Cheese facts

Stinking Bishop is named after a pear. The cheese is washed in perry made from Stinking Bishop pears. The pear takes its name from a nineteenth-century farmer named Bishop.

A survey examined cheese and dreams. A small 2005 British Cheese Board survey recorded dreams after participants ate cheese. It was not a controlled clinical study and cannot establish whether cheese affects dreaming.

Limburger has a strong surface aroma. Its washed rind supports Brevibacterium linens, which contributes sulphurous aroma compounds.

Cheese glows under UV light. Fresh mozzarella and ricotta fluoresce yellow-green under ultraviolet light - the riboflavin (vitamin B2) in cheese absorbs UV and re-emits visible light. A party trick known mainly to food scientists.

Swiss cheese holes got smaller - because of hygiene. In 2015, Agroscope (Swiss research institute) found Emmental holes had shrunk over decades. Modern hygienic milking equipment eliminates microscopic hay dust that historically nucleated CO₂ bubbles. Adding tiny amounts of hay dust back to the milk restores larger holes.

Mice are not cheese specialists. Mice are opportunistic eaters and may choose high-energy sweet or grain-based foods when those are available. The cheese-eating mouse remains a familiar image in popular culture.

Cheese has been described as a frequently stolen retail food. This claim comes from an often-cited 2011 retail survey. It should not be read as a measurement of all cheese produced worldwide.

Vieux Boulogne ranked highly in one aroma test. A 2004 study using an electronic sensor ranked it above Époisses and Limburger in that sample. Washed-rind bacteria contribute volatile sulphur compounds to its aroma.

Milbenkäse is ripened with cheese mites. This regional cheese from Würchwitz, Germany, is aged with Tyrophagus casei. Their activity helps develop the rind and flavor.

Cheese has been to space. In a nod to Monty Python's "cheese shop" sketch, SpaceX secretly loaded a wheel of Le Brouère Gruyère cheese aboard Dragon's first test flight in December 2010 - the cheese orbited Earth for 3.5 days as a joke payload, only revealed after the mission.

A gram of aged Parmigiano-Reggiano can contain over one billion bacterial cells from dozens of species - even after most starter bacteria have died, their residual enzymes continue to transform the cheese's flavor and texture for years.

Over 500 distinct volatile flavor compounds have been identified in aged cheeses by GC-MS analysis - including acids, esters, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, sulfur compounds, and amines, each contributing to the overall flavor mosaic.

Cheese contains casomorphins - opioid-like peptides produced when casein proteins are partially digested. They bind very weakly to opioid receptors. The claim that "cheese is as addictive as heroin" wildly overstates this, but the biochemistry is real.

A 2021 meta-analysis in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found full-fat dairy consumption - including cheese - was not associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk and was inversely associated with stroke risk. The "dairy fat paradox" remains under active investigation.

Penicillium roqueforti, used in blue cheese, is related to but genetically distinct from P. chrysogenum, which is associated with penicillin production. Eating blue cheese is not antibiotic therapy.

White crystals in aged cheese are primarily tyrosine - a free amino acid crystallized from extensive proteolysis. In very long-aged wheels, calcium lactate and calcium phosphate crystals also form, contributing to complex crunchy texture in 36-40 month Parmigiano.

Roquefort's Combalou caves maintain a constant 9-10°C and ~95% humidity through entirely natural geological systems - fault lines (fleurines) draw in outside air cooled and humidified by limestone rock. No refrigeration equipment is used in the caves.

A 2014 study in Cell (Harvard/MIT) found that cheese rinds harbor bacterial communities with more microbial diversity than most soils - making cheese rind one of the most biodiverse small-scale ecosystems on Earth and a model for studying microbial ecology.

Summer milk from alpine pastures is richer in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), omega-3 fatty acids, and beta-carotene - giving "alpage" cheeses a yellower color and distinct nutritional profile. This is a measurable, scientifically documented seasonal difference.

Chymosin concentration precision: a single microgram variation in rennet concentration can change the gel strength of 1,000 litres of milk measurably. Industrial dairies use spectrophotometric assays to ensure consistent rennet activity across every batch.

Cheese is a meaningful source of tryptophan - the amino acid precursor to serotonin and melatonin. The folk belief that cheese before bed aids sleep isn't entirely without biochemical basis, though the dose from a normal cheese portion is unlikely to produce sedation.

Very aged cheeses contain elevated tyramine - a biogenic amine from proteolysis. People taking MAO inhibitors (a class of antidepressant) must avoid high-tyramine foods including aged cheese - the combination can cause a dangerous hypertensive crisis (the "cheese effect").

In France, the cheese course (plateau de fromages) is served after the main course but before dessert - the opposite of British tradition. The French believe cheese deserves its own dedicated gustatory moment before sweetness closes the palate.

Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling, Gloucestershire. Annual late-May event: a Double Gloucester wheel is rolled down a nearly vertical hill (1:2 gradient); participants chase it. The cheese reaches up to 70 mph. First prize is the cheese. Multiple injuries are typical each year.

Wisconsin produces approximately 3.4 billion pounds of cheese per year - more than the entire country of France. It accounts for 26% of all American cheese production. The state requires licensed cheese graders, and "Cheesehead" is a worn-with-pride regional identity.

Greece has the highest per-capita cheese consumption in the world at approximately 27 kg/person/year - almost all Feta. For reference, this is more than 1.5 times American per-capita consumption (17 kg).

Switzerland has 450+ registered cheese varieties for a population of 8.7 million - roughly one distinct cheese per 19,000 inhabitants. Alpine cheesemaking (transhumance to summer pastures) is UNESCO-recognised cultural heritage.

"Say cheese!" as a photographic instruction dates to at least a 1943 Texas newspaper. The word was chosen because the "ee" sound pulls the mouth into a smile-like shape. Earlier photographers reportedly instructed subjects to say "prunes" for serious portraits.

Denmark exports over 90% of its cheese production - among the world's highest cheese export ratios. Danish cheeses (Havarti, Danish Blue, Danbo) are found in supermarkets on every continent.

Japan - without a traditional dairy culture - has become a major artisan cheese market. Hokkaido producers win international awards. Japanese cheese consumption has tripled since 1990, driven by Western culinary influence and pizza culture.

Shakespeare referenced cheese in multiple plays. The Merry Wives of Windsor mentions Falstaff's physical transformation using dairy imagery; Cheshire cheese appears in period-accurate dining scenes. Cheese was central to Elizabethan English diet at every social level.

Sardinian Pecorino Sardo has been produced for at least 3,000 years. Bronze Age archaeological sites on Sardinia have yielded cheese-processing pottery and milk residues - making it one of the oldest continuously produced cheeses in Europe.

A frequently repeated story says delegates at the Congress of Vienna compared cheeses and named Brie de Meaux the "King of Cheeses." Details vary between accounts.

Authentic Camembert de Normandie (PDO, raw milk) cannot be legally imported into the United States in its genuine, unpasteurized form. The FDA ban on raw-milk soft cheeses aged under 60 days cuts Americans off from experiencing Camembert as it is made in Normandy.

Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling, Gloucestershire, UK. Annual (late May). A Double Gloucester wheel is chased down a near-vertical hill. Cheese reaches 70 mph. First prize: the cheese wheel. Multiple injuries typical; briefly banned in 2010 but continues as an unofficial event.

Cheese, Bra, Piedmont (Slow Food). This biennial event brings together cheesemakers, retailers and visitors. The programme changes with each edition.

World Championship Cheese Contest, Madison, Wisconsin. This biennial contest receives entries from producers in several countries and publishes results by category.

Alkmaar Cheese Market, Netherlands. Running since 1365 - 650+ years. Every Friday (April-September). Cheese porters in white uniforms with guild-coloured hats carry cheese on wooden stretchers in a living historical ritual.

Festival del Queso Cabrales, Asturias. Annual (August). The auction of a single Cabrales wheel set a world record in 2019: €30,500 for 4 kg. Proceeds fund the local municipality.

International Cheese and Dairy Awards, Staffordshire. The annual competition judges entries from British and international producers.

Salon International de l'Agriculture, Paris. Annual (February/March). The most prestigious French cheese competition - where AOC/AOP producers compete for the most coveted national recognition in French dairy culture.

Australian Grand Dairy Awards. The awards recognise dairy products made by Australian producers.

The Parmigiano-Reggiano sector contributes approximately €2 billion annually to the Italian economy - from ~3,000 farms supplying ~300 certified dairies. The Consortium exports to over 60 countries.

Between 1981-1987, the Reagan administration bought and stored over 2 billion pounds of surplus cheese - the "Government Cheese" program - in caves and warehouses, eventually distributing much as food aid to low-income Americans.

Mozzarella is the fastest-growing cheese by global volume, driven almost entirely by pizza expansion into Asia, the Middle East, and Africa - making it the second most produced cheese in the world.

Germany is the world's largest cheese exporter by value (~€3.1 billion/year). The Netherlands is second. Together, the EU accounts for approximately 30% of global cheese exports by volume.

The global whey protein market - a direct cheesemaking byproduct - is worth ~$10 billion annually, growing at 7%+ per year. Without industrial cheese production, the sports nutrition industry's primary ingredient could not exist at scale.