Cheese

Jesse Williams, a farmer in New York state, had a passion for cheese but didn’t have the resources to produce it at the scale he desired. So, in 1851, Jesse and his son opened the first cheese factory, sourcing milk from multiple local farms and producing 100,000 pounds of cheddar—in their first season. Soon, Williams had hundreds of factories and created the prototype for cheesemaking as we know it today.

Brazil has plenty of traditional dishes that rely on cheese, but it’s only in the last decade that the country has emerged as a powerhouse in artisanal cheesemaking. While the cheeses may be inspired by European traditions, options like cocoa-dusted goat cheese or an Amazonian buffalo cheese are pure South American.

East Asian cuisine has historically been cheese-free, but why? Several unique circumstances combined to limit—or eliminate—the dairy product in dishes from Japan, Korea, China, and other nearby countries: Livestock were seen as working animals rather than nutritional sources, and most people were lactose intolerant. As Western cuisine becomes more popular globally, though, cheese is making its way into more East Asian diets.

The ancient Romans loved cheese and experimented with different processes to elevate its flavor, like aging. Some of their innovations, like Pecorino Romano, you can still find today. Others, like the smoked goat-milk Caseus, we only know about through historical records.

From squeaky Wisconsin cheese curds to the squirmy Sardinian casu marzu, cheese around the globe comes in myriad forms. Exploring the work of seven cheesemakers in seven countries, this video shows each cheese has traditions and flavors unique to its part of the world.

That same year, the US cheese export market was valued at $2.3B. The main consumer markets for the US were Mexico, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and Canada. Mexico was the largest importer of US cheese, with 87% of its cheese imports coming from its neighbor.

Chef Boyardee wasn’t just a grocery store staple—it was once a key supplier for US troops in WWII. Founded by Italian immigrant Hector Boiardi, the company produced thousands of canned pasta rations daily.

The chance encounter around 5,500 years ago laid the groundwork for cultured milk products like yogurt and cheese. Over time, microbes evolved in tandem with goats, sheep, and wheat to give us the wide variety of cheeses that we enjoy today.

In limestone mines said to be hundreds of feet below the ground, officials have allegedly stored surplus cheese to keep the industry afloat amid ebbs and flows in demand.

Impurities in the milk are critical for the formation of holes in Emmental. The cleanliness at farms today could potentially eliminate the iconic characteristic, though cheesemakers are finding a solution to preserve the holes that help define the cheese.