7 questions on cheese

Midweek quiz
Judging is under way in the International Cheese Awards in Nantwich, Cheshire. But do you know Camembert from Caerphilly, and your cheese burger from your cheese fondue? Test yourself.

1.) Multiple Choice Question
Cheddar is Britain's top selling cheese. What's in second place?

1. Mozzarella
   
2. Cottage Cheese
   
3. Red Leicester
   
4. Brie
   

2.) Multiple Choice Question
How does Red Leicester - Britain's fourth most popular cheese - get its distinctive deep-orange hue?

1. Type of mould added
   
2. Type of rennet added
   
3. Red vegetable dye
   
4. Colour develops as it ages
   

3.) Multiple Choice Question
Cheshire, one of Britain's oldest cheeses, was eaten in Roman times and gets a mention in the Domesday Book. Which other cheese also features in this 1086 survey?

1. Caerphilly
   
2. Wensleydale
   
3. Cheddar
   

4.) Multiple Choice Question
True or false: Stilton is the only British cheese with protected name status - an EU system that also applies to champagne, Cornish pasties and Parma ham.

1. True
   
2. False
   

5.) Multiple Choice Question
Which one of these countries eats the most cheese per head of population?

1. United States
   
2. Switzerland
   
3. Britain
   
4. France
   

6.) Multiple Choice Question
Speaking of which, the term "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" - used to lampoon the French - was widely used in the run-up to the Iraq war. It was coined by The Simpsons, but who said it?

1. Bart
   
2. Groundskeeper Willie
   
3. Sideshow Bob
   

7.) Multiple Choice Question
Smelly cheeses such as Stinking Bishop - which does what it says on the tin - are also the strongest tasting. True or false?

1. True
   
2. False
   

Answers

1. It's mozzarella, with cottage cheese in third place and Red Leicester in fourth. British-made Brie comes in at number 10.
2. It's a vegetable dye called annatto - extracted from seeds of Aciote trees - also used in Double Gloucester cheese. This practice dates from the 17th Century, when the cheese was coloured to make it look as if it had been made from double cream.
3. Wensleydale is also mentioned in the Domesday Book. The earliest record of Cheddar dates from 1170, when Henry II bought 10,240lbs (4.6 tonnes) at a cost of a farthing a pound.
4. It's false - 14 UK cheeses have protected name status, among them Stilton - which can only be called that if it is made in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire or Leicestershire - and West Country Farmhouse Cheddar.
5. It's France, tied with Greece at the top of the cheese-eating table. Both nations put away 25-30kg (55-73lb) a person each year, and cannot agree as to which eats the most.
6. It was Groundskeeper Willie in a 1995 episode when he was roped into teaching French. The term was widely used in 2003 when France opposed American plans to invade Iraq.
7. It's false. Smell and taste do not always go hand in hand, says Nigel White of the British Cheese Board. Stinking Bishop, for example, is relatively mild tasting, whereas super-strong Cheddars are rarely malodorous.

Posted in: uk