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Cheese Day
"Good morning, Sir. Welcome to the National Cheese Emporium!
Customer: Ah thank you my good man.
Owner: What can I do for you, Sir?
C: Well, I was, uh, sitting in the public library on Thurmon Street just now, skimming through 'Rogue Herries' by Hugh Walpole, and I suddenly came over all peckish.
O: Peckish, sir?
C: Esuriant.
O: Eh?
C: 'Ee I were all 'ungry-like!
O: Ah, hungry!
C: In a nutshell. And I thought to myself, 'a little fermented curd will do the trick', so, I curtailed my Walpoling activites, sallied forth, and infiltrated your place of purveyance to negotiate the vending of some cheesy comestibles!
O: Come again?
C: I want to buy some cheese!"
~ Monty Python, The Cheese Shop Sketch, 1972
The perfect tartan for the modern-day cheesemonger, all you need with your kilt would be a sporran full of crackers. Imbued with the rich colours reminiscent of cheddary yellows, mustards, and poppy-seed crackers, this tartan may appeal to turophiles (cheese-lovers) or simply make you hungry for a snack. The production of cheese predates recorded history, beginning well over 7,000 years ago. The Romans were fond of cheeses, but considered other dairy products, milk-drinking and butter production, as evidence of barbarism, which they particularly noted in the Germanic and Celtic regions. Most regions throughout history prized their regional cheeses and cheese making techniques and often gave cheeses as special gifts. During the celebration of her wedding toPrince Albert in 1840, Queen Victoria received the gift of a 1250-pound, 9-foot-diameter cheddar, produced by a cooperative of cheesemakers from two villages. According to a cheese historian, "Perhaps baffled by how to serve it, she sent the cheese off on a tour of England.” According to those in the know, the UK's most popular cheeses at present are: Cheddar, Double Gloucester, Yorkshire Wensleydale, Shropshire Blue, Lincolnshire Poacher, Y Fenni, Seriously Strong Cheddar, Double Gloucester, Little Black Bomber, Gruyère, Brie, Camembert, Port Salut, Stilton, Gorgonzola, Stichelton, and Stinking Bishop! Say cheese! 🧀
This tartan designed by Carol A.L. Martin evokes the colours of rich ripe cheeses as well as the cracked pepper and poppy seeds of accompanying crackers on a well-laden cheese board.
Over a thousand types of cheese exist and are currently produced in various countries. Their styles, textures and flavors depend on the origin of the milk (including the animal's diet), whether they have been pasteurized, the butterfat content, the bacteria and mold, the processing, and how long they have been aged.
The word cheese comes from Latin caseus, from which the modern word casein (for milk protein) is also derived. The earliest source comes from a root word which means "to ferment, become sour". This gave rise to chese (in Middle English) and cīese or cēse (in Old English).
When the Romans began to make hard cheeses for their legionaries' supplies, they begin to use a new word - formaticum, from caseus formatus, or "molded cheese" (as in "formed". From this we get the French fromage, standard Italian formaggio, Catalan formatge, and Breton fourmaj. Other Romance languages, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Tuscan and Southern Italian dialects use words derived from caseus (queso, queijo, caș and caso for example).
The word cheese itself is occasionally employed in a sense that means "molded" or "formed". Head cheese uses the word in this sense. The term "cheese" is also used as a noun, verb and adjective in a number of figurative expressions (e.g., "the big cheese", "to be cheesed off" and "cheesy lyrics").
For more on fascinating cheese facts, click the cheese and crackers!