Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About Cheese

For most people, having cheese around is simply an expected part of life. This means that they don’t necessarily put a lot of thought into the cheese they are eating and therefore don’t know that much about it. There are some basics about cheese that most people know, such as that it is a dairy product and it is aged, but for some, that is as far as the knowledge goes. Here are some facts that even those in the know probably weren’t aware of concerning cheese.

Top Producer

When it comes to which country in the world produces the most cheese, it is the United States. In fact, as of 2006, the U.S. was producing almost four million metric tons of cheese or 30 percent of that produced worldwide. While those figures are a few years old, they are still relevant as the world of cheese is not changing that significantly.

Most Expensive

If you are curious about the most expensive cheese that you can get anywhere in the world, then turn to Sweden. There you will find cheese made exclusively from three moose: Juna, Haelga, and Gullan. These moose are tame, making them incredibly rare, and they live on a farm found in Bjursholm, Sweden. To make the cheese even more expensive, it takes two hours to milk the moose and that process can only take place at certain times of the year, leading to a cheese worth $500 a pound.

Most Popular

The most popular cheese around the world is cheddar, if you use the name to refer to the particular cheesemaking process as opposed to the cheese from the particular region within Somersetshire, Great Britain. Cheddar can be made worldwide and everyone loves it. In fact, Americans tend to eat more than 8.8 pounds of cheddar annually per capita.

Biggest Consumers

A lot of people would probably guess that the French are the biggest consumers when it comes to cheese, but they would actually be wrong. The last survey about cheese consumption was a while ago (in 2003), but it showed the surprising results that Greeks consume the most cheese out of anyone. They eat around 60.6 pounds of cheese every year, with the vast majority being feta. The French were the second biggest consumers of cheese as of the study (with 52.9 pounds a person annually), but they also eat more varieties instead of sticking to one favorite.