The Cheese Ball

Did you know that the first ever cheese ball weighed a whopping 1,235 pounds (560 kg)? It is said that in the 1800s, Elder John Leland of Cheshire, Massachusetts crafted the enormous cheese ball of sorts. The Baptist community donated milk from over 900 cows.¹

The cheese made from that milk was referred to as “The Mammoth Cheese”. The cheese was then loaded onto a wagon to travel to the White House. Once it arrived at the White House, it was then rolled across the lawn and delivered to President Thomas Jefferson. Singleton (1907) reported that the cheese ball lasted for 2 whole years!² Afterward the Jefferson family had it thrown into the Potomac.

Additional facts about the cheese ball

National Cheese Ball Day is April 17th.
The first cheese ball recipe was recorded in a cookbook published during World War 2. Safford (1944)³

A cheese ball makes for a perfect party snack. Delicious and fun. A cheese ball can be made savory or sweet. Cheese balls can be served large and shareable or small and individual. Most cheese balls are rolled in some type of chopped nut. Alternatively it can be rolled in a spice mixture or dried fruit; whatever you fancy.

I’d love for you to hop on over to my cheese ball recipe and give it a try.

Sylvanus Urban, “Correspondence of Sylvanus Urban: The Great Cheshire Political Cheese.” The Gentleman’s Magazine, Volume II, 1869. ↩︎
Esther Singleton, The Story of the White House. McClure Co., 1907. ↩︎
Safford, V.W. (1944). …Food of my friends. University of Minnesota Press. ↩︎