara thistles, while animal rennet comes from calves' stomachs.

Which figure did ancient Greek mythology credit with the discovery of cheese?

Aristaeus, son of Apollo and the nymph Cyrene, was credited by the Greeks with teaching humans cheesemaking, beekeeping and olive culture; by Pliny's time cheese was everyday Roman food, and his Natural History devotes a chapter to it.

Which company flew a wheel of cheese into orbit as a joke on a spacecraft test flight in 2010?

SpaceX sealed a wheel of French Le Brouère in a metal barrel that doubled as ballast inside its first Dragon capsule. The stunt was a nod to a famous British comedy sketch.

Which Surrealist painter said cheese melting in the sun inspired his famous soft, drooping watches?

Salvador Dalí told physicist Ilya Prigogine that the limp clocks of The Persistence of Memory owed nothing to Einstein's relativity. The idea came from a ripe French cheese softening in the heat.

Which US president released a vast federal stockpile of surplus 'government cheese' free to the needy?

Ronald Reagan approved the giveaway on 22 December 1981, drawing down reserves built up by years of propping up milk prices. One agriculture official had suggested dumping it all in the ocean.

In which board game are the plastic wedges that slot into each playing piece nicknamed 'cheeses'?

Trivial Pursuit players earn one wedge for each of six categories, then race back to the centre hub. The round playing piece is divided like a pie, so the slices that fill it look like wedges of cheese.

Which cheese-topped snack did maître d' Ignacio Anaya improvise in Piedras Negras, Mexico, in 1943?

Nachos take their name from Anaya's nickname, Nacho, the usual short form of Ignacio. Unable to find the cook, he cut up fried tortillas for a group of American officers' wives and melted cheese on top.

Which children's book series features the 'Cheese Touch', passed on from a mouldy slice at school?

Diary of a Wimpy Kid tells the legend that anyone who touches the rotting cheese on the basketball court is shunned until they pass the curse on. Greg ends the first book claiming he threw it away.

Which British comedy troupe's 1972 'Cheese Shop' sketch is set in a shop with no cheese to sell?

Monty Python's John Cleese plays a customer who asks for cheese after cheese in vain. When the script was first read out, Michael Palin was in such hysterics that he fell to the floor while the others sat unimpressed.

Which of golf's four majors is famous for the cheap pimento cheese sandwiches sold to spectators?

The Masters keeps its food prices famously low, and the pimento cheese sandwich is the best-known item on the menu. Fans noticed at once in 2013 when a new supplier could not match the old recipe.

Which US state is the only one that requires commercial cheese to be made under a licensed cheesemaker?

Wisconsin also runs the only advanced certification for veteran cheesemakers in the United States, modelled on the rigorous standards of European schemes.

A farm in Bjurholm, Sweden, is one of the world's only makers of cheese from which animal's milk?

Moose cheese is made at the Älgens Hus, or Elk House, by Christer and Ulla Johansson, who serve it in the farm's own restaurant.

Which cheese-flavoured snack did Fritos creator Charles Elmer Doolin invent in Texas in 1948?

Cheetos sold so fast that Doolin, unable to distribute them nationally on his own, teamed up with potato chip maker Herman Lay. The partnership led to the 1961 merger that created Frito-Lay.

Khachapuri, a cheese-filled bread often shaped like a boat, is the national dish of which country?

Georgia prizes the bread so highly that economists in Tbilisi track the cost of baking it as a measure of inflation, the khachapuri index. The boat-shaped version from Adjara cradles an egg yolk.

Which Treasure Island character, marooned for three years, is obsessed with the thought of cheese?

Ben Gunn was left behind by shipmates who had failed to find Captain Flint's treasure without the map. He ends the novel with a share of just £1,000 from a hoard of £700,000.

Head cheese, also sold as brawn, contains no dairy at all and is actually what kind of food?

A meat jelly set in its own stock, head cheese was traditionally made by simmering the head of a calf or pig until the liquid turned to gelatine.

Which early US president served guests a macaroni pie, a forerunner of macaroni and cheese, at a state dinner?

Thomas Jefferson put the dish on the table in 1802, having taken a keen interest in extruded pasta. One theory credits his enslaved chef James Hemings with bringing the recipe back from France.

Which pub meal did Britain's Cheese Bureau begin promoting in the 1950s after cheese rationing ended?

Ploughman's lunch sounds ancient, but the name was spread as a sales pitch for a plate of bread, cheese and pickle. The Milk Marketing Board took the campaign nationwide in the 1960s.

Which classic French sauce is made by stirring grated cheese into a white béchamel base?

Mornay may honour the diplomat Philippe de Mornay, who died in 1623. Béchamel had not been devised in his lifetime, so any cheese sauce he knew was a different recipe.

Which syrup-soaked Arab dessert of spun pastry layered with cheese has a famous version from Nablus?

Knafeh is built from shredded kadayif dough over a layer of cheese, then drenched in a sugar syrup called attar. The Nablus version is filled with the city's own brined white cheese, Nabulsi.

Which houseplant is nicknamed the Swiss cheese plant after the natural holes in its mature leaves?

Monstera is thought to take its name from the Latin for monster, after leaves that open up into holes as the plant grows. Botanists still debate what the holes are for.

In the British idiom for two people or things that are utterly different, cheese is paired with what?

Chalk and cheese may look alike at a glance, which is the point of the phrase: the resemblance is only skin-deep. The saying is also used in New Zealand.

In baseball slang, a pitcher praised for throwing 'high cheese' has delivered which type of pitch?

A fastball that is hard to hit is simply cheese, and one that crosses low in the zone is cheese at the knees. Baseball's other food slang includes a can of corn and being in a pickle.

What word, first recorded in the late 1930s, describes a connoisseur or devoted lover of cheese?

Turophile joins a variant of the ancient Greek word for cheese to the ending -phile, meaning lover. An oenophile saves the same devotion for wine.

What French title belongs to the specialist who matures cheeses to their peak before selling them?

Affineur comes from affinage, the French name for the days or years of ripening in which a cheese's texture is transformed and its flavour deepens.

Cornish Yarg, named by spelling its creators' surname backwards, is wrapped in which plant's leaves?

Nettle leaves form an edible rind on a cheese based on a 1615 recipe that farmers Alan and Jenny Gray found in their attic. Yarg is simply Gray reversed.

Which author's 1998 fable Who Moved My Cheese follows two mice and two tiny people in a maze?

Spencer Johnson's parable about coping with change at work had sold almost 30 million copies in 37 languages by 2018. Its mice, Sniff and Scurry, simply move on when the cheese runs out.

The French word fromage traces back to a Latin term for which piece of cheesemaking equipment?

Mould is the meaning of the Latin forma, and medieval writers called cheese shaped in one formaticum. The Italian word formaggio grew from the same root.

Which crank-handled tool, invented in 1982, shaves Tête de Moine cheese into frilly rosettes?

Girolle is the French word for the chanterelle mushroom, which the ruffled shavings resemble. Nicolas Crevoisier built the device from a round wooden plate with a pin through the middle.

On which Jewish festival is it customary to eat dairy foods such as cheesecake and cheese blintzes?

Shavuot is traditionally the day the Torah was given. One rabbinic explanation holds that the Israelites, whose cooking pots all had to be made kosher first, opted for dairy instead.

Which aged Mexican cheese, named after a town in Michoacán, is crumbled over street corn?

Cotija is a finishing cheese in Mexican cooking, crumbled or grated at the last moment over tacos, beans, soups and tostadas.

Despite the cartoon cliché, mice given a choice will pass over cheese for which kind of food?

Sweet foods are what mice go for, and they eat cheese only for lack of anything better. The myth may date from the days before refrigeration, when cheese was stored where mice could easily reach it.

Starter bacteria begin most cheesemaking by turning the natural sugar in milk into which acid?

Lactic acid sours the milk before the curdling enzyme goes in. Bacteria that make nothing else are called homofermentative; other strains also release alcohol, aldehydes and ketones.

Traditional rennet, the enzyme mix that curdles milk, is extracted from which organ of young calves?

The stomach's fourth chamber, the abomasum, supplies it as a by-product of veal production. The enzymes are made there in an inactive form and only switched on by the calf's digestive juices.

Which plant pigment in the feed cows eat gives butter and cow's-milk cheese a natural yellow tint?

Carotene dissolves in milk fat, so richer milk looks yellower: Guernsey cows are known for it. The shade also shifts with what the herd has been eating.

Which bacterium is the reason pregnant women are often advised to avoid soft cheeses such as Brie?

Listeria can grow in soft-ripened cheeses and may reach the unborn baby through the placenta, causing miscarriage or stillbirth even when the mother herself recovers.

An overripe Brie gives off the sharp smell of which gas, made by the same organisms that ripened it?

Ammonia in excess is the sign that a Brie has gone too far. The organisms that ripened it never stop working, so a cheese left too long turns unpleasantly pungent.

Brevibacterium linens, which ripens smelly washed-rind cheeses, also causes odour on which body part?

The feet and the cheese smell alike because the bacterium, present all over human skin, gives off the same sulphur compounds in both places.

The frame of metal wires used to cut curd into small pieces is named after which stringed instrument?

Harp wires slice the curd into small particles so that more liquid drains out, the first step towards the firm texture of Alpine cheeses.

Traditional Alpine cheeses are made in kettles of which metal, compulsory for many protected varieties?

Copper kettles are mandatory for many protected Alpine cheeses, though industrial makers often use stainless steel instead.

Under US federal rules, which kind of cheese must be aged for at least 60 days before sale?

Raw-milk cheese must be held for at least 60 days at 35°F or warmer, a wait once presumed to make it safe. The rule keeps young unpasteurised cheeses off American shelves.

Which plant fibre is added as a fine powder to packaged cheese to stop it caking in the pack?

Cellulose is the main structural fibre of plant cell walls, and the industrial supply is refined mostly from wood pulp and cotton.

Pasta filata cheeses such as provolone become stringy when the curd is kneaded and stretched in what?

Hot water softens the new curd until it can be kneaded and pulled into long fibres. The Italian name for the technique means spun paste.

Which enzyme, added during cheesemaking, gives provolone piccante its distinctive sharp, piquant taste?

Lipase strips fatty acids from the milk fat, and those acids carry the bite. The mild version, provolone dolce, is made with a calf's form of the same enzyme instead.

Aged hard cheeses are rich in umami, the savoury taste produced chiefly by which amino acid?

Glutamate was first turned into a seasoning by the chemist Kikunae Ikeda, whose invention went on sale in 1909 under the brand name Ajinomoto and is known to cooks today as MSG.

What do cheesemakers call a Swiss-type cheese that has ripened without developing its characteristic holes?

Blind makes sense because the holes are known as eyes. The larger the eyes, the longer the bacteria have worked and the stronger the flavour, though big ones tear in slicing machines.

Portugal's Serra da Estrela cheese is curdled not with animal rennet but with an extract of which plant?

Cardoon flowers have pistils that act as a vegetable rennet, and in Portugal the traditional curd relies on them entirely. Spain's Torta del Casar is set the same way.

Which pungent fatty acid found in well-aged grating cheese is also present in human vomit?

Butyric acid is named after the Greek word for butter, the food in which the French chemist Michel Eugène Chevreul first detected it in 1814.

Which term describes the cheese starter bacteria that grow best at moderate temperatures of 20 to 45°C?

Mesophiles like much the same warmth as the human body, which is why most human pathogens belong to the group too. Their heat-loving cousins are the starters used for cooked Alpine cheeses.

The crunchy crystals found inside long-aged Grana Padano consist mainly of which amino acid?

Tyrosine forms the gritty white specks, along with smaller amounts of leucine and isoleucine. The crystals on the surface of younger cheeses are a different substance, a calcium salt.

Which animal's milk sets so poorly with cattle rennet that a new curdling method was devised in the 1990s?

Camel milk finally formed a proper curd when a French agronomy school researcher added calcium phosphate and vegetable rennet. A Mauritanian dairy and the FAO then helped launch a cheese named Caravane.

Chhurpi, among the world's hardest cheeses and sold as a dog chew, comes from which mountain range?

In the Himalayas it is pressed, cut into cubes and hung over a fire until rock hard, then softened in the mouth and chewed like gum. Mountain families eat it as a protein-rich stand-in for vegetables.