• Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms.  There are over 2000 varieties.
• Cheddar cheese is dyed orange to give it an appealing color.  White cheddar is closer to its natural color.
• Cheese is one of the oldest foods in history, dating back 4000 years to the ancient Egyptians.
• Cheese takes up about 1/10 the volume of the milk it was made from.
• The terms “Big Wheel” and “Big Cheese” originally referred to those who were wealthy enough to purchase a whole wheel of cheese.

Today’s Food History

• 1629 The first horses were imported to the American colonies by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
• 1790 R.I.P. Benjamin Franklin. American diplomat, publisher, inventor, etc. Among his inventions were the Franklin stove and bifocal eyeglasses. He also published ‘Poor Richard’s Almanac.’
• 1810 Lewis M. Norton of Troy, Pennsylvania was issued the first U.S. patent for pineapple cheese.
• 1917 The first Del Monte brand national advertisement appeared in the Saturday Evening Post.
• 1937 Daffy Duck makes his debut appearance in ‘Porky,s Duck Hunt’
• 1996 R.I.P. Arnold Neustadter. He was the inventor of the Rolodex rotating card file.