National Cheese Sacrifice Purchase Day 2023: Every year, National Cheese Sacrifice Purchase Day is observed on July 29. The purpose of this holiday is to purchase cheese in order to’sacrifice’ it by placing a portion on a mousetrap. Thus, you can rid your home of rodents each year, or at least that appears to have been the original intent. People view it as antiquated now that there are so many modern methods of insect control. According to studies, rodents don’t even like cheese!
Due to these factors, many have attempted to reimagine the holiday and what it means to’sacrifice’ cheese.
The background of National Cheese Purchase Day
Cheese has existed for centuries, long before written history. In Poland, a 7,000-year-old piece of pottery contains the earliest unambiguous indication of cheesemaking. Although the earliest evidence of cheese dates back to the early second millennium B.C., it is found in Sumerian cuneiform texts from the Third Dynasty of Ur. Pressing and salting curdled milk may have been the beginning of cheesemaking. The first cheeses were acidic and salty, with a texture comparable to modern feta or rustic cottage cheese.
At the beginning of the ancient Roman era, cheese became a sophisticated delicacy, and many varieties of foreign cheese were imported to Rome to satiate the preferences of the social elite. Pliny’s “Natural History,” written in 77 A.D., devotes two entire chapters to the Romans’ fondness for cheese. Columella’s “De Re Rustica” (circa 65 A.D.) describes a cheesemaking procedure involving rennet coagulation, kneading the curd, salting, and ageing. Most cheeses were first documented in the late Middle Ages, though they may have existed prior to this period. Cheddar was first recorded in the 1100s, Parmesan in 1597, Gouda in 1697, and Camembert in 1791.
Conquistadors in the Americas reported that the Inca and other Andean cultures ate llama cheese. Since the European colonisation of North and South America, regional cheeses have developed in both regions. In Switzerland, the first facility for the industrial production of cheese opened in 1815. However, successful large-scale production was achieved in the United States. In 1851, Jesse Williams, a dairy farmer from Rome, New York, initiated assembly-line cheese production. In the 1860s, mass-produced rennet and cheese production made cheese readily available to the lower classes. During World War II, factory-made cheese replaced traditional cheesemaking, and since then, factories have been the primary source of cheese in Europe and the United States.
National Cheese Sacrifice Purchase Day 2023: Activities
Consume your preferred cheese
Surely, eating it yourself qualifies as a “sacrifice” It can be consumed on its own or incorporated into ornate recipes such as pasta sauce, custard or cheese puffs.
Invest in a costly cheese
In this case, the’sacrifice’ would be to your wallet. Consider it a reward for being so virtuous during the first half of the year.
Try a cheese you have never tasted.
We’re discussing the type of cheese that terrifies you, one that you’ve feared might be too intense but nonetheless desired to attempt. If you end up disliking it, you can simply claim that you sacrificed yourself.
National Challenged Champions and Heroes Awareness Day 2023 (US): Date, History, Significance, Facts
Five Interesting Facts About Cheese
- They are included on the British Cheese Board’s inventory of approximately 700 products.
- This was said in a 1546 proverb by John Heywood, referring to a person who is extremely credulous, so while it appears frequently in popular culture, people did not truly believe it when they began saying it.
- Arabs have a legend dating back 4,000 years in which a traveller placed her daily milk in a sheep-stomach canteen and set out across the desert. By the time she reached her destination, the milk had transformed into cheese due to the heat and rennet in the canteen.
- In order to eliminate or adequately reduce E. coli and Salmonella, the law prohibits the importation of foreign cheese that has not been aged for at least 60 days.
- Due to the cool and humid environment, it is the best method to age cheese, as strange as that may sound.
